Wofford Travels – 2019-10-23 – Austin, TX-3
Greetings,
Day 3 and we’re getting a little later start: 12:00 PM. We drove to the Habana Restaurant, over 20 blocks away, for a Cuban lunch. The ambiance is…well, what can I say, Cuban, or at least South Florida. We decide to eat outside. The building is old. It had aluminum siding and lots of foliage: plants, and a couple of large trees, which literally went through the roof (no pun intended).
We both had the peccadillo and rice with frijoles Negros (black beans) and an extra order of maduros (plantains). We like to mix the rice and black beans together. When those two items are “cooked” together, it is called moros (short for moros and Christians, moros representing the dark-skinned Islamic North Africans who invaded Spain, and the rice representing European Spanish Christians). Thank you, Tom Wofford.
Back to the hotel, and then out again at 3:30. We always like to take a sweater or a light jacket when we head out for the day in case any of the buildings we enter are cold…sometimes the air conditioning can be excessive. Looking for my usual “Chico,” well-traveled, nylon jersey sweater, I didn’t see it and figured it was in the car. Then checking the car, I saw it wasn’t there either. Oh-oh…where did I leave it? Was it at the bar we went to last night, or at the Cuban restaurant? Think, think, think.
OK, it was at the Cuban restaurant because I remember telling Tom that I was putting my phone charger in the inside pocket. (NOTE: I originally purchased four of these sweaters, called the Mia sweater [you can’t find them today], in black, brown, navy, and red…every color they made.) Unfortunately, I have since lost the black one. But, I love them because they are made of the heavier Chico travel line and have two side pockets and two generous inside pockets. I can put all kinds of “stuff” in them when I’m scurrying around. I called the restaurant, and voilà, it was there and the manager was holding it. Now, one’s first instinct is to go immediately and pick it up, but Tom, the pragmatic one, said that it would alter our schedule (we were standing at the bus stop when I called) and just to tell them that we would pick it up tomorrow. Take a deep breath!
We took the bus to the Bullock Texas State History Museum. However, by the time we got there it was about 4:10 and the museum closed at 5:00. What we didn’t know was that there was an $11.00 charge. Now, we have no problem with the fee, but we didn’t want to spend the money and only have 50 minutes to go through the whole museum. We asked how much time people usually spent there and we were advised 1 ½ to 2 hours. So, cancel that visit. We would return tomorrow.
Instead, we decided to check out the exterior of the Capitol…too late to go inside there as well. But, the building provides a wonderful photo op. And, there are some pretty impressive statues on the Capitol grounds. Some we did see are: Hood’s Brigade, Terry’s Texas Rangers, Heroes of the Alamo, Confederate Soldiers, and Volunteer Firemen. There were 17 more that we didn’t see…maybe we’ll have time tomorrow…not sure.
We slowly started to head back towards the clubs. I stopped in a couple of shops along the way. And, guess what? I made a purchase…surprise! Meanwhile, Tom chilled outside, you know, the shopper vs. the non-shopper! Thank you for your patience, Tom!
By 6:00 PM we arrived at the Elephant Room (a live jazz venue described as “30 years young”) in the basement of a downtown building. A choir member recommended the place, so a thank you to Blake! The featured group was Violet Crown Review with Liz Morphis. Unfortunately, Liz had been in a car accident, and although she was OK, she could not make the performance. Instead, the band, led by guitarist J.D. Pendley, with an excellent upright bass player, and drummer, performed for the evening. It was very enjoyable…nice to hear some “easy listening” jazz music. The audience enjoyed the occasional banter. The room was a long rectangular shape, so it was good that we got up front and could enjoy the sound “close up.”
Our next stop was Antone’s, billed as “Austin’s Home of the Blues.” We came in during one of the performances. We didn’t know the name of the group (two amplified acoustic guitar players and a drummer), but the front singer/guitarist/ harmonica player was excellent. I couldn’t leave without knowing who he was, so I walked up to him after the show and inquired. This led to a 5-minute conversation in which I said, “You have to meet my husband,” as I figured Tom would be interested in his take on the Austin music scene. He came by and chatted with us another 15 minutes or so. He seemed to appreciate our interest, especially, when I told him that he was so proficient that it looked like he could perform in his sleep. He said that that was what he wanted people to feel. Turns out, this was “Bill Carter, musician,” what he goes by on social media. Apparently, he has played around the world. He and his wife are songwriters and he said that he has written about 250 songs, a couple made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughn, one being, “Caught in the Crossfire.” He filled us in about the music happenings in Austin, having lived in the city since the 70’s. It was all fascinating, and most informative to hear.
The group afterwards, which was the band we had planned to see, was not the “girl” band that Tom thought it was. It had an excellent female lead guitar player (could compete with many of the males I have heard) an excellent blues piano player who sang a few songs, a bassist (who also sang some songs) and a drummer. The “front” performer was Eva Chambers. We stayed for an hour and it was a good show (are there any bad ones?!), but felt we got enough of the flavor of the music that we could leave. On the way out, I picked up some “Austin” T-shirts, of course.
What to do for dinner? There was “Whataburger” again…I think not. So we walked back to our hotel, got in the car and drove down Congress and found the “Magnolia Café,” an all nighter. Yahoo! I ordered an omelet with chunk potatoes and black beans while Tom had chicken breast with hot Mexican sauce and sides of spinach and broccoli.
Then back to the hotel and lights out.
Tomorrow we hope to check out the Texas Museum, and take a Capitol tour.
Tita