Train Trip: Day 3 & 4

We still had our sanity when we finally stepped off the train in Austin. We spent a day and a half on the train with red hat ladies, a yound mom who kept losing her baby, and a friendly older couple. We passed through the golden fields of Illinois, we stetched in Little Rock and St. Louis, and felt sad when we hit Texas and everything was brown and dusty. (that was a major run on sentence!)

We were lucky to have gotten in contact with a friend of a fried of our's named Emily, who graciously picked us up from the bus station (we went there after the train to buy tix...more on that later) and let us stay in her house on the East Side.

On our first night in Austin we were introduced to food trailers. We had an amazing Asian Fusion dinner in the back of a bar where we sipped on some Austin Brewery's IPA. We met up with a friend of Meg's friend and they took us to a cute bar called Cheer up Charlie. I realized how painfully hip Austin was then and there when I saw a guy dressed in gym shorts, a blazer, cowboy boots, a rapist stache, and horn rimmed glasses...and people think I'm a hipster back at home...they don't even know. We called it an early night after a few more beers ($1 dos X's!).

A hot shower after a good night's sleep on a futon felt amazing in the AM. We headed out into Austin and got coffee and breakfast at a trailer called Trailer Perk and walked for miles down sixth street and down Guadalupe St the girls wanted to go to. We grabbed a slice at Mellow Mushrooms and met up with a friend of mine from middle school that I hadnt seen in at least 10 years. It was a nice reunion, full of questions about life and Austin. After we parted the girls and I decided to try out the bus...rather easy...and headed towards The South Side. We Thrifted a little, found a cupcake trailer and got attacked by cupcake hungry bees, and met Elijah Woods...no big deal. I'm here in a costume shop when Meg nudged me and we both looked over and screamed on the inside. We debated whether or not to ask him for a photograph when it was decided that I would be the one to do it...no problem...I was a bit nervous...so I walked back into the store and politely asked for a photograph, he complimented me on my chestpiece and I geeked out a little, our faces touched and I freaked a little more, I got my photograph and geeked out a whole lot more! I was such a nerd I asked him if he lived in Austin and proceeded to tell him about my train trip...what a nice guy!

Walking down the street towards The Congress Bridge, we giggled like little school girls. We stopped to see the bats (which was incredible) and walked back down sixth street. We stopped at Affinity Tattoos to visit my old friend, Vic. And grabbed a yummy dinner at another trailer park...YUMMY!

After repacking our stuff (and desiding to send some junk home in the next state) and saying our goodbyes, Emily dropped us off at the Greyhound station where we headed towards San Antonio. I have no idea how we're still awake right now with the amount of walking that we've done but we're here, waitin for our 5 o'clock train to LA.

Our trip to Austin was wonderful and it wouldnt have been as nice without the help of some new friends, and even old ones too. I'll definitely come back again in the future. Austin was batty.