OUR INTRODUCTION TO AUSTIN, TEXAS (Cheri)

Mark and I spent a couple of days in Austin on our way to spend time with his father and family over Father's Day.

As we drove in on 6th Street - the historic entertainment center of the City - my first thought was that I was never coming back . . . the sad thing is that Austin is having the same downtown problems that San Francisco is, drug addicts covering the sidewalks.

We stayed at the Driskill Hotel, above and below:

I was surprised that the price for the hotel was about the same as traditional hotel chains in the suburbs, until we a) saw all the addicts, and b) learned that parking was $55 a night!  (Not much use price-shopping nearby parking lots, either.)

The Driskill is close to the state capital, and was the location of Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson's first date.

A selection of the art in the lobbies and bar:

We decided to limit our trip to two nights, instead of three, and head south to see family a little earlier, but before that I met with a quilting friend I'd met in Blanco, Texas on an earlier trip. 

She's a former theater costumer, so I took a purse I'd made to show her, but forgot and had to text her a picture of it in my Target cart after the fact:

As we headed over to the LBJ Presidential Library on Friday, Austin began to grown on me.  Architecture!  Downtown, at least, has a really interesting variety of both Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern buildings.  We will probably go back - not in the summer - and walk the area.

We had breakfast at the Red River Cafe, where this painting caught my eye:

Apparently the chef is the artist!  One of the waitresses told me that he used to sell prints, so who knows, you might be able to obtain one yourself.