#4: Go To Sixth Street On Halloween For A Spook-tacular Time

Now that was a FUN Halloween. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about going to Sixth Street--I've heard countless stories about how I would get grabbed at, harrassed, and otherwise voilated by the crazies that go downtown on Halloween night. I am SO glad I went! Granted, Jamie, Kristen, and I were protected from unwelcome advances by David, Patrick, and Zach, but I really don't think we had too much to fear--everyone was just there to have a great time. The street was PACKED with all kinds of really insane costumes, the most insane by far being some really trippy Wizard of Oz costumes that seemed to be part of a movie or television show (they were being filmed as we entered the mob). There was a huge robot-like Tin Man on stilts, a really scary winged monkey on what was possibly supposed to be a massive Toto, and an emo-goth Dorothy. SO COOL. We also saw a flock of Yip-Yip aliens from Sesame Street, the requisite skankily-dressed girls, and suprisingly, quite a lot of young children (this was after 10:00!). The place was completely crowded, but it was just so lively and so much fun. We basically walked from the Alamo Ritz to the Driskill Hotel and back, checking out the costumes, running into people, and posing for pictures along the way. Of course, the bars were open, all blasting their choice of live music into the crowd. I highly reccommend taking part in this annual event (but please, leave the kiddos at home--too overstimulating!)-- this is Austin at its weirdest!

#3: Spend An Afternoon At The Austin History Center

The Austin History Center is NOT A MUSEUM! I want to be VERY clear on this point, because they were extremely adamant in making sure I understood that they were a collection of archives. So that being said...I spent a beautiful Tuesday afternoon inside this non-museum looking at a lot of really interesting things! Honestly, this was one of those things that I was kind of planning on phoning in--it didn't seem that interesting to me, and I was just trying to get through it to check it off the list. When I got there, though, I found a lot of really cool things to absorb myself in for a couple of hours. Some of the standouts included: the original, handwritten letters that Charles Whitman, the infamous UT Tower sniper, wrote just before and after he murdered his mother and wife; a recording and several original works by O. Henry (whose Pun-Off I have to participate in later this year!); articles written by some of the original suffragettes; and a video of Johnny Cash doing a SXSW performance at Emo's on St. Patrick's Day of 1994. Some really cool stuff, and I really did feel like I was absorbing myself into the rich history of MY city. I'm really glad I did the downtown walk before going here--I was able to make lots of connections from what I learned on the tour. I reccommend visiting this place--it's free, it's open all the time, and they change the displays a couple of times a year. What a great experience!