What happens in Austin, stays in Austin

Oh, who am I kidding? I want to tell you ALL about it!


I arrived in Austin on Saturday afternoon around 1. From the airport I grabbed the cheap shuttle into downtown, where I wandered around a bit waiting for Sar to arrive (we'd taken separate flights). It was a nice day, clear skies, so I schlepped up Congress Street to see the Capitol. Not too much to see there, but a nice building and grounds. Schlepped down the street to check out the public library (I've got a thing for public libraries - it must be genetic), where I saw a man doing an energetic puppet performance for a bunch of rapt children. Walked around quite a bit trying to locate the tourist center (I think my map was lying to me...I needed Google Maps!). Finally, relented and crossed the river down to our lovely temporary home at the Austin Motel. The Austin Motel has the quirky, '50's appeal of a place you'd pause at for a rest on a long drive headed somewhere else. We were in Room 133, where Sar had stayed before.

Once I connected up with Sar, we walked around the Southern Congress area (AKA SoCo). There are lots of funky shops lining the street, selling clothes and trinkets. We managed to pick up a few souvenirs for those folks not quite lucky enough to make the trip. Later on that night, we made our way further north in Austin to have dinner at El Patio restaurant, where we dined on chips, salsa, tacos, and something that may or may not have been a chalupa. Man, is Texan food filling! I was full all the way through our stroll around the UT campus on the way to the Student Union, where we played pool and did some glow bowling. Good times!

Ah...Sunday. At last. Woke up late and trekked downtown for breakfast at an "Austin institution," Las Manitas Avenue Cafe. It was very tasty and very busy. Sar and I had hibiscus tea and migas especiales con hongos, which is eggs scrambled with garlic, mushrooms, onions and tortillas strips, topped with cheese. The crowd was diverse and not at all touristy. After gorging ourselves, we walked west to BookPeople, Texas' largest independent bookstore. If there's one thing I love as much as I love libraries, it's bookstores. We trolled around looking for a belt for Josh, but found him an elk belt buckle instead. Too bad the boots were about $500 - some of them were pretty darn cute.

Sar and I stopped by another Austin institution, Stubb's, for a quick bite before we headed to the Veronica Marsathon. Mmm...barbeque...:) The place is famous for its live music, but we were there in the off hours, so it was quiet and pretty empty. The BBQ was delicious though, and fast enough that we made it over to the Alamo Drafthouse in time.


The Drafthouse is awesome. Let me say that to begin. It's on EW's list of best theaters in America, and is Austin's only independent theater. They serve food and drinks in the theater, during the movie, and waiters travel between rows of seats to put the food on the counters. Perfect.

Once we got into the theater, we nabbed some good, central seats, and waited for the band to take the stage. The Daylight Titans had some music on the show once, so they made some relevant jokes and anecdotes. They were surprisingly good once they started - I should've bought their CD, but was kinda out of cash at that point. Blast! From behind me, I could hear Rob Thomas, the creator of Veronica Mars, heckling the band, his friends. Cool.

Then, the panel. Rob, Kristen (Veronica), and Jason (Logan) took the stage to highly enthusiastic cheers. No surprise, in person they look just like they do on TV. Rob is a friendly looking guy, dudded up in a suit, very open and intelligent. He showed a bunch of clips of the show and told anecdotes about each one. Kristen and Jason sat off to the side and didn't comment much about the clips, but they did make a bit of fun of Rob and whisper to each other throughout Rob's commentary.

The Q & A was mostly directed at Rob - people had questions about the future of the show and the relationships and past scripts and whatnot. There were lots of jokes, lots of good-natured ribbing from all the cast. Kristen and Jason didn't have too much to say, but seemed very appreciative of the fans overall. Jason said some interesting stuff about his character and how he thought that Logan could only get out of the bad path he's on with some help from Veronica. He said it in a real sweet way, seems like a real romantic. Kristin seems more professional and detached (not in a bad way; I think she just likes more privacy), but Jason is really energetic and focused. Jason likes to cuss, and say 'rad' and 'man' a lot, if this interview is any indication. (Abbey, don't read any of the other recaps on that site! No spoilers for you!), but none of that came out in the panel, to my dismay. One interesting thing Rob said was that from reading forums, he noticed the repeated comment that Veronica is more passive this season, so they're taking steps to have her be more actively involved in future investigations, etc. Nice to know our feedback makes a difference. :)

Then, the episode. Oh, man. What to say? It completely blew me away. Maybe it built up a bit slow, but it completely came through in the end. I don't want to say too much about it, because Mom, Grandma, and Abbey haven't seen it yet (along with most of the world), but suffice to say it challenged some things I thought were true and set up some things that will be interesting to watch later on. I can dish more after it airs on January 25th. I am psyched for everyone to see it!

Overall, it was amazing, and absolutely worth it. Impulsive, frivolous, and completely fun. It feels good to try something spontaneous and have it turn out well.