Picky and Healthy

Warning loads and loads of pictures ahead!

First, there are no words to explain how HOT Austin is. NYC is hot, NYC this summer has been pretty damn unbearable, but NYC has NOTHING on Austin, TX!

I was outside on Saturday from maybe 10:30 until 1:15 and then I just couldn’t take it any more. And I spent about 45 minutes of that 2 hours and 45 minutes inside!

What did I do? I explored Austin!

I started the day with a 40 minute elliptical workout. I’ve really been slacking on my workouts lately and I was pretty sore from running on Friday, but I powered through and felt great afterwards.

I came back upstairs, showered, and ordered granola-citrus blueberry pancakes.

It was supposed to have a citrus salad. Yeah, I don’t see it. But it was good. I needed more maple syrup though.

Then I was off to downtown Austin.

I stopped by the Austin Visitor’s Center (despite my GPS trying to tell me it was somewhere else) and some very helpful people gave me lots of brochures and information. I decided to do the self-guided walking tour of historic Congress Ave. and E. Sixth St.. Ready?

First stop was the Driskill Hotel, the “grande dame” of Austin hotels.

It was built in 1886 for $400,000, including furnishings, by a cattle baron. It has the largest arched doorway in Texas and Lyndon Johnson kept a suite at the hotel throughout his political career–in fact he was at the Driskill the night of the 1964 election.

(I’m pretty sure that’s the largest arched-entrance in TX.)

Next stop, the Littlefield Building which was built in 1910, completed in 1912, and, for a short time, was the tallest building between New Orleans and San Francisco (it’s 9 stories!).

Next (and I’m skipping lots of stops for the sake of brevity) was the Walter Tips Building which incorporates interior columns and girders made of recast exploded Confederate shells (pretty cool!).

Next up was the Eugene Bremond Building which was used as the executive offices for the presidents of the Republic of Texas and later governors of the State of Texas.

It now houses a Chipotle.

Next was the M.M. Long Livery Stable where the Austin Opera House moved in 1874, a newspaper at the time said a performer fainted from the smell of manure!

Next was the Old Bakery. Nothing of extra special interest here, I just thought it was a cool building.

Finally I arrived at the Capitol Building! Designed to look similar to the US Capitol Building and built by prison laborers and 62 stonecutters from Scotland, the structure was completed in 1888 and was said to be the seventh largest government building in the world.

In fact, it’s 14.64 feet TALLER than the US Capitol Building!

I took some time to explore the grounds…

And then I wandered into a Tea Party Rally. Pretty normal, right?

Well it certainly wasn’t normal for this northern girl! I mean no disrespect by posting these pictures, I find the whole movement fascinating. I totally support people’s right to gather and protest. Although I don’t agree with them, I think anyone who’s engaged and passionate about what’s happening around them deserves credit.

And my favorite:

Moving on, I decided to go into the Capitol Building and explore.

Right in the lobby is a picture of one of my favorite historical figures

Davy Crockett!! I must have watched the Davy Crockett movie 100 times as a kid. My brother and I loved it. I can still sing the whole song.

I tore myself away from Davy and continued onto the rest of the building. It’s absolutely gorgeous inside, take a look for yourself!

And then I went back in the heat to explore the grounds a little bit more.

Then I decided to walk down to the water and see how the walking/biking/running paths are.

But it was too hot to really do anything else so I walked back to my car and headed to lunch.

I decided to eat at Matt’s El Rancho.

I had some VERY good Mexican food. The salsa was too spicy for me and I LOVE spicy and my margarita left something to be desired, but the chicken guacamole enchiladas were amazing and the rice and refried beans were delicious. I highly recommend checking out Matt’s if you’re in Austin. Plus they have lots of parking and it’s a huge place. I went around 1:30 and didn’t have to wait at all.

After lunch I decided I wanted dessert to bring back to the hotel so I headed to a cupcake place. When I got there it was just insane, so many people, no parking, so I gave up on that (I didn’t want to wander around in the heat any more) and headed to Walton’s.

It was super cute inside (no parking but I found a spot right on the street) and I got a cupcake. However, the staff was so rude! No one greeted me (they greeted everyone else who came in) and I just got a very rude, unfriendly vibe as I was checking out. So, Sandra Bullock (who owns Walton’s), I know this divorce can’t be easy, but get your staff to put better game faces on.

I ended my day in Austin at the flagship Whole Foods.

It was very overwhelming! I wandered around lost for a while but ended up buying a single-serving box of Sangria and watermelon for Saturday night and then yogurt, granola, berries, and OJ for breakfast this morning.

I got back to the hotel around 4pm and had planned to go hang out by the pool, but the idea of being outside just sounded so awful that I couldn’t do it. So I hung out in the AC of my room

Luckily my room had a fridge and I manged to stuff it full of food.

For dinner I had my leftover California Pizza Kitchen from yesterday’s lunch.

It’s the tostada pizza without tortilla crisps and the white corn guacamole and chips.

I also had some watermelon from Whole Foods

and an individual-sized box of Sangria

Over ice it was perfect!

And not to be forgotten, my cupcake from Walton’s

It used to look nicer but after going flying after an unfortunate break slamming incident on the highway it no longer looked quite as nice. Still tasted good thought!