acl: day one

Austin. City. Limits.

So, I’ve never been to a music festival before. Last year I toyed with the idea of going to Bonnaroo, but I couldn’t really afford to take the time off from work. So when Joellen told me that one of the main reasons for the road trip, the Mecca to our hajj, if you will, was Austin City Limits, I got pretty excited. And nervous. I don’t do so well in the heat, nor do I care for large crowds or excessive noise (I may be a 90-year-old masquerading as a 20-something).  One thing that always bonded Joellen and me, though, is our love of music, so I could think of no better destination for the road trip.

We got up early (around 8:30…) and headed over to Zilker Park for day 1 of ACL. When we arrived, we were relieved to find that the lines were short and the sky was full of clouds. As I’m sure most of you are aware, Austin is experiencing a major drought and to see rain clouds in the sky is kind of a miracle. With hope of a good-weather day, we headed over to see Cults, but not before dropping by another, smaller stage to see what Miniature Tigers had to offer. An all male band with a familiar sound, they sounded a little raw and were alright, but not my favorites. Now Cults: I was not aware of this band, but Emily and Helen–Joellen’s friend from Kentucky and Emily’s high school friend–really wanted to see them, so we were all game. I really liked the band. They had a female front man (front woman?) and a somewhat dreamy sound that reminded me of something I would hear on the Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack (that is a good thing). I would up knowing one song (you’ll notice that’s a trend with most of the bands we saw) and really enjoyed my first music festival act. After Cults, we stopped by another stage to see An Horse who I also enjoyed. A male-female duet from Australia, they had a cool sound as well. It was a Joellen pick and did not disappoint.

We then took a break for lunch #1 and were so excited when we saw all that there was in the Austin Eats section of the park. There was so much to choose from so we decided to take it slow. We started with a grilled corn salad with a soft boiled egg from Odd Duck Farm to Trailer. It was really good. I wasn’t expecting it to be cold, but that was a very pleasant surprise. Really nice flavors that didn’t totally bomb in the heat. Definitely a good way to start off. Then we decided to have something small, so we each ordered a taco from Torchy’s. I got the green chile pork (on flour tortilla) and Joellen got the fried avocado (also on flour) and wow. They were so delicious. I actually favored Joellen’s taco, as it had a wider array of flavors, and I was really digging the fried avocado. Mine had just a touch more cilantro than I can handle, but I will definitely be making more trips to Torchy’s soon.

After our first lunch, we went to check out The Secret Sisters, a band I’ve heard Joellen mention a few times before. Now, given her usual tastes, I assumed they would be indie-alternative singers who may or may not be related (see: Tegan and Sara). I was really surprised when she told me that they did old-school country music. And did they ever. These Alabama girls were both energetic and demure, and sung beautifully. I was absolutely thrilled at how much I liked them. Check them out. Now. We then went over to a bigger stage to set up camp to see Brandi Carlile, who I was really excited to see. I’m just going to take this time to come out and say that I knew of about 5 artists of 130 who are at ACL this year. And Brandi was one of them. I discovered her on a Grey’s Anatomy Soundtrack and fell in love with her sound. She was awesome. Just really great. Just as I hoped she’d be, and so much more.

It was then time for lunch #2. We walked farther down the food section and found a lot more that piqued our interests, so we again decided to try/share a few little dishes. We first got the Kick Ass Nachos from Tim Love’s Love Shack, which lived up to the name. Joellen and I both have a secret (now not so secret) love of cheese sauce. This dish had plenty. And it was homemade, too. Nice job, Love Shack. We also got some truffled mac and cheese from Lonesome Dove Western Bistro which I devoured. I’m really in to truffles right now (see here) and this dish was flavorful without being heavy. It was delicious. They used orzo instead of the traditional macaroni which I liked and Joellen wasn’t crazy about. I would order this dish over and over, but again, when you’re using two of my favorite ingredients, that is a given.

We then went to meet with Emily and Helen at the Smith Westerns show, which abruptly ended 20 minutes before it was supposed to. Odd. We heard that Ray LaMontagne was onstage and went to go see him. Joellen really likes him and the more I hear, the more I like. I would have liked to stay, but it was so swamped that we decided to go to the stage next to his to wait for Cold War Kids and listen to him from the sidelines. I really enjoyed CCK. They were an Emily pick and a good one at that. Again, I knew one song and got really excited. I also did not want to stand up so I got a good glimpse of feet and tattoos. It was pretty great.

We went to the next stage (where Ray had been) and set up camp for Bright Eyes. They are a favorite of Joellen’s and I’ve liked them for a while too. I was introduced to them back in high school and have dabbled ever since. I’m ashamed to say that I fell asleep during their show, but it was a light, short sleep and I could hear how awesome Conor and the gang were.

