"That's right; you're not from Texas.
But Texas wants you anyway." --Lyle Lovett
As I prepare to leave Texas for California (another state that believes it should be its own country), I feel moved to record here all that I've learned and loved about the Lone Star State. As you may recall, the decision to land here two years raised quite a few eyebrows among my Left Coast nearest and dearest.
"Texas," they said. "Texas..."
And in that emphasis-not-mine was captured George W, the deep-red politics embodied by wacky presidential hopeful and current governor Rick Perry, big hair and an obsession with competitive sports. Even in the liberal heart of Austin, there was suspicion that the capital city would merely be Texas Lite, blue-state around the gills, but still decidedly ten-gallon and big-belt-buckled.
I'm pleased to report that Texas and Austin have exceeded my expectations on every occasion. Although, it's true I have not found a permanent home here, I have found much to love. Texas deserves much of its reputation. (No one here has forgotten the Alamo!) And, as always, there is more to any place than its list of stereotypes and cliches.
I will miss the socializing that a trip to supermarket in Austin always entailed. I'd be inspecting a label or waiting at the check-out and inevitably a perfect stranger would strike up a conversation. We'd discuss any number of topics: the items in our carts, the weather, upcoming events or the celebrity scandals in the magazines, just to name a few greatest hits. Conversations happened other places too. Invariably whenever I'd wear my Northwestern t-shirt between September and December someone would ask me how the football team was doing--and never seemed to care I didn't know. When a friend from New York came to visit, I warned her about this phenomenon, but she didn't believe me--until we were standing in line at Whole Foods. "This is unbelievable," she said, tapping her foot Manhattan-style as the man in front of us chatted away with the checker. "There are people waiting in line." (i.e.: us) While I was less of a New York toe-tapper, it also took me awhile to adjust. I was accustom to my urban bubble-of-personal-space being respected. When the first Texan burst it my second evening in Austin, I hardly knew what to do. But now I'll miss it. There's something to be said about breaching that urban bubble and leaving the store with a smile, more often than not. I haven't turned into an extrovert in this most extroverted of places, but I've come to appreciate that unapologetic friendliness.
West Texas around Big Bend
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Tabled buttes, painted-desert rocks, jagged peaks, big sky...this area of Texas is stunning, nary a tumbleweed in sight. It is also home to the McDonald Observatory, which transmits Star Date on your local public radio station; the artist haven of Marfa and Guadalupe Peak, the tallest mountain in the state.
Amazing Bikram yoga studios
If you ever find yourself in Austin and have a chance to take a class at any of Pure Bikram Yoga's four studios, don't hesitate for a minute! This is the cream-of-the-crop as far as Bikram studios go and nowhere I've practiced anywhere in the world comes close. What makes an amazing Bikram studio? Excellent teachers, high-ceiled rooms, super-grip carpet and a less-than-pervasive sweaty smell. (It's Bikram, so you can't eliminate it completely, but Pure Bikram does a good job...) It's been my home-away-from-home here in Austin. I'm sad to be leaving right when almost every teacher knows my name.
Whole Foods flagship store
From the beginning my second home-away-from-home has been the vast Whole Foods flagship on North Lamar. While the super-pricey supermarket has gone corporate since its humble start in 1980, the flagship store drew me in with its free wi-fi, plentiful cafe-style seating, unbeatable people watching and endless selection of food to eat while working. Which I did almost every Sunday morning (and some Saturdays) for two years. I only recently started doing occasional grocery shopping there, preferring instead to treat it as a dining-out location. The price tag for breakfast or dinner certainly matched any restaurant around.
The cost of living
First of all, Texas has no state income tax. 'Nuf said. Second of all, it's possible to get out of a fairly nice restaurant with alcohol and dessert for less than $60. Not kidding. Third of all, I paid $735/month during my first year for a two-bedroom apartment. Seriously. Fourth of all, gas is currently $3.38/gallon. Yup. Lastly, my car insurance is under $1,000/year. Sigh. I love that California is my home, and I truly cannot wait to move back. I still wish it were a little more affordable.
