ATX – AROUND THE TOWN

October-November, 2018

So many things to do and see in Austin.  We had enough time to enjoy the views from Mount Bonnell, play miniature golf with Peter Pan, eat some decent BBQ and participate in a gospel brunch; listen to any kind of music you can imagine at any kind of venue you can imagine, watch the estimated 1.5 million bats come out at sundown from the  Congress Street bridge and swarm miles away from the bridge before finding their evening meal; enjoy a movie at the ultracool Alamo Drafthouse Cinema; stroll through the UMLAUF Statue Garden and see the peacocks at Mayfield Park and Preserve, wander about the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the Zilker Park Botanical Garden, and visit the Treaty Oak.

Covert Park at Mount Bonnell is a prominent point alongside the Lake Austin portion of the Colorado River in Austin, Texas.  A short walk to the summit provides a vista for viewing the city of Austin, Lake Austin, and the surrounding hills.

 

Peter Pan Mini Golf has been open since 1948, and it features a big statue of Peter Pan as well as dinosaurs, a pig wearing a bow tie, a hook handed pirate and other fanciful creatures.  Situated smack dab among the increasingly metropolitan landscape of once-funky South Austin, Peter Pan stands as one of the last delightfully kitschy relics of a bygone era.  It has the added bonus of being BYOB.

Marty and Susanne, our friends from Pennsylvania, asked if we would like to join their party at Stubb’s BBQ Gospel Brunch.  The company of good friends and new friends and uplifting gospel music from The Spiritualettes, combined with a buffet of brisket (and more brisket!) and other southern and texmex brunch items was a great way to revive our body and soul.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin is the state botanical garden and arboretum of Texas.  The Center features more than 900 species of native Texas plants in both garden and natural settings.  The Center can be “rented” for special occasions, and as it turned out, one of the couples with us today had held their son’s wedding and reception here last year.  Being November, the prime season for wildflowers was well past, but the critters were more than happy to show off for us as we enjoyed walking off the post-brunch meat sweats (brisket and more brisket!), and we had a delightful stroll around the 284 acres of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

The Congress Avenue bridge spans Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, and it is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America known as the Congress Bridge Bats.  This Mexican free-tail bat colony is estimated at 1.5 million.  Each night from around mid-March to early November, the Congress Bridge bats emerge from under the bridge to blanket the sky as they head up the Colorado River to forage for food.

The best film, food and drink all in one seat.  When you see a movie at Alamo Drafthouse, you get cold drinks, delicious meals and tasty local beers, brought to your seat by a server. Need a free refill on your popcorn or soda? Raise an order card and they’ll get it taken care of quickly.  To us, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe can be just as worthy of attention and celebration as a foreign language drama.  Celebrating classic cinema is also something we take seriously.  Whether it’s an interactive Movie Party presentation of a timeless classic, a chef-inspired feast with a menu paired to a film, or a re-evaluation of a lost gem, we love sharing the movies we love with Alamo Drafthouse audiences of all ages.  And each seat is a thoroughly articulating, super cushy recliner.

The UMLAUF Sculpture Garden & Museum exhibits the work of Charles Umlauf, his influences, and other contemporary sculptors in a natural setting.

Mayfield Park and Preserve is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  This entire estate was presented to the city of Austin in 1971 by Mary Mayfield Gutsch for all Austinites.  Mayfield Park includes an historic cottage, 2 acres of colorful cottage gardens with towering palm trees, brilliant peacocks and delicate water lilies, all blending in beautiful harmony. Mayfield Preserve is the 21-acre natural area that surrounds the Park, containing walking trails and wildlife habitat.  You bet we took a hike, toured the grounds and gardens but the peacocks and peahens were the bomb!

The Zilker Park Botanical Garden is a 26-acre garden of varied topography located on the south bank of the Colorado River.  Other than this being a beautiful park with plenty for the whole family regardless of age, the highlights were the coy ponds and the site of finding dinosaur fossils.

 

The Treaty Oak is the last surviving member of the Council Oaks, a grove of 14 trees that served as a sacred meeting place for Comanche and Tonkawa tribes prior to European settlement of the area.  Foresters estimate the Treaty Oak to be about 500 years old.   According to popular local folklore, in the 1830s early Texas pioneer Stephen F. Austin met local Native Americans in the grove to negotiate and sign Texas’ first treaty ending hostilities.  Folklore also holds that Sam Houston rested beneath the Treaty Oak after his expulsion from the Governor’s office at the start of Texas’ involvement in the American Civil War.  Before its vandalism/poisoning in 1989, the tree’s branches had a spread of 127 feet.

We also took advantage of marvelous weather and rode our bikes along Lady Bird Lake, and we strolled along SoCo (South Congress) and South 1st Street taking in the funky stores and enjoying people watching.