Roadtrip: Austin to Los Angeles 2/13-2/15/12

Outline of the journey from Austin, TX to El Paso, TX to Tempe, AZ to Cabazon, CA to Los Angeles, CA 

Day 1
Start: Austin 12pm

Road foods:
1) Church chicken: First time eating it, thought it was just ok. I would not have it again.
2) Wendy's : Can't go wrong with Wendy's chili. They were out of potatoes which baffled me.

Drive-by scenery:
1) Downtown El Paso : Arrived at night and there must be a curfew enforced because there was no one (not a single pedestrian or open store or sign of life) in sight at 9PM on a Monday.
2) Border view of Ciudad Juarez : Scared thinking about it on the way to El Paso, while in El Paso, and on the way out of El Paso. Ciudad Juarez is notoriously known as the most violent city in North America. The violence comes mainly from drug wars amongst the cartels. In the year before August 2009, Juárez's murder rate was the highest reported in the world, averaging seven homicides per day, or in other statistical words, 3075 homicides in 2010. Quite a thrill to have peeked at the city from afar!

Hotel : Camino Real El Paso : The "American" hotels are twice as much per night, and this hotel also had its historical appeal to offer. You can see into Mexico if you face South and are above the 10th floor. 

Day 2:
Start: El Paso, Texas

Drove by:
1) UTEP
2) Heavy dust storms visible from the highway
3) 11 tumbleweeds (have never seen them before and loved it! They come out of nowhere and one had a 5ft radius!
4) Snow storm near Tucson

Fun stop:
1) Pima Air and Space museum in Tucson, AZ : one of the world's largest, non-government funded aerospace museums. Took the bus tour of "The Boneyard," the largest aircraft storage and preservation facilities in the world. It was a cool tour. I got to see models of the President's helicopter, the last remaining of some B52 before it is to be destroyed as per treaty, fighter jets that can be refueled while in air, and planes being gutted for parts.

Hotel: The Buttes, a Mariott Resort (if you laughed when you read this, welcome to the immature club. I called it the "butts" the whole trip.) Snagged an awesome $99 before tax rate through Hotwire. They had 4 jacuzzi and everything was resort-tastic. There are very few things more comfortable than a jacuzzi in a secluded section amongst the rocks followed by filet steak dinner followed by walking around the resort in a bathrobe holding a glass of wine. It did coincide with Valentine's Day, but this hotel was serendipitously booked the night before.   

Day 3:
Start: Tempe, Arizona

Sights:
1) Drove through dust storm near Salton Lake
2) Drove by the "Do Not Pick-up Hitchhikers" sign located near the Blythe State Prison area
3) Admired the pastel-colored, flat landscape with mountains

Fun Stops:
1) Morongo Casino: You know it. Brian wanted to gamble and persuaded me with their buffet deal. Blackjack tables, giant slot machine, normal slot machine (biggest win was $30), and roulette. No matter how much money you lose, you can cheer yourself up with the fact that you can eat as much as you want after. Their buffet is not bad and this was a fun 5-hour stop.

Austin 2/11-2/13/12

Chicken & Waffles at Moonshine

Downtown sits peacefully just 15 minutes from AUS airport. Brian picked me up from Houston after my flight and we decided on Moonshine for lunch. It's the second oldest building in downtown and a comfortable place to dine. I recommend the indoors table by the window . The restaurant is quiet enough to have a conversation without shouting, even when at full capacity. Good sound absorption walls, I guess. I had the chicken and waffle appetizer, a filling delicious meal at just $9! I had to sit there for a while to finish my entire plate but those were the best waffles I've ever had- fluffy and moist without growing stale or rubbery. The cornbread was also impressively well made. We parked at the convention center ($5) and it's just a 1.5-block walk to Moonshine.

We checked into the Super 8 North of the University where we got a $59/night rate. After resting for a bit, our friend Erin picked us up for dinner at Trudy's. This restaurant is a Tex-Mex with a clientele of mostly undergrads. It's loud, lively and probably a good place to get you hammered if you like Margaritas. They serve a drink called the Mexican Margarita that's supposed to be incredibly potent. It was probably the coldest nights of the year while we were in Austin. Being out in 38-degree weather limited our options while we were visiting, but we did end up going to Spider with Erin after dinner.

Spider is a coffee house that serves beer. Austin has many establishments like this. You go in and decide then and there whether you will have coffee or beer that night and you can count on it tasting good. We got ourselves a few craft beers and chatted the night away. The decorum of Spider is welcoming. It has the same brick-and-woods-interior as Moonshine. Very relaxing.

Austin Day 2

Barton Springs Pool - panorama

Started the day with a visit to Barton Springs Pool. It's an impressive 1,000ft pool fed by springs and the water is always at an average of 68 degrees year-round. There were a couple of people swimming and Brian would have too if it wasn't so cold outside. In fact, snowflakes started falling during our pool visit! This cold weather means hot soup is in order. What better place to get it at other than the first ever Whole Foods grocery store. The flagship Whole Foods in Austin on Lombard was the place where I came to notice how nice the people of Austin are!

The Hilton Garden Inn hotel is located conveniently near 6th Street, which is where the nightlife happens in downtown Austin. It was too cold to partake in being outside at night, but the outdoors jacuzzi was perfectly hot paired with the chipper air. I was able to get a great rate for the hotel via Priceline ($75 for a Sunday night). Here's a tip if you are able to get metered parking in front of the hotel : street parking is free on the weekend and if you are parking overnight onto Monday, you can put in money (via credit card) the night before and it will automatically start counting at 8am Monday morning. I was not fortunate enough to see this and made a 7:50am trip to the meter on Monday morning.