My First Trip to Austin

I had the opportunity to go to Austin, Texas for a conference for work. I've heard awesome things about it and was really looking forward to it. I got to stay at the Driskill hotel downtown which is a historic hotel. My room was beautiful but location on the mezzanine was not ideal. We ate at some pretty fancy places but I never did get to eat Texas BBQ. While at the conference, I got to hear from Malcolm Gladwell, Kelly McGonigal and Amy Cuddy who have all done TED talks. We also got to see Gary Clark Jr. perform at the ACL in downtown. He is local to Austin and it was a really hot ticket in town.
After several days downtown I headed about 30 minutes out of town to our office. I hadn't met some of the team that sits there so it was great to meet them in person. Texas was a mix of country/cowboys and super chic. It was interesting to say the least. Overall I had a great time and look forward to going back. Since it was mid-May it was quite warm and humid though so next time I'll try going in the fall.

Driskill Hotel, Indeed Exec. talking with Kelly McGonigal, me with a random guitar that they have around town, a view of the city.

Gary Clark Jr, Austin City Limits theater (ACL) and Willie Nelson statue at ACL

Indeed ball, tiny shirt, State Capitol and Driskill Hotel

 My room at the Driskill 

Driskill memorabilia

Texas State Capital

Malcolm Gladwell

 I've heard wonderful things about Voodoo donuts. They are apparently all the rage so since it was right next to our hotel, I had to try it. I wasn't impressed. The toppings were overdone so much that it wasn't easy to eat and they were soggy. I will stick with our local gourmet donut shops. 

I actually got to ride in this fancy beast. This is a good example of how I summed up Austin...fancy and cowboy = weird. Maybe that's where they get their slogan "keep Austin weird"... that's just my guess.