The NISOD conference

The business part of the trip was the NISOD conference....I attended one session that was outstanding, three that were very worthwhile, two that were definitely so-so and four that were REALLY bad! Overall, I would have to give the conference a very "average" rating.

Having said that I am glad I went, it was a very good week!

The Conference center was absolutely massive!

I think there were about 2000? participants (total guess)

NISOD only used a small part of the convention center

Dinner - the key note speaker during this lunch was awesome and the best part of the conference

Austin - Miscellaneous "Tourist Attractions"

I did try and see as much of Austin as I could...but found that much to my suprise, there were not that  many "touristy" things to do. Here is a sundry list of Austin attractions

Austin is very proud to be "weird". In fact, it is the only place in Texas that has not traditionally voted Republican in the Presidential elections. There are numerous artists, hippies and musicians.....and despite being in the heart of Texas - they are even for gun control!

Downtown was also strange...there would be 40 story skyscrapers, next to one story warehouses and empty lots

There is a large lake park in the middle of the city (called Lady Bird Lake)

 The lake is formed by damming the Colorado river

A statue of Stevie Ray Vaugh - who it turns out was born and raised in Austin

This was a cool (and VERY popular) place a couple of miles away from the hotel called the Barton Springs pool. This is a natural pool that people use to cool off from the summer heat.

Our last night after dinner we went to this bridge to see the Congress Bridge bat colony go out hunting at night. There were quite a few, but in mid-summer I guess some 1.5 million bats live and hunt from this location

Not our video...but this is what it looks like

Austin - Love the Food!

Austin has tons of restaurants...and we ate at several that were just excellent!

The first night - Jackie, Nancy and I tried Moonshines....(a bit pricey, but great food)

A roof-top patio on Pecan street

This waiter at this restaurant was quite a character - he was loud, proud and carried quite an attitude.....he did warm up to us by the end of dinner (when he got his tip!)

There is tons of variety...from very modern, to a number of good ole texas BBQ places (this one was called the Iron Works...and was my favourite place in Austin)

I think EVERY restaurant had a roof top patio

Austin (May 26 - 30th) - Austin is Famous For 3 Things....

Austin as a Tourist

May 26th - My quick trip to San Antonio is now over (which is disappointing because San Antonio is a really very cool). I am definitely hoping to make it back one day.

Anyway, had a bit of a sleep in, a quick dip in the pool, breakfast....then checked out of the hotel and hit the road back to Austin. I got into Austin mid-afternoon, took the rental car back to the airport, grabbed a cab and headed to downtown Austin, checked into the hotel I was going to stay at during the conference (The Hilton Garden Inn - $170 per night - special conference rate!!!!)

The hotel was OK....nothing fancy, but it was one block away from the conference center and in the heart of Austin, therefore it really was in a great location.

I was going to meet Jacquie and Nancy for dinner - and despite the fact that it was hot as hell - mid to high 90's, I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon walking around to get a "feel" for the city.

It did not take long to see that Austin's 3 major "claims to fame" (in no particular order)

Claim to Fame #1

 It is the home of THE University of Texas (the Longhorns) - and as you can imagine, the city/University is definitely "over the top" regarding their football team

The Main Entrance to the campus (featuring the famous UT Bell Tower....actually kind of infamous....in 1966 a University of Texas student named Charles Whitman perched himself at the top of this tower and started shooting. Before he was shot dead by police, he had killed 13 people and injured many more)

On a happier note - also on campus is the Longhorn's football stadium (plus their 25,000 seat practice facility plus the indoor air conditioned practice facility plus the alumni lounge, the longhorn store etc. etc.) 

It is hard to use pictures to show just how huge this thing was - the main stadium seats approx 107,000 fans!

 I was able to use the ole "Hi, I am from Canada, and a huge Longhorn fan can I see fill in the blank" (luckily they did not ask me to tell them how many national championships the team has won....the answer to that is 5 by the way)....but the security guard was REALLY nice and gave me a quick tour of the facilities and the alumni lounge.

As I said, they take their football VERY seriously

This is the display room of past University of Texas football greats - Vince Young, Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams etc. just to name a few.

Claim to Fame #2
It is the State Capital of Texas, and in keeping with the "everything is bigger in Texas saying", the state capital building is taller than the U.S. State Capital in Washington. Tours of the building are free...but only after clearing some SERIOUS security (way more than at any airport I've been through).

