My first visit to Austin, TX

[Mikeinhistory]

As someone who moved to Austin from Los Angeles I have to say Austin is a small town. I've live in London, Paris, Athens, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Boston, San Diego, Manhattan and Los Angeles, and Austin is nothing to complain about. All Texans complain about Austin because it's the most liberal city IN TEXAS. Austin residents complain that its getting "so big". A lot of the people who move here from outside Texas just couldn't hack it in a real city, and a lot of the people who move here from within Texas have never actually lived in a city before. What you call traffic is what I used to have to drive through twice a day just to get to the freeway. Austin is like "city life lite".

 

[Governors20]

I have watched Austin grow for the last 20 years. Its a great place, but I prefer life in the country. Retirement in three years and counting.....

 

[tmperez]

Austin is like "city life lite".

I agree with this, I do not feel like Im in a city when Im in Austin. Compared to East Coast or West coast lite is the right word. And this is not a bad thing, I left the E. Coast for a reason (well actually many reasons)

I still think the traffic is pretty crappy here in Austin, the notable difference from Austin and other cities I have lived in (and im going to go on a soap box here) is traffic management. For example, if im traveling South on 4th avenue in Brooklyn NY and I get stuck at a light the south bound lights turn green before the northern southbound lights as a result the further south traffic moves south and allows the intercession to be clear for the cars entering the intersection. The light are times and go with the flow of traffic. Here in austin if im traveling West on Cesar Chavez the east bound lights are turning green before the West bound lights and as a result you get stuck at the same light 3 or 4 times because the intersection is completely clogged. This makes NO sense at all. Im willing to bet if Austin worked on timing their lights the traffic on the surface streets would be a lot better.

 

[Whisky]

.
grew up in so. kal. back when kal was a good place in which to grow up - back for a school reunion - heard about In & Out burgers from my BIL who raves about 'em (and he still lives there) - walked around Glendale, my old stomping grounds, and had one of the I&O burgers - I make a better burger (without having to travel across country !) I'd rather have a Bob's Big Boy..

by the way, I didn't see 1 blond headed person during my stroll up and down Brand Blvd

ya simply can't "go back".....a real waste of $s for a weekend of seeing friends I see thru the year

 

[AKM]

Whataburger or Dairy Queen, both are good.

Never been to in and out.

DQ isn't a Texas company like people tend to believe it's from the north. Still good, but not Texan.


Will work for Ammo

 

[breakingcontact]

DQ isn't a Texas company like people tend to believe it's from the north. Still good, but not Texan.


Will work for Ammo

Thats how the ice cream stays frozen. I never thought of DQ as a southern or northern thing.

 

[Texas1911]

What you call traffic is what I used to have to drive through twice a day just to get to the freeway. Austin is like "city life lite".

I've heard a lot of people talk about how traffic is so hardcore in their old towns ... "Oh man, Houston traffic is WAY worse", "Oh man, LA traffic is way worse." etc.

Austin's traffic could not possibly get worse. You would cease to move at all on I-35 and Mopac would be striped as a parking lot. I drove from NW Austin to Central Austin just South of the bridge on Mopac and 360. It took me on average 1 hour to travel 13 miles in the morning. Going home, the trip was 1 - 2 hours long. That means I am averaging 7 - 13 MPH on a highway for over 2 hours of the day. I literally could ride a bike to work and get there sooner.

I've seen I-35 shut down at every hour of the day / night, and/or in complete gridlock in the past two years. There is no rush hour any more. You will run into congestion between the hours of 5:30 AM to 10:00 AM, a brief let up of congestion that maybe averages 55 MPH through downtown, and back up to complete gridlock around 2:00 - 7:00 PM.

Mopac is the same.

The only way Austin will ever get ahead of the curve is to install mass transit in some capacity. We can't tunnel due to the solid bedrock we are on, but above ground rail is viable. The costs are massive, and I'm not exactly sure why that is.

 

[Mikeinhistory]

I-35 is 4 lanes. The 405 is twelve and sometimes it can be completely stopped for 26 miles. Austin is nothing.


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[Recoil45]

Mass transit is a horrible solution. I commuted for over 10 years on NYC trains and subways. The only reason I chose mass transit over driving were the high tolls they imposed on the bridges and tunnels to force people to use mass transit. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

 

[breakingcontact]

Mass transit is a horrible solution. I commuted for over 10 years on NYC trains and subways. The only reason I chose mass transit over driving were the high tolls they imposed on the bridges and tunnels to force people to use mass transit. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I tried riding the bus to work once. Turned a 40 minute round trip into over a 2 hour trip.

