Just moved to Austin

[Dragonbreathp9d]

from Denton. Whats your favorite thing to do / place to hang out at here?

[northoftheborder]

1. How old are you?

[Dragonbreathp9d]

4. 23

[jobycom]

2. Depends on your interests.

There's everything from rock climbing and hiking to bars and live music. There's family stuff and single stuff. There's history and learning. What's your poison? Also depends on your part of town.

Just to get you oriented, Sixth Street is the college party district. Lower Lamar has a lot of live music, too. South Congress (that's Congress below the river) has antique shops and restaurants (Try Home Slice for pizza and Guerro's for tex-mex).

For swimming try Barton Springs (in Zilker Park) or Deep Eddy, or any community pool. For hiking, try the Barton Greenbelt.

East Austin and anything around the campus has some great restaurants and eclectic food. Northwest Austin is the yuppie shopping area. If you go to the Arboretum (a shopping center) visit the Stone Cow statues. The Domain is a new outdoor shopping area.

Places you have to try for food and stuff: Freebirds for burritos, Amy's for ice cream, Thunderclouds for sub-type sandwiches (way better than Subway or Which Witch), Hyde Park Grill for battered fries. Mangia's Pizza is also good for battered fries.

Read the Austin Chronicle (it's a weekly free paper) for what's happening around town (music scene, especially) and to understand the government/politics/culture. Avoid the Statesman unless you want your brain sucked incrementally from your skull. The Chronicle has a web site-- auschron.com --with polls and advice on the best restaurants, bars, places to shop.

Go driving out to Lake Travis, and especially approach it from the north on 620--it's a beautiful area. For longer day trips, go to Enchanted Rock (a giant granite dome to hike all over) or Fredricksburg (a German town with good beer and food and antique shops and wineries, and a pretty drive), and stop at the LBJ ranch while you're out there. New Braunfels has the best Wurstfest, and Gruene (a small historical village nearby it) has great food and a great Texas wine store.

At Christmas visit Marble Falls for a light display. In fact, all the little towns around have light displays at Christmas, and touring them is a tradition.

Just some of my favorite things. :)

[jobycom]

3. Oh, and I forgot.

Welcome to Austin!

[Dragonbreathp9d]

5. thanks!

:hi:

[WolverineDG]

6. REGISTER TO VOTE!!! nt

[SteveM]

7. Be sure to try Bouldin Creek Coffee House!...

This is a vegetarian/vegan cafe with excellent coffee, hot teas, and a wonderful beer happy hour! The food is cheap, plentiful and very good (experienced chefs who like what they do and dress how they want) turn out well-prepared dishes from a bedroom-sized kitchen. Between 3 and 7 p.m. there is a $2/bottle beer happy hour (Dogfish Head, Fireman's 4, Brooklyn, Anchor, Negra Modelo, etc.). Small air-conditioned area; otherwise, seating on the deck and under the trees -- get used to the heat. Artsy, VERY diverse (blacks, whites, Asians, LGBT, handicapped, older folks, bicyclists, even some Crackers, dogs and the occasional cat. (S. 1st and Elizabeth)

Artz Rib house (S. Lamar and Bluebonnet) has fine BBQ. Lunch specials include (depending on the day), a half chicken (smoked 3.5+ hours), spare ribs, big beef ribs, pork steaks, etc., for under $8. Includes 3 restaurant-prepared sides. You WILL be filled.

Walk the many green-belt trails, esp. the one leading to the Zilker Clubhouse: a booming Vistavision view of the Austin skyline from on-high.

Good happy-hour (Often free) shows at the world-famous Continental Club. You just missed the "Blues on the Green" free concert series each summer (big BYOB shows with many known acts -- thousands attend). And you missed Eeyore's Birthday Party, a free party in Pease Park on the last Saturday in April. Started in 1963 by an English professor at U.T. for his seminar, it has ballooned into the largest, oldest on-going celebration of counter-culture in the U.S., 10-15,000 attend, often barely wearing costumes! SXSW is too expensive and overwhelming for a 40 yr. veteran of this town; look for off-the-book shows which are everywhere and often free.

Downsides: high property taxes, too much corporate/developer control of city government, horrendous car traffic, Hot!

Have fun!

[Lithos]

10. All great suggestions!!!

But anyone who lives in Austin knows these are just a very brief skim of what Austin has to offer...

And I agree about the downsides - the high taxes and the developer control... Austin suffers from problem where developers build some great monstrosity or ruin area somewhere and the citizens end up picking up the pieces to fill in the infrastructure that they conveniently didn't have to pay. So in essence, you are subsidizing their profit...

L-

[Melissa G]

8. Welcome to Austin! When sonias gets back, maybe we can have

another DU breakfast. We do that every once in a while around here and we can have the pleasure of your company. If you go to Bouldin, pm me. I work close by.:hi:

[Lithos]

11. How about Dinner?

Some Tuesday or Wednesday in the week when parking is easier?

Bouldin is a good choice.

W-

[Melissa G]

12. I am okay with Dinner. One of the likely organizers is not around

so we might want to wait a couple of weeks.

[NTXDem]

9. Lucky you

I wish I could escape Denton about now. Would like to go back to Seattle though.

[sonias]

13. Welcome to Austin, Dragonbreathp9d!

Hey we can't have too many Democrats in Austin.

:hi:

Make sure you pick up an Austin Chronicle (local free indie newspaper) and just peruse that at your leisure. You'll find just about anything you want/need somewhere in there.