Filling Time in ATX: Arts & Edibles

Perhaps a pessimistic person came up with the expression "killing time", however, I'm in an optimistic mood and have decided to title this post "Filling time". One could even call it living time, because that's what I did. I had two hours to kill er spend - ha, see that negative phrasing is catchy. So I decided to take a look at what was around me one Friday afternoon. It happened that I was near Zilker Park, so I was about to wander the trails on foot when I came across a sculpture garden & museum [http://umlaufsculpture.org/]. I decided to pay the meager $3.5 and see what this place was all about while filling ;) some time. Inside (the museum part) are some art pieces. I liked the one to the left and how it would look nice in my entryway if the entry way had a nice stair case. The inside part was interesting, but I was more curious to check out the outside. The park is kinda similar to the sculpture garden at the Walker in Mpls, however, the art pieces are smaller and not as spread out. Plus here they have a little stream/waterfall near the entrance. There was also a staircase with a path to walk to the top and look down the stream.

Looking Up

Looking Down

The artwork was interesting. Here's a little sample of what I saw. If the human body offends you scroll down fast. But remember this is art, folks.

I believe this piece was called Eve. or lady in the woods not sure.

This "lovers" sculpture was in the middle of a pond...i thought the detail on the man was quite un-necessary.

They had a circle of animals, I thought I'd take a picture of my Chinese-restaurant place mat animal.

 Was the entire park full of erotica? No and why those were the only three photos I have of the artwork, I'm not sure. I didn't aim for a dirty theme it's just those were the ones that grabbed my attention. Let's end this part of the venture with a little peaceful innocent waterfall. Shall we.

=)

Now after walking around there for an hour or so including some time sitting on a bench staring at a piece of art (no, not one of the photos above, it was an interesting piece, however I didn't photograph it) I felt like I was in that movie "The Thomas Crowne Affair" where the guy sits on a bench at the museum and ponders his thoughts while eating a pear. Restless as I am and with out a pear to chew, I could only sit and stare for about 10 minutes. So then I decided to drive a bit further towards downtown when a rooftop patio caught my eye. I remembered Whole Foods downtown had one, but I had not yet explored. Now, Whole Foods in Austin, is unlike any other grocery store. It's huge, has samples of food and drink and you can purchase almost every ethnicity of food ala carte and eat it in or above the store. (There are people who share a bottle of wine in the grocery store while eating some food. Quite an interesting way to grab groceries). Since I've been craving chicken off the bone, I went for the wings and then grabbed a beer to wash down that deliciousness. Now let me tell you, its a fun experience to pick up edible items at a grocery store and then go to their roof and enjoy each bite and sip with a nice view of the sky. The roof has plenty of seats and tables and even a playground for the young-ins.

So there you have it. If you have 2+ hours to fill why not visit the sculpture garden and then grab a quick bite/happy hour at Whole Foods. Post complete.

Man Bike Wild - "Mission Possible"

One week later from my accomplishment I have decided to slide a slow Thursday morning into a docu recreation of my mission to Zilker. Let me begin by saying that it feels great to achieve goals, whether it be life changing ones or silly ones such as trying to get from Southwest Parkway in Austin to beautiful Zilker Park via bike. They say the 3rd time is the charm and I can't argue. What was my reason/blame for my first failure? It was water and if you know me, you know I love water. I love to drink it, swim in it and watch it fall from the sky. However, on my first trek, water became an obstacle. To reach my goal, I needed to cross the river, now known, I would have needed to cross the river back and forth multiple times. Well, thing about Texas is its nice and green - but dry. Doesn't rain too often, but when it does it falls in sheets. Who would have known that the river would dry up and the bike trails went right across the white river rocks. I thought the trail on google maps was just drawn half-ass when I saw how it zig and zagged through the river.


So now, this is a short story of a man, his bike, in the near-wild, traveling 10.13 miles in around 2.5 hours to accomplish a silly, yet meaningful goal of reaching a destination. Sit back and enjoy my short distraction from your normally scheduled day.

I'm a visual person so lets start with a map. The bottom part is where we live, the top is where Summer works. (This was a one-way bike trip, perhaps next time will be round trip but after 10 mountain miles, its nice to throw your bike in a jeep, which is parked in a ramp and go enjoy a tasty sandwich for lunch).  Plus, now Summer knows she could be even greener and bike to work. ;)

For those reading this on a computer with Google Earth installed, you can view a fly by of this trek. I only recommend this if you have time to kill as it takes a few minutes and may not be as interesting as it is to me.



I feel like I could end the blog right here, cat's out of the bag, I made it to Zilker! yay. I won't cut it short though for those looking to fill a little more time so let's do a little slide show starting from where I entered the trail.

As you can see from above, the water on the right would have been quite difficult to cross.

This swing rope would be even more dangerous right now...

These comparison photos may get old for those you havn't been to the spot but its crazy how empty a river can get.

Here's a gift for that turtle loving couple because with humans out of the picture, the turtles come to play.

More comparisons.


A once filled hole is now empty.

Ok, enough with the comparison photos and on with the bike ride. =)

 It's hard to capture the fun of biking through dried river bends and woods in words but here are some photos to go along.

 I believe this is a beavers dam.

 This was a nice bridge.

 No idea yet what GUS FRUH is but a quick google search claims its just part of the trail and has its own park name to it.

 I was very very excited to see this sign, as I was on my way to the park!

 On the way I found someones phone, which was still on but service was turned off. That means they know they lost it and its only been a day or two. I was a good citizen and called the guys number and he came and got his phone later.

 The bottom of a river/stream is an interesting sight to see.

 Right at the end of the trail, it started to rain, the clouds looked worse in person but you can see a building in the bottom right which meant I was close to my goal anyways.

Yay! I made it.

Well there you have it, what's my ending dr. philosophy message? Don't give up, keep trying and its not about the destination, it's about the journey. haha oh such cheese, but it was a very fun couple hour bike ride, and since it was November it wasn't too hot. Many people were out hiking or walking dogs and it was fun to bike and zig zag between one side of the river to the other. Now I know that it's possible to bike when the water is low I will have to do this ride more often. Man Bike Wild- signing off - Mission Accomplished.