Links and information about Austin, Texas

General

Downtown Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America.

Local news, weather, allergy forecast, and air quality.

If you want to know what's going on around town, pick up the alternative newsweekly The Austin Chronicle (or read it online).

The Cactus Cafe on the UT campus is our favorite place to hear live music.


Water

Most of the city is supplied by the Austin Water Utility which draws water from the Colorado River. The surrounding areas rely heavily on underground aquifers (aka "groundwater") which can be problematic due to increased development and drought. Our well is now part of a monitoring program run by the Hays Trinity Groundwater Conservation District and the water level for our well can be viewed here.


Parks

Browse the state parks and city parks.

Our favorite park for camping and hiking is Bastrop State Park. Unfortunately, most of this park was burned by wildfire in September, 2011.

One of the best places for road bicycling is the 3 mile veloway in southwest Austin, with no car traffic. And one of the best places to walk or jog is the Town Lake trail. Both are described on the Austin Parks Trails page.

About an hour to the west of Austin, there's Enchanted Rock, which is a very large granite dome. You can hike to the top of it, but be prepared for a long walk. The curvature of the rock makes you think you're almost at the top for a long time before you actually reach it. We took some pictures on one of our visits.


Goods and services

It would be impractical to make a comprehensive list, but here are some recommendations:

Pet adoptions: Thundering Paws Animal Sanctuary. Also see Petfinder.com.

Diesel Volkswagen mechanic: Robby Plenge

Motorcycles & accessories: Lone Star BMW/Triumph

Volvo repair: Capital V Connection

---