A getaway weekend

I spent the most wonderful time with some of the girls in Austin over the weekend. Minta, Casey, Jess, & I wanted to celebrate Casey’s birthday (it was last week) although I think we were having we-just-want-to-get-out-of-Denton moment. I have no idea how we decided ATX (Austin, TX) as our runaway location as well how I ended up being part of them. I honestly don’t know why I even agreed to join when I have just been there a few weeks ago. I hurried up & got done with most of the school work during the week. I was anxious about the trip, but I also didn’t know what to expect. I don’t go to road trips with girlfriends that often. Actually, this might have been my first…or second.

On Friday afternoon, four of us hopped into Minta’s car & drove down to ATX. Despite some struggle with fitting all of our luggage, due to women’s tendency of over packing with stuff, & torturous traffic in Ft. Worth, we arrived there safely. We soon after headed to Esther’s Follies, a comedy club which Minta highly recommended. This was my first visit to any kind of comedy club. For two hours we were amused by their jokes, people in the window who saw us with curious eyes, and unexplainable magic. They really liked to make sexual innuendo and make fun of politics. Nothing surprising  really.

That night we hit the 6th street with all four of us plus Andrew, Minta’s dearest friend. We spent a while exploring the bars & watching music videos (& occasional dancing) until Minta suffered an unfortunate accident – missing a step & “sort of” spraining her left ankle. At the hotel, we were extremely worried about her & ever-swelling ankle. When icing & other methods didn’t work on her, we all knew something terribly was wrong with that ankle, except for Minta herself.

The next day, we spent a few hours at the urgent care anxiously awaiting on the prognosis of her condition. Eventually we found out that Minta had a hairline fracture & required crutches. To this day, she denies of a fractured ankle. Whatever.

While Minta rested at Andrew’s apartment, rest of us explored Congress Ave where all the food trucks were at. Though this was my second visit already, I enjoyed the experience even more with the girls & had the right mindset to look around. Perhaps because I knew what I was looking for & identified with my likes. I spent large amount of times looking around boutique & vintage shops as well as artists markets. By the way, I LOVE artists markets & am a huge sucker for handmade, one-of-a-kind jewelries. I was so impressed with products that local people made & had a great urge to support their works. [ Below is the stuff I got from local jewelry makers. :) ]

We spent hours & hours on Congress Ave, trying our hands on different kinds of food & items. We also loved viewing the beautiful downtown, which looked incredibly new (building-wise) for some reason, & The Texas Capital.

On Saturday night we went to Trudys Tex Mex Restaurant for dinner. Despite an hour wait & a ridiculous congestion in the parking lot, we somehow managed to entertain ourselves by observing other drivers’ parking habits. I’m not sure how that could’ve been entertaining, but it sure was at that time. Strange phenomenon.

{An ultimate example of over-packed luggage (Casey’s) vs. compact packing (aka Asian style…me)}

We were all incredibly depressed when the last day in ATX had arrived. After checking out of our hotel & successfully loading all the luggage in a very neat way (good job, Casey), we headed ourselves back to Congress Ave to try Home Slice for lunch that Minta has talked about all weekend long.

We strolled around the area for another couple of hours…

We dragged ourselves back on the road home, tired but happy…sad but missing home. We loved the ATX experience because of so many little, unique shops that are unique to that city because of a certain hippy culture. Austin had the vibe of liberal, hippy, artistic, and yet laidback atmosphere unlike other Texas cities. I think living in such a conservative state makes us thirst for something completely different. We were sort of jealous that UT students had this great place to spend for 4 years…Denton seemed like the lackluster city compared to ATX.

I am however glad to be back home. I missed my comfortable bed, my clean apartment, and have a place that I can throw laundry everywhere. I am also grateful for the opportunity to spend the whole weekend with the girls – getting to know them better & devoting to hanging out without the worries about school (at least for the weekend). It’s always so surprising to visit the same place with two different types of experience, which made me convince to revisit other places I have enjoyed in the past. I feel rejuvenated & prepared for another few more weeks of intense work. It was a good, spontaneous getaway.  I’m looking forward to more road trips with the girls (hopefully).

PS- I also reconfirmed myself that I am allergic to ATX. If I ever want to live there in the future, I better stock some allergy medicine.