At Home in Austin

When I found out I was coming to Austin, the first thing I did was take out a Craig’s List ad under “Short term housing wanted.” I’m a near rabid fan of Craig’s List — it’s not quite as good as word of mouth, but in my experience, it’s damn close. It’s how I found renters to offset the expense of leaving an empty house, it’s how I got rid of all kinds of stuff, and it’s how I found the lovely little garden studio unit where I sit now, hiding from the rain and the overwhelming crowds of SxSW.

I’ve got a full kitchen, a deck, terracotta tiled floors, wifi, a nice flat screen TV, and hey, a fruit bowl and chips and salsa welcomed me upon my very late night arrival. I was delighted to look out my window this morning into the backyard at spreading laurel trees and yucca plants. The street is lined with beautiful Spanish style homes, flowering vines hang over the sidewalk around the corner, there’s a plum tree across the street that’s covered with tiny white blooms, it’s divine. This morning, I found directions to the bus stop in my email, thoughtfully sent my way by my very short term landlady. She also insisted  that I must not eat downtown, instead, I should go around the corner, near the big park, where they serve excellent Mexican food and it’s not nearly as expensive as the restaurants near the convention center.

I should have checked for bus times before I walked out the door, but standing at the bus stop for a while gave me a chance to check out two red headed flickers doing some kind of mating dance. The University of Texas is just down the hill, so lots of students wound their way to campus in what passes for college fashion in Austin. When it arrive, the bus took me around the university, past the Austin State Capitol building, and into downtown — my stop was just three blocks from where I needed to be. Taking the bus gave me a chance to gaze out the window at the neighborhood and get oriented, and if I couldn’t quite figure out the fare box, well, that’s the only thing that didn’t go perfectly.

I could have stayed right downtown, there are a zillion hotels there and it’s where all the action is this week, but I’m not a fan of big generic hotels, and honestly, the daytime activities leave my brain so full that there’s not much left of me by the time the sun goes down. It’s true, I might have more social opportunities were I not three miles away from the epicenter but honestly, I’m okay with that. I was happy to leave everything behind at 630, to get on the bus like a local, and to arrive at what passes for home for the next 5 days.