I'd just like to give a shout-out to the new doo-hickey on the right-hand-side of the page. It's not just random websites I like; it's blogs that belong to good friends of mine, people I actually hang out with in real life. Pine Belt Blues is written by Ellie, who knows everything there is to know about music and southern culture, and also knows a great deal about food. the long way home is written by Jeff, who is remodeling an absolutely gorgeous old house. I am particularly fond of the long way home because I bugged Jeff to keep a record of the renovations until he actually started the blog.
On to the review. If you live in Austin, and you're at all interested in the outdoors, then you must surely love the Town Lake (now Lady Bird Lake) Hike-and-Bike Trail. It covers all of Lady Bird Lake, from Mopac on the west, past I-35 to Pleasant Valley on the east. It includes Barton Springs and Zilker Park, and it has over ten miles of hike-able and bike-able trails. A lot of it is within sight of downtown, and almost all of it is beautifully maintained. It's not exaggerating to say that this is an Austin treasure.
Auditorium Shores is part of this treasure. It's on the south side of Lady Bird Lake, between Lamar and South First. There's a parking lot in the northwest corner of Riverside and South First, which is very convenient. It's all an off-leash dog park -- and even more amazing, part of it has been specially built to let dogs cool off in the lake. This is that spot ("The Steps"), with a view of Congress Bridge and the Frost Bank Building in the background.
Also, I have to point out the fucking HORSE that's pretending to be a dog in this photo. Holy hell, what kind of dog is that? It's huge!!!
At one point near the parking lot, there's a stand of water coolers and paper cups maintained by volunteers. Sometimes there are also ads for doggies that are hoping to be adopted from the animal shelter.
A lot of the trail runs right up to the edge of the water, which is just lovely. (The Steps are there in the distance.)
More of the pretty trail.
There are kayakers on Lady Bird Lake.
And also swans, just like at Barton Springs.
As you can see, I took these photos a few weeks ago, and I'm only now getting around to posting them. Auditorium Shores is definitely still amazing, but I didn't get any photos with Lola in them, because at this point I didn't let her off-leash. The blog entry is definitely suffering because of that. So next time we go, I shall be sure to get pix of Lola and add them to the entry. It's just not the same if you can't see a cute doggie.
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