Remember when we went to Austin for the 4th of July?

For the 4th two friends, Mark and Lu, and I decided to take a little road trip for some good fireworks. After a little research Austin sounded like the place to be. We headed out so that we could arrive in time for gospel brunch at Stubb's Bar-b-q, where you get a great mix of breakfast food and brisket while listening to a live gospel choir. Like most things we did, it was a new experience for us. It was also a nice chance (when we could hear over the choir) to catch up with a friend who had moved to Austin last year.

For our next cultural experience, we went to Chinatown, because Mark wanted a Buddha to hang from his rear view mirror. We went to the major supermarket, which was my first experience in an Asian market. It was fascinating, and a bit overwhelming, to suddenly be around so many things that I had either never seen before or had seen but never in such quantities. After finding the Buddhas, and not seeing any that hang from mirrors, we took our time walking the store and learning the tastes of the Chinese (bean curd candy or shrimp chips, anyone?).

After we left Chinatown we weren't quite ready to go into the craziness of downtown Austin, so we ended up continuing our cultural expedition and going to the Swedish smörgåsbord that is IKEA. I had never been in one before, and always thought it was just an inexpensive furniture store. Well, it turns out it is a vortex of shopping. It reminded me of the movie I had seen the day before, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on my favorite children's book involving Greek mythology. There is a scene that references the Lotus Eaters, and in this version as long as they keep eating lotuses they never want to leave (in the case of the movie, a casino), and they have no concept of time. That's what IKEA was. It was also like Candy Land, complete with short cuts. It's quite an amazing place. When I finally am done with school and settle (I have to move in a year, and probably again a year after that), I will make a very happy trip to IKEA.

Once we found daylight again, it was time to go downtown. First was dinner, which led us to our final bit of culture, New York-style Jewish food. Then it was off to Zilker Park to find a spot in the grass and watch the fireworks. It was a nice display, off to the side of the skyscrapers. I decided to try out my camera's fireworks feature, which as it turns out does quite interesting things. I think the slight delay caused the photos to be not exactly what I expected. But they are fun pictures nonetheless. Below is a shot of the skyline with my camera on auto, then a couple of my favorite fireworks pictures with my camera's feature. For all of them go to this album.







After that it took us an extremely long time to get out of Austin, but we eventually made it out and back home. Definitely a fun trip, not usual, but that's the best thing about it.