Days 3-4 Howdy Chris! + Staying Weird in Austin
New Orleans, Louisiana
Houston, Texas
Austin, Texas
Nawlins’ Takeaways
As Tom and I hit the road bound for Houston, Texas, I thought about our brief but charming visit to New Orleans. It really was incredibly quaint and lovely to walk about the streets with no crowds and few cars. But the truth was it was a ghost town and we experienced more of a hollow shell of a city that most other days demands your attention. Many shops and restaurants were closed and hardly any cars were on the road. My friend Sarah insisted we should come back when the city is alive again. She said that typically this is a slow time of the season - but as of that day, COVID cases had spiked to the highest count per day yet and people were responding.
Suffice it to say that to truly experience the liveliness and spice of New Orleans, we were missing a key component. The people and the spirit of this city - and all cities - are what make each of these subcultures so unique and remarkable. Certainly, the closed storefronts with all the glitter and rainbow colored items relegated to the shadows of the dark shop windows didn’t help, but it was the absence of people and their presence that depleted the intrigue and energy we’d come to be a part of. Mardi Gras next time around? Stay tuned...!
Tregre Family Roots with Chris in Houston
Our road trip route took us to Houston for a special family stop to meet up with my cousin, Chris! Chris is the son of my dad’s sister, Gayle and he’s lived in Texas all his life. He’s lived in Houston since 2014 when he moved from Dallas for a big opportunity in broadcast radio. For those of you who don’t know, my dad was raised in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas and his side of my family still largely resides in the lone star state. Chris and I last saw each other at my wedding in Delray Beach, Florida back in February of 2020 so we had a lot to catch up on!
We met Chris at Pappasita’s, a fan favorite Tex Mex joint just south of downtown Houston. Some years ago, Chris took on the task of creating an historical family tree of the Tregre family roots and in the process, he uncovered a plethora of family connections, descendants and historical factoids. The Tregres were originally from Louisiana and Chris told us that when he visited the state, he found a road named ‘Tregre Road,’ nearby Baton Rouge, relaying that ‘Tregre’ name was very common and popular in this area. He saw a plantation on the property at the intersection of Tregre Road and dug into its history out of interest. He found out that it was a plantation currently owned by the ancestors of the slaves that worked on the plantation however many generations ago! How wild is that? What a plight of redemption and resilience. Chris - thank you for the tacos al pastor and beer and for an awesome family reunion!
Getting Weird in Austin
En route to Austin, Texas and just after leaving the city of Houston, we found ourselves driving through a barrage of capitalist manifestations. I told Tom that this must be a visual depiction of what it means when they say everything is bigger in Texas! The movie theaters, the shopping plazas and malls we drove by, even the freeways (Interstate W 10 is around 18 lanes wide!), were all colossal. From the biggest manufacturing plants and distribution centers of corporate name brands, to the oil refineries left and right and everywhere in between, I couldn’t help but to think - THIS is a true portrait of American capitalism.
The sun was shining and the clouds had lifted as we drove over the hill and the city skyline of Austin, Texas emerged in the distance. We parked at our hotel just east of downtown and decided to explore the food truck scene for a lunch break. While many of the food trucks weren’t open (big surprise right?) we found a cute and open taco stand, inhaled a taco apiece and chugged a Jarritos before making our way to Zilker park. We were tempted by the scooters and bikes for rent that were scattered across the city sidewalks and parks like downtown Atlanta once was. We hopped on some Birds and flew the nest with the sun in our faces and our layers to guard us from the 40 degree wind chill.
Austin, Texas
As we scooted across the city alongside the park and the glistening river, I started to unravel the appeal and all the hype that Austin has garnered in the past decade as an American city to watch. On this particularly beautiful blue sky day, the prolific food trucks, the local boutique shops and restaurants, the mellow vibes of the few people we encountered including a couple offering free hugs, and the down to earth overtones of Austin, were easy to appreciate and embrace. We finished our scoot at South Congress Avenue, the go-to street for all things funky and ‘weird’ by Austin standards - food, shopping, bars, food trucks, etc. The rolling avenue that leads directly into the heart of downtown Austin was eclectic and had character, but it was slightly underwhelming based on what I’d expected. Yet again, this all too common theme of no people or patrons became the obvious culprit of city life-sucking.
After we warmed up at the hotel, we headed out for drinks and dinner in a different part of town we’d yet to explore. Blue Owl Brewing was our first stop and they touted sours as their specialty brews. Tom had a blueberry cobbler sour ale and you could actually taste the full array of cobbler pastry flavors - it was very Willy Wonka-esque! I had a dragon fruit sour and a tart kolsch - both were incredibly fruity and flavorful and I’d highly recommend trying this brewery if you’re a fan of sours.
For dinner, we dared to try a Japanese and Texas BBQ fusion restaurant called Kemuri Tatsu-Ya just a few minutes away from the brewery. We had to bear the cold and sit in a covered yet heated outdoor patio to eat, but the food was well worth it! We had a round of Kirin Ichiban beers and started with a perfectly smoked chicken thigh over a deconstructed egg salad. The mix of flavors and the consistency of the egg salad were a killer combo! Then we had an assortment of 4 different types of gourmet skewers - each was savory and delightful in its own right. This restaurant was an unexpected surprise!
After waking up in Austin, we got an early start to drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico to see the Carlsbad Caverns - the first of the National Parks we’ll be visiting! We can’t wait to trek these caverns and we’ll share our journey in our next post so stay tuned…
