Keep Austin Weird

Yesterday I returned from the family vacation from hell. My extended family feeds off drama like no ones business, but hey, it's over and I've experienced LOTS.

1. City Life. First off, I got to meet a real life prostitute. She was stumbling drunk around our hallway for a good half hour before her client came and got her. She was very amiable, and horrendously funny, but I'm sure that was the alcohol talking. Second, I saw a homeless person steal a lit cigarette from my cousin who was holding it outside the passenger window of the car. "I would have given him a fresh one if he had just asked," she later said. Finally, not so funny, I saw an innocent pedestrian get assaulted by three guys who weren't too much older than me. In the middle of a busy street no less. Granted, it was great to see my mom throw the car in park and yell "GET THE FUCK OFF HIM!" and see them run for their hides, but they beat him up really bad. I was really shaken up afterwards, and I wasn't even the one assaulted. My same cousin who lost her cigarette said gang violence typically doesn't occur in Austin, so let's hope it doesn't.

2. Austin itself. There is a lake straight damn in the middle of Austin, and we got to take a dinner cruise and see the largest metro population of bats in existence. There is one bridge that houses almost a million and a half of them, and people line this bridge before the sun even sets. When it's dark, the bats come out in swarms and it is a sight to behold. I'm not seriously going to count this, but I got lost with my father and ended up driving on all four of the highways that go through Austin. I'm also gonna state how frustrating it is when you're trying to find something in that town, because almost all the streets are one way, so if you miss it, you have to make a massive circle to come back to it. Also I got to swim in a Texas swimming hole. It was pretty awesome and very cold.

3. Random stuff. I got to drive a segway, which is a lot easier than you think it would be. I also got to experience drinking chocolate, which is the most fantastic thing I have ever had in my life. AND BREAKFAST TACOS! Everywhere had breakfast tacos, some places 24 hours a day. And finally there was four British soccer teams staying in our hotel :) That made for some fun times, especially when the world cup game rolled around.

And that was my Austin week. Grand isn't it?