Joellen and I left a little early to get a spot for my favorite act of the weekend: Sara Bareilles. I just love her. She sings one song that got really big, and I have been pretty excited about her for a long time (thanks, Andrea for letting me burn her cd!). She was awesome. Energetic and so talented. I wish that she was given a bigger stage/that she had played longer. Oh well, we’ll just have to see her in concert some day.  After Sara, we had dinner: spinach pakoras with a delightfully spicy/refreshing mint chutney from Royal Indian Foods and an fried avocado “cone”: fried avo with spicy sauce and sweet coleslaw in a flour tortilla situated in a paper cone from The Mighty Cone. It was actually really good.  Oh, and we also got ice cream. Amy’s Ice Cream, which is something that Joellen has been talking about since we got here.  Apparently it’s very Austin. We got the mint chocolate chip which was awesome. We then found Helen and Emily and settled in for our final show: Kanye. And it was fine; just what you’d expect: flashy, loud and crowded. We all enjoyed sitting toward the back and taking it all in.

To close, some observations about ACL (if I still have an audience, thanks for hanging in):

– There are so many nice people. Everyone is pretty like-minded and I have neither heard nor seen anyacts of violence. It’s all peace and love here.

– I love the flags. People carry around flags or balloons, inflatable animals, what have you on long poles and I love them. We have seen so many fun, creative and random flags. They’re also excellent for identifying location when you’re trying to find a friend

– There are so many kids here. And not just little kids with their parents, but 11, 12 year olds (seemingly just with a group of friends) who should maybe be with a chaperone. It’s a little alarming to see that once the later shows start.

– “So many young people with so many regrettable tattoos” -Joellen

– Rain happened. It was awesome, even if brief.

– This is the greatest place to people watch-EVER.

 

Until next time, Peace and Love from the ACL-ers

❤ Amy

i’m so hood

We did something pretty freaking incredible yesterday.  I will leave you in suspense for as long as possible while I tell our story:

We woke up on the earlier side (in the realm of 8:30–go us!), packed up the car and headed toward Moss Landing for a very special adventure.  One thing I was not expecting about coastal California is the massive amount of fog and the cooler temperatures (this is obviously not so much the case for southern Cal, but northern and central are quite chilly).  And by cooler, I mean freezing…at least that’s what 60 degrees feels like to two Florida girls.  So we bundled (I wore three jackets with all of the hoods up) and packed our little bag and headed out on a boat in the cold, cold fog yesterday morning in search of something magical.  For a good long while, we waited and waited and waited.  It was so cold.  I prayed for either sunlight or the magic, but if we were not going to get either, I just prayed to go home.  Nobody likes sitting in the middle of an indiscernible body of water in the cold fog waiting for nothing.  It kind of sucks.  Then, just as I was falling asleep, something magical happened: a blow hole appeared and exhaled beautiful, wonderful whale breath.  Yes, we went whale watching yesterday, folks, and it was absolutely incredible.  Like, really, seriously, one-of-a-kind experience awesome.  So, recap: it’s cold and foggy and the sun is trying so hard to peek through the thick layer of fog, and all of the sudden a whale breathes near us.  So cool.

We found out the identity of the whale, a humpback whose name is Stinky.  S/he and a companion (unfortunately this whale is not cool enough to be named by the boat’s captain and marine biologist yet) went from mysterious water creatures to our best friends in no time.  It was so cool to see them playing with one another and logging so close to each other.  Another cool thing was that they were surrounded by sea lions, so even if they went under the water for a bit, we always kept pretty good tabs on them because of the sea lions frolicking all around.  It’s really difficult to describe how amazing it all was.  And of course, pictures just do not do it any justice.  You need to do this for yourselves some day.  It was truly not to be missed.  Thank you, Sanctuary Cruises for such an incredible experience.

After our adventure, we went to a small Mexican place in Moss Landing that Joellen’s parents recommended.  The Whole Enchilada did not disappoint.  We ordered the steamed artichoke (after all, we were in artichoke country), and it was SO GOOD; Joellen had the mole cheese enchiladas and enjoyed them and I had a seafood soup, which was just alright, but hit the spot since I really just wanted something warm (in fairness, I don’t really like shrimp but needed something brothy to warm me up).  It was just what we needed to revamp and get back on the road for the trek down to Los Angeles.

The drive was so beautiful.  Again, if you ever have a chance to drive the Pacific Coast Highway, or PCH as us cool Californians like to call it, you should.  We stopped a few times to take pictures of the fog, the Pacific, the cliffs and the sunset.  The beauty was so unreal, and of course, the pictures don’t even show the half of it.  Gorgeous.

We arrived in LA late last night and have been doing various housekeeping things this morning–laundry, emails, repacking, organizing, etc.  Definitely necessary, even after just a few days on the road.  We feel great and ready for our first LA day.  So many more adventures to be had!

❤ Amy