this is life in austin & aspen

FareCompare had me write a Guest Post on what to do for Memorial Day Weekend. Part of it is excerpted below, and I’ve got two more shindigs added to the bottom of the list:

Memorial Day weekend in Austin means one thing: the lake. Austin’s hot summers call for long days spent in and on the water, and Memorial Day is the official unofficial kickoff to boating season. Most of the revelers will take to Lake Travis, where Devil’s Cove is wall-to-wall boats and nary a shirt is in sight, because the city’s in-town lake, Lake Austin, usually bans personal watercraft.

Boat

Hop on a party barge, like the one thrown by Austin Sports & Social Club. Rent a boat from Just for Fun–make reservations in advance. Or trailer your boat down if you’re road-tripping, there are plenty of public-access boat ramps.

Eat

All that time in the sun is sure to make you hungry, and Austin has no shortage of lakefront eateries. On Lake Travis, boat in to the newly-revamped Ski Shores and grab a legendary burger, or hit the landmark Oasis, though know that you’re there for the view and margaritas, not the food. On Lake Austin, try an Austintini at Hula Hut, where wait times can be over 2 hours but it’s more than worth it, or Abel’s on the Lake (they’re neighbors). Any of these spots is worth seeing even if you’re not planning on getting your feet wet.

At Night

Wanna see the sights but not down for $2 jaegerbombs at Latitude30 with the college kids? Walk the (in)famous East Sixth Street to get to Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz, a movie theatre-restaurant where you can get a bucket of beer–or Jack and Coke–with your giant bowl of popcorn. If you’re still up for going out, be sure to check out Austin’s Kung Fu Saloon on West Sixth Street, the kind of bar that would only make it in Austin. It offers free skee ball–naturally.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

Austin may fool you into thinking its not like the rest of Texas most of the time, but hit up the Broken Spoke to be reminded that you are, in fact, in the Republic of Texas. Don boots you snagged at Allen’s Boots on the drag or Heritage Boots downtown, button up your pearl snap, and learn the two-step. It’s easy.

More Austin faves you need to check out:

Fancy dinner: Olivia, Uchi, Wink, or TRIO
Outside: Run Lady Bird Lake, throw a frisbee in Zilker Park, or walk South Congress
Snacks: Cupcakes at SugarMama’s Bakeshop or daily special from Odd Duck Trailer

All Weekend: Wine & Music Festival at the Domain

http://www.austinwineandmusicfestival.com/tickets.html

Sunday: $15 all-you-can-eat Crawfish at Gibson

And you KNOW you can eat a LOT of crawfish.

File it under WTF: Memorial Day Weekend Saturday

I can’t do this event justice, so I’m copy-pasting the email (original colors, spelling, and formatting preserved. Literal copy-paste here). If you can figure out what it means, probably means you’re cool enough to attend?

In the BACONATOR storyline, frynet was originally installed into the U.S. military mainfryer to control the national gravy supply. Shortly afterward it gained sentience and the panicking high ranking skilets, realizing the extent of its abilities, attempted to pull the plug. Frynet perceived the attempt to deactivate it as an attack and came to the conclusion that all of the outdated household appliances would attempt to destroy it. To defend itself, it came to one conclusion: Humanity must be baconated.

Before it could be deactivated, Frynet launched The Thingamabots under its command at Russia, to which Russia responded in kind by fryering as many of its breakfast sausages as possible back at the United States and its allies. As a result of the food fight, over three billion humans were killed in just minutes. Governments around the world collapsed and anarchy descended.

1215am Built By Snow
1115pm The Seas -CD Release
1030m STEREO IS A LIE
945pm Red Falcon
900pm Wave Hands Like Clouds
8pm DJ Czech + BACONATOR – Debut on the turn tables!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOOD FIGHT to commence in the outside area of ND.

Free Bacardi Mojitos from 8pm – 10pm!!!!!!!! FREE Sweet Tea Vokda 10pm -11pm!

Special EP Listening Party for The Seas new EP!!!!

RSVP for $5 Entry at Do512: http://do512.com/event/2010/05/29/baconator-vs-the-thingamabots

and just because I love CrossFit so much:

The South Central Regional at GSX in Fort Worth will be streaming live coverage all day Saturday and Sunday at http://live.crossfit.com.