this is a long drive for someone with a lot to talk about

chris and i are sitting on the balcony of the other best hotel in the world, the austin motel, dorkily both on our computers because we have a tiny, fleeting moment of internet access.

driving through texas, thus far, has been less interesting than i thought it would. everyone always goes on and on about how texas is so flat and so boring and lasts until you want to cry, but i imagined it being interesting at least: roadside taco stands, desert, horses. i was excited about driving through texas, if you must know the truth. unfortunately the drive from new orleans to austin was just flatter than from birmingham to new orleans. less trees, more field. one wonderful thing is that, given you aren't the one driving, you can look out the window and know that what you are about to see will look the exact same as what you just saw. there is something extremely reassuring about that, and surprisingly after about half an hour of that everything looks beautiful.

we got to austin about 11:00 pm last night and went straight to the continental club, an allegedly world famous bar thats right across the street from our ridiculously charming hotel. it was exactly what i thought austin would be, old hipsters with tattoos, jazz music, cheap booze. we loved it. today we woke up early and ate pound cake for breakfast in bed, made by peg, my mom's best friend's mother, who gave it to me on my birthday a few days ago at the epic brunch we had in atlanta. no time to tell you about that now.

what i will tell you about is how much downtown austin reminds me of birmingham and how much driving around austin reminds me of california. also about the barton cold springs in the zilker park, and the farmer's market on guadalupe street, and the tip of mount bonnell, which yields glorious views of austin and its huge sprawl. we are off to dinner now and then some drinking on sixth street, and then we wake up early tomorrow to drive all the way across the rest of texas.

i am a little scared.