Keeping Austin Weird

So Austin, like Portland, wants to be weird. Actually, Austin was weird first then Portland borrowed the idea. Take that, Portland! I do like the sort of anti-corporate vibe they've got going on and the whole let's walk places and support local businesses rather than big chains stores. As for the really weird, some of it is okay. The rest of it is just...weird.

In the realm of the not so weird, there are lots of local businesses to support. In most cases, it's going to be more convenient to support them than to drive out to the suburbs to hit a chain store.

Our finds while in town include a diner where kids eat free on Tuesdays, which means we can probably still eat out now and then even on our meager budget. It's also a really cool place. Good food, they serve beer. Yeah. Love it.

There's a bakery up the street from my house that everyone seems to love and where I can can get baguettes for $2. This is excellent because there is no publix in Austin and I don't quite know what I'll do without the Publix bakery. Besides that, I'll like supporting a local bakery.

There's also a local growers farmer's market downtown but last night, I figured out there's also a local grower's farmer's market a couple miles up the street from my duplex. Much better than the big chain grocery store.

Then there are the donuts. We eat them once a week here, at Krispy Kreme. Kind of a family ritual. We'd have to drive 20 minutes one way to get to one, which means we'll be trying out a local, family-owned donut shop nearer to our house. Everyone seems to love that place, too, so I suspect we'll end up liking it.

The one chain store I'll definitely visit regularly is costco and thankfully, it's a lot closer to my new duplex than my costco here is.

All of that is awesome and we're excited about it. We're also excited that we can walk to a big park that has a playground and a pool from our new place--and not feel like we're going to be killed. There is a market nearby, too--not necessarily a place we'd want to do all our shopping but close enough to walk to if I just need a few things.

Anyway, that's all the great part of keeping Austin weird and local.

The not so great part? There are some weird people. I saw a man--he must have been about 65 years old--crossing the street. He had a bandana on his long hair and a full beard. He also had full breasts. He was dressed in a t-shirt and denim mini-skirt with little rhinestones on the pockets and women's sandals. He stopped about halfway across the street, looked around and then hitched his skirt up over his hips, revealing a purple g-string. He left it that way and I'd love to say he finished crossing the street but he didn't. He came back to his original curb and stood there.

Nice. The kids were asleep in the back seat. That's all that stood between me and an awkward set of questions about why that man has nurses (what Allison calls breasts) and purple underpants. The day will come when I'll have to answer that question, I suspect, so long as Austin is weird.