Farewell to Austin

We packed up a U-haul full of our belongings, pulled out of Austin, Texas on February 24th and never looked back.

Austin had been our home for 35 years. We bought our first home there, raised a son, attended many of the festivals including SXSW, Aqua Fest, Spamarama, Austin 10K, Zilker Trail of Lights, Armadillo Christmas Bazar, and many more. We have some great memories of the city and the people who made it that way.

But the “weird” in the much overused slogan “Keep Austin Weird”, has all but ridden off into the sunset I’m sorry to say. And don’t get me wrong. There are still great things to do in the city, but the vibe has changed.

Because of the influx of technology driven companies like Apple, LinkedIn & Google to mention a few, the city has a more cosmopolitan feel to it similar to Dallas. It’s a hipsters paradise.

And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what’s drawing a lot of people to Austin, but it’s not the Austin we have loved for so long . As my wife Rhonda says “ it’s just outgrown us”.

And this is not meant as a gripe session about Austin, it’s just that we were ready to move on after frustrating hours of traffic, making reservations week in advance and seeing a slide in common courtesy & civility.

After 35 years we were ready to pull up roots and explore. No looking back. We sold the house, gave away and garage-sold things we didn’t want and stored the rest. We’re ready for the adventure. Onward!