Also, one piece of trivia....George Bush Jr. was the Governor of Texas, prior to his becoming the U.S. President (pretty sure they want to try and forget that one...on both accounts).

Claim to Fame #3

It is a party town - Austin is the self-declared live music capital of America....and 6th Street (or Pecan Street) is where it all happens....it is ALL about bars, pubs and restaurants. It is hard to believe that having just stated this...I of all people would say that this town is not for me...but it really wasn't.

It seems to be kind of like the "Fort Lauderdale" of Texas. It is very much a college age crowd and sadly, I think I am now officially an old guy. $1 draft and $2 shots really are no longer how I choose the bars I go to (not sure when THAT happened!) However, I will say that I think my kids would have thought they died and went to heaven if they saw 6th Street

It is/was pretty quiet in the daytime....and I'm not even sure how many pubs and bars there are....but it is basically 7 or 8 solid blocks of nothing but bars...with most, if not all, having live music some time during the week or month.

This was a bakery/beer garden....great business synergy?

Outdoor beer pong courts.....they take their partying seriously...as also shown by the pub crawl wagon below!

the blue things are bar stools!

I do have to say that the food was excellent....and next post I'll talk about that!

May 25 (Day 2) A Wonderful Day in San Antonio!

May 25 - A Wonderful Day in S.A.!

First stop....The Alamo!

A piece of history that the Americans certainly take very seriously. I was here first thing in the morning and by the time I left there were 15 to 16 school buses dropping off student's who were there for a class trip.

The history of the Alamo is very interesting - from a Spanish Monastery to a battleground between U.S. and Mexican troops to a commercial warehouse in the 1950's and finally a National Historical Monument/Tourist attraction.

Picture from the square in front of the Alamo

Unfortunately, no picture were allowed inside the buildings...but to be honest not a whole lotta stuff inside to take pictures of!

Next stop was Hemisphere park - home of the 1968 world fair (and location of the Hemisphere Tower)

I think? it was something like 700 feet....not the CN tower, or even the Calgary Tower...but it did still provide a full panoramic view of the city and surrounding area (and only $11 to go up!)

The main fountain in the park, at the base of the tower

View from the tower looking East

Right across the Freeway was the Alamodome...this is where I thought the San Antonio Spurs basketball team played (They have won the NBA championship something like 4 times in the last 8 years...and are a VERY big deal in S.A.). It turns out that this was not true as about 10 years ago they moved to a new stadium called the AT&T center. It is weird, because the Alamodome is only about 16 years old and holds something like 62,000 people. The roof is too low for baseball or football and so now it only used for Arena football and other events. Today it was being used for a graduation....the security guard told me it was a class of around 7000 students! (just a few more than Chad's upcoming grad of about 150 students :)!

Joe, my security guard/tour guide...the stage in the background will hold the high school graduates

Here is the new AT&T stadium...the jerk security guard here would not even let me in to take a picture...even with my "I'm a Canadian comment". It was a very LONG walk to get here....and in 90 degree heat it almost killed me....and I went through a pretty less than desirable neighbourhood. I misjudged my map and should have driven....but I did not get knifed or shot, so all is good!

On the way back from the AT&T stadium I detoured over to LaVitta, a historical little Mexican village - full of little shops. However, I was either a bit early, or we are not quite in the tourist season because most of the shops were closed

Still on the tour, and I went through the King William area....this is where many wealthy merchants and citizen's built their mansion....lots of beautiful old houses. Most of which had a plaque out front telling about the original owner and house history....this was great and I really enjoyed this part of the day

As an aside, the river walk is very famous.....but a few miles away from downtown and this is what the San Antonio River looks like with out the cement walls and built up development.

I (finally) made it back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. After my swim, I headed to the Riverwalk again for supper and a beer (actually 3 beer.....but I needed to rehydrate because I had sweated buckets all day!!!).

I also wanted to see the riverwalk at night. My little camera is not very fancy and so nighttime pictures are not to clear...but with the lights etc. the riverwalk is awesome at night.

There are tons of restaurants and cool little pubs and lounges. Below was my "rehydration spot", an Irish pub, complete with a piano man...who was really good!

Finally back to the hotel....I was a pretty tired puppy and was asleep basically as my head hit the pillow!

The next morning...one last picture of the Riverwalk and then off to Austin!