The weather
I've been cleaning out my closets after two years in Austin (and two years before that in Abu Dhabi) and I don't think I've quite come to terms with how inadequately I'm wardrobed for a return to the Bay Area. Fortunately, this year I've been given or have acquired enough wool/outerwear to keep me going until I can re-acclimate (plus, the gorgeous, unseasonably warm winter/spring has me hopeful). I am relieved to be living in the East Bay, where the sun shines warmer and with more frequency. But as I listen to the Austin weather report every morning on my way to work, it has slowly dawned on me that Austin's low this time of year (@ 75 F) would be a heatwave where I'm heading.
Buddha's Brew cranberry kombucha, Texas barbecue and breakfast tacos
The cuisine of Texas is as distinct as the state itself. While I've enjoyed my share of Tex-Mex, I've actually spent more time longing for a real California burrito (virtually non-existent here) than digging into enchiladas, tamales or bowl of queso (which means cheese in Spanish, but melted cheese product here). The Austin foods I will miss most are not replicable anywhere else in the world. I haven't even left yet, but the cravings have already begun.
Buddha's Brew is a local brand and their cranberry flavor will forever be synonymous with kombucha. (For those of you who don't know, kombucha is wonderful slightly fermented, though non-alcoholic, yeast-based pro-biotic drink that, I promise, is a lot more appetizing than it sounds.) Cranberry is the best flavor by far, and I would import it to the Bay Area if I could. Instead, I'll make it my mission to find a California equivalent.
I'm not the first, nor will I be the last to extol the virtues of smokey, saucy Texas barbecue, so different than its cousins farther and deeper South. From brisket to ribs to the accompanying stacks of squishy white bread and pickles, Texas barbecue is hard to describe but impossible to forget. Shout out to both Franklin's and The Salt Lick. If you are ever in Austin, don't miss either spot.
Before I moved to Austin, a friend sent me a New York Times article about the breakfast taco phenomenon. Allow me to say, this town has lived up to the hype, so much so that I can hardly conceive of a breakfast now that does not involve a tortilla. Breakfast tacos are available everywhere here, from the whole-wheat-and-avocado veggie variety to the mound of potatoes, bacon and eggs as big as your head at local restaurant favorite Juan in a Million. Add a little salsa, and you're set for the day.
As excited I am to be heading home, I will never regret the two years I spent in Texas, and I don't plan to make a secret of the fact to anyone in the Golden State who'd like to throw down with me about it. Apparently, it's taken living in one of the most conservative states in the union to make me more open-minded--just another example of the paradox Texas offers, whether it means to or not. I'm definitely looking forward to returning for a visit. After all, I never did see it...
But Texas wants you anyway." --Lyle Lovett
As I prepare to leave Texas for California (another state that believes it should be its own country), I feel moved to record here all that I've learned and loved about the Lone Star State. As you may recall, the decision to land here two years raised quite a few eyebrows among my Left Coast nearest and dearest."Texas," they said. "Texas..."
And in that emphasis-not-mine was captured George W, the deep-red politics embodied by wacky presidential hopeful and current governor Rick Perry, big hair and an obsession with competitive sports. Even in the liberal heart of Austin, there was suspicion that the capital city would merely be Texas Lite, blue-state around the gills, but still decidedly ten-gallon and big-belt-buckled.
I'm pleased to report that Texas and Austin have exceeded my expectations on every occasion. Although, it's true I have not found a permanent home here, I have found much to love. Texas deserves much of its reputation. (No one here has forgotten the Alamo!) And, as always, there is more to any place than its list of stereotypes and cliches.
What I love about Texas and Austin
People who are honest-to-goodness, unabashedly friendly. And chatty.I will miss the socializing that a trip to supermarket in Austin always entailed. I'd be inspecting a label or waiting at the check-out and inevitably a perfect stranger would strike up a conversation. We'd discuss any number of topics: the items in our carts, the weather, upcoming events or the celebrity scandals in the magazines, just to name a few greatest hits. Conversations happened other places too. Invariably whenever I'd wear my Northwestern t-shirt between September and December someone would ask me how the football team was doing--and never seemed to care I didn't know. When a friend from New York came to visit, I warned her about this phenomenon, but she didn't believe me--until we were standing in line at Whole Foods. "This is unbelievable," she said, tapping her foot Manhattan-style as the man in front of us chatted away with the checker. "There are people waiting in line." (i.e.: us) While I was less of a New York toe-tapper, it also took me awhile to adjust. I was accustom to my urban bubble-of-personal-space being respected. When the first Texan burst it my second evening in Austin, I hardly knew what to do. But now I'll miss it. There's something to be said about breaching that urban bubble and leaving the store with a smile, more often than not. I haven't turned into an extrovert in this most extroverted of places, but I've come to appreciate that unapologetic friendliness.
