Carissa + Austin

​3/6/20 – 3/9/20

Total distance 2000 miles by plane, city bus, uber, bike and foot.

people: Carissa (aka Katie, KTOD)

Carissa was one of my first and best post-college figure-out-your-life friends. Our crappy jobs, nearly-non-existent salaries and identical Jennifer Aniston haircuts didn’t limit our fearless-fun as we took our first steps into adulthood. Twenty years later, when I quit my job to help my family-in-crisis and travel, she was the most curious, interested, and down-to-travel (DTT)!

When I asked Carissa for a travel suggestion, she said “it is your adventure, you decide. I wish you had a blog so I could see where you go and what you do during your adult gap year”. I accepted her challenge, created a travel journal + pictures for any other curious friends. 

Matching hairdo's and costumes, Halloween 1995

​It is fitting that the last trip of my travel year was with the person who requested this travel blog, my exact target audience. 

Carissa was the first friend who shocked me with similarities:

• Raised by older brothers (ala wolves)
• Same haircut 1993- 1996
• Loved high school
• Curly hair – she accepted hers and I still struggle
• Politically Independent = actually interested in the ideas vs. party lines
• Father CEOs in metal manufacturing businesses
• Loves XM business radio and doctor radio
• Looks innocent, but its an illusion...

Sadly, our identical fashion on this trip is our matching Invisalign trays, which are neither cool nor trendy...

Carissa and I have an unspoken friendship, and by unspoken, I mean we never speak between visits! When I called her one week before the Austin trip to discuss the impending pandemic and appeal to her parental-Darwinian-survival sensibilities, the call went something like this: 

Me: “Do you want to cancel the trip, you have children to protect, and likely want to survive?”
Carissa: “Nope, I’m looking forward to it.”
Me: “The pandemic is showing increasing numbers daily… you have a week to reconsider, I imagine you want to live to watch your kids grow up, so just call when you want to cancel.”
Carissa: “See you in Austin.”

Carissa never called, and I’m unsure if she is strong willed - ala stubborn – or just not fear motivated. Our decision to travel during a pandemic felt like playing a viral game of chicken for a long weekend with perfect weather in an empty Four Seasons and a mostly ghostly town.

With Carissa you are guaranteed:
1. low drama, low maintenance, low time requirement, no judgment
2. high fun seeking, high laughter - lots of it + her laugh is a mix of staccato and chipmunk 
3. moderate risk taking with a side of trouble making :)

place: Austin (aka Bat City, Hippie Haven)

This capital of Texas, is a blend of urban sophistication + hippie-dippy-trippy with rustic Texan undertones. A walkable and bike-able town that demands to be “Kept Weird”, as it permits both modernization and gentrification. This city was ours to explore since SXSW, my reason for going, was cancelled. 

our adventure begins

We quickly settled into the Austin Four Seasons patio chairs, wine + guacamole in hand, as we began to catch up on 8 years’ worth of updates.

Carissa arrived with a list of questions and I started a Trello board for new topics we needed to discuss as our narrative bounced back and forth, like ping pong balls across an Olympic championship table, taking turns sharing important updates and major life changes.

​The order of discussion, was prioritized by what matters most - family, friends, interests/work/passions - creating space for the heartbreaking updates, sprinkled over the giggles and non-stop-talking. 

Poolside at the Four Seasons

​We changed clothes (swimsuits) and location (poolside), while the stories continued to spill out around us like water from a fire hydrant. ​Carissa, an introvert, cautioned that the “continuous conversation and activity level was way outside of her zone!”

​We broke the barrier (cowboy term) in Austin with:

• SoCo, the dusty, trendy shopping + dining strip, failing to keep Austin weird as a Lululemon and high end condos prepare to open.
• Downtown Austin, a ghost town, with a sleepy shopping district, where we stumbled into the stunningly modern Hotel Zaza then ambled over to the uninspired, historic Hotel Diablo.  
• Massages at Milk + Honey – Marley is highly recommended.

Our last visit, Mii Amo Spa (2012), we arrived wearing identical sweaters!

We popped over to the Mean Eyed Cat, a Johnny Cash inspired bar, for a draft beer and attempted to sweet talk our way into two empty seats of a PubCrawler Bike and Brewery tour (already in progress).

Rejected from the PubCrawler Tour, we created our own bike tour of Austin via a nearby BCycles station. Carissa took the only electric bike, and we (I) pedaled along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail back to the hotel. This was a highlight of the trip for Carissa, since it was the only non-talking activity.

What I loved:
Incredible dinner at Odd Duck – with the Uber driver kickin’ it old school with the  Double Dutch Bus .
Lounging at the Four Seasons fire pit with wine, cookies and ice cream bonbons!
Breakfast cruffin at the airport!
June's All Day  AMAZING breakfast
Holy Roller a life altering breakfast with a spectacular blend of tastes and ambiance – blending clever and delicious + fried chicken and pancakes… who knew?! 
Grizzelda's Restaurant – while our concierge had never heard of it, we remained undeterred. We ate at the bar, which was packed with cool cats and amazing food and drinks.

Things I learned from Carissa during this adventure:
“You are extra high maintenance”– 1. I was unaware of a level above high maintenance 2. I was shocked I could qualify.
Dardy - day party
Roach - annoying
Scorched earth- angry and bitter to the nth degree
“I have a good story for you, and by good - I mean awful!...” proclaimed Carissa during a particularly shocking story.