 

[Recoil45]

My trip was 1:45 to 2:00 each way to lower Manhattan. Being in a train car with a hundred plus NYers was horrible. It might be slightly better here in Texas where people have more consideration for each other, but people were not designed to travel like that. We need our personal space.

 

[kurt]

Regardless of what Austin is or isn't, I'm leaving as soon as I can retire. I don't drink other than the occasional social drink and I don't care for live music (or most music) and I don't want a tattoo. That doesn't leave much other than a high cost of living and people I dislike.

 

[Dash Riprock]

Austin's traffic could not possibly get worse. You would cease to move at all on I-35 and Mopac would be striped as a parking lot. I drove from NW Austin to Central Austin just South of the bridge on Mopac and 360. It took me on average 1 hour to travel 13 miles in the morning. Going home, the trip was 1 - 2 hours long. That means I am averaging 7 - 13 MPH on a highway for over 2 hours of the day. I literally could ride a bike to work and get there sooner.

That's exactly the point.

 

[Dash Riprock]

I tried riding the bus to work once. Turned a 40 minute round trip into over a 2 hour trip.

This. Even if I didn't have to drop off/pick up my daughter at school, taking the bus would actually ADD time to my commute. A lot of time. It's ridiculous.

The new MoPac toll lanes might help, we'll see. But even those don't go across the river, I don't think.

 

[Recoil45]

Try adding adding time to your commute while sitting next to a 300lb person who chose not to shower today, while listening to the person behind you complain to their spouse on their cell phone about how bad their job sucks. Do it every day for 10 years. Mass transit sucks!

 

[BuzzinSATX]

You might want to come check out San Antonio sometime. We don't have any in-out burgers, but we definitely have some good food joints for burgers, TexMex, and BBQ, although best BBQ is out if town. If you do make the drive, stop for lunch in Luling at City Market BBQ.

San Antonio is kinda a Libtards town, with the little Marksist Obamabot Castro as Mayor, but he just got hired by his mentor for a position in DC, so good dang riddance.

Still, SA is a great town, lots of military folks, and just good people. Some good shooting ranges too. And of course, you need to visit the Alamo and pay your respects...

 

[JohnnyLoco]

I-35 is 4 lanes. The 405 is twelve and sometimes it can be completely stopped for 26 miles. Austin is nothing.

Agreed. Austin traffic is not even close to Houston's. It's bad for what Austin really is, a big small city. Dallas is pretty bad too.

I went to one of those In-N-Out burgers in Dallas once. It was alright, what I'd imagine a quality ingredient McDonalds would taste like. You won't find another city in the U.S. with all the food options in such a small area, of all price ranges, as Austin, TX.

But you came to Austin and got a hamburger instead of having barbecue? Shame new Texan, shame. Lots of good options there or just down the road in Lockhart. But I get it, a taste of home. You should try this place called BurgerFi in the Woodlands, not too far from you, better than INO if you ask me.

Austin is not that bad. There is a good mix of everybody. You can find places like McBride's Guns off of N. Lamar and feel right at home. Go by UT and you'll see your fair share of cowboy hats, boots, and wranglers. This is unlike places like San Fran, Seattle, or NYC where the atmosphere and attitudes are so foreign and untexan it just makes you want to hightail it out of there.

Sure there a lot of bums and weirdos, but not much more than any other big city. They are kind of funny actually. The libs are annoying too, and the place is swarming with yuppies. They are harmless, say "boo" and they will flee.

I would still rather deal with them than the crap flowing around places like Houston, New Orleans, Baltimore, Memphis, or Philly.

 

[zincwarrior]

Does anyone else think In and Out is the most overrated burger around?
I'll take a Whataburger any day.

IN and Outs are garbage. I don't know of anyone besides ex Californians who eat them. There are a wall of better places to eat good burgers.

 

[zincwarrior]

^^^
This.

Meh. Downtown is just fine on the weekends. 2nd street and the Warehouse Dtsirct are nice. 6th street is ok for people watching.

If you want rough Houston's wards will help remind you of what rough is.

 

[hellishhorses]

Austin is developing alternate routes to alleviate traffic — before this was the case I would agree that their traffic was the worst. The nice thing about places like Houston, DFW, Chicago, San Jose, San Francisco, etc. is that those places give you multiple routes. And their HOV lanes — incredible. Houston's HOV system is the cat's pajamas; THEY HAVE THEIR OWN EXITS! Until recently, Austin only had I-35 or Mopac and they had outgrown that thirty years ago. With tolls and road-widening, it's lightyears better than what it was.

OP. Next time jump on I-10 west through San Antonio and don't stop until you get to a little town called Kerrville. You can head south & west for some REALLY nice scenery or head north to Fredricksburg — really good beer, wine and shopping if you don't mind old people — a lot of old people.