The Earth Day celebration in Austin was held at the campus of Huston-Tillotson University on the East side of town. The campus is situated on a hill that has beautiful sight lines of Austin. There were butterflies, dinosaurs, bats, bands, performers, food trucks, drinks, and all sorts of fun to be had on a nice cool day in Austin.
My first ever visit to the Sahara Lounge on the East side of Austin. As a bonus, there was Marimba music. It was pretty awesome.
This event for the East Austin Studio Tour was pretty cool. Imagine Art is a large art space on the East side set up to assist artists with and without disabilities. As a bonus tonight, they hosted some performances by a classical music group called Tetractys. It was a good idea to mix the art exhibit with performance. Also, sock monkeys hold a special place in my heart.
In case you missed it, here are the highlights from Just the Tip: Street Art From El Paso and Juarez. It was a tiny, tiny venue with a few interesting pieces of artwork.
To work off my breakfast, I took a short walk along the Hike and Bike Trail near Edward Rendon Sr. Park on Town Lake. The sunlight streaming across this bridge was nice.
Today’s breakfast was on the East side of town. Juan in a Million is a Tex-Mex Restaurant that opened in 1980 on East Cesar Chavez, and is still going strong. I ordered from the breakfast menu and chose the Con Queso Breakfast which includes “Two eggs served any stle with queso, carne guisada, refried beans, potatoes and two flour tortillas”. I’m pretty sure this is a healthy way to start your day…
Just when you thought Austin couldn’t get any cooler, along comes NLand Surf Park. The technology involved is amazing to watch. A company called Wavegarden has developed an underwater “snow shovel” that is pulled along the length of a 14-acre lagoon. Near perfect waves pop up on either side of the pier allowing up to 120 surfers to enjoy the surf at their particular skill level. The surf park has a sandy beach, a gift shop, a juice bar, a restaurant, and a nice deck to view the action. It is located about 10 minutes from the airport and collects rainwater to fill the lagoon. Now I just need to learn how to surf.
Would you like to down size your living space to about 319 square feet? Would you like to own a prefabricated, movable home that could easily slide into a rack-like structure that could be placed in desirable areas in cities across the planet? Would you like to spend less on housing costs and have more disposable income for things like travel? If so, then maybe the Austin startup called Kasita is for you. My first thought is what happens if you have super noisy neighbors? They have a prototype unit located on East Fourth Street in downtown Austin. It is a very interesting concept, and I hope they succeed in their mission. Check it out if you are in the area, or go to the website to learn more about this intriguing venture.
Cuvée Coffee is a different sort of coffee shop located on East Sixth Street in Austin. There is no WiFi, to my surprise. The place is super clean and inviting. They have a menu which includes breakfast tacos, but don’t get here too late, or they will stop serving them (at noon). They have nitrogenated cold brew coffee, which I believe is their claim to fame. They have indifferent baristas who will ignore or barely recognize your presence. Why do people become baristas when they know they will grow to hate their job, and then treat customers like poop? If you are not a natural people person, you should probably not seek out a job working behind a counter and serving people. They have a limited menu of espresso drinks, unlike most coffee shops that will make you almost any drink you desire. I settled for a yummy turkey and pesto sandwich from the refrigerator, a smallish green iced tea with mint, and a Topo Chico mineral water. If there is some drink from the menu that you are craving, then check it out. If you are expecting a full service coffee bar, then try some other place in the area.
earthrobert 