West Texas around Big Bend
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Tabled buttes, painted-desert rocks, jagged peaks, big sky...this area of Texas is stunning, nary a tumbleweed in sight. It is also home to the McDonald Observatory, which transmits Star Date on your local public radio station; the artist haven of Marfa and Guadalupe Peak, the tallest mountain in the state. Amazing Bikram yoga studios
If you ever find yourself in Austin and have a chance to take a class at any of Pure Bikram Yoga's four studios, don't hesitate for a minute! This is the cream-of-the-crop as far as Bikram studios go and nowhere I've practiced anywhere in the world comes close. What makes an amazing Bikram studio? Excellent teachers, high-ceiled rooms, super-grip carpet and a less-than-pervasive sweaty smell. (It's Bikram, so you can't eliminate it completely, but Pure Bikram does a good job...) It's been my home-away-from-home here in Austin. I'm sad to be leaving right when almost every teacher knows my name.
Whole Foods flagship store
From the beginning my second home-away-from-home has been the vast Whole Foods flagship on North Lamar. While the super-pricey supermarket has gone corporate since its humble start in 1980, the flagship store drew me in with its free wi-fi, plentiful cafe-style seating, unbeatable people watching and endless selection of food to eat while working. Which I did almost every Sunday morning (and some Saturdays) for two years. I only recently started doing occasional grocery shopping there, preferring instead to treat it as a dining-out location. The price tag for breakfast or dinner certainly matched any restaurant around.
The cost of living
First of all, Texas has no state income tax. 'Nuf said. Second of all, it's possible to get out of a fairly nice restaurant with alcohol and dessert for less than $60. Not kidding. Third of all, I paid $735/month during my first year for a two-bedroom apartment. Seriously. Fourth of all, gas is currently $3.38/gallon. Yup. Lastly, my car insurance is under $1,000/year. Sigh. I love that California is my home, and I truly cannot wait to move back. I still wish it were a little more affordable.
The weather
I've been cleaning out my closets after two years in Austin (and two years before that in Abu Dhabi) and I don't think I've quite come to terms with how inadequately I'm wardrobed for a return to the Bay Area. Fortunately, this year I've been given or have acquired enough wool/outerwear to keep me going until I can re-acclimate (plus, the gorgeous, unseasonably warm winter/spring has me hopeful). I am relieved to be living in the East Bay, where the sun shines warmer and with more frequency. But as I listen to the Austin weather report every morning on my way to work, it has slowly dawned on me that Austin's low this time of year (@ 75 F) would be a heatwave where I'm heading.
Buddha's Brew cranberry kombucha, Texas barbecue and breakfast tacos
The cuisine of Texas is as distinct as the state itself. While I've enjoyed my share of Tex-Mex, I've actually spent more time longing for a real California burrito (virtually non-existent here) than digging into enchiladas, tamales or bowl of queso (which means cheese in Spanish, but melted cheese product here). The Austin foods I will miss most are not replicable anywhere else in the world. I haven't even left yet, but the cravings have already begun.
I'm not the first, nor will I be the last to extol the virtues of smokey, saucy Texas barbecue, so different than its cousins farther and deeper South. From brisket to ribs to the accompanying stacks of squishy white bread and pickles, Texas barbecue is hard to describe but impossible to forget. Shout out to both Franklin's and The Salt Lick. If you are ever in Austin, don't miss either spot.
Before I moved to Austin, a friend sent me a New York Times article about the breakfast taco phenomenon. Allow me to say, this town has lived up to the hype, so much so that I can hardly conceive of a breakfast now that does not involve a tortilla. Breakfast tacos are available everywhere here, from the whole-wheat-and-avocado veggie variety to the mound of potatoes, bacon and eggs as big as your head at local restaurant favorite Juan in a Million. Add a little salsa, and you're set for the day.
As excited I am to be heading home, I will never regret the two years I spent in Texas, and I don't plan to make a secret of the fact to anyone in the Golden State who'd like to throw down with me about it. Apparently, it's taken living in one of the most conservative states in the union to make me more open-minded--just another example of the paradox Texas offers, whether it means to or not. I'm definitely looking forward to returning for a visit. After all, I never did see it...
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