Austin - Farmer's market, Nature Center, The Velveeta Room

We tried out the Sunset Valley farmer's market today. This is in a big stadium parking lot south of town. This place had a lot of variety, but somehow the energy was missing. There were plenty of people, but no joy. Personally, I think the missing ingredient is music. We bought nothing here, even though the food looked quite good.

Then we went back to the Austin farmer's market. The difference was striking. Even though there were no races going on, the vibe was much better. You could see it in peoples faces. There was music, including this guy promoting golocalaustin.com.

We went back to the bread booth and on to a goat cheese booth. The quality is really good. People clearly care about what they produce and sell.

There are lots of kids and babies around. Here is one safe in her Dad's arms.

Here are the prize orchids of the day. I can't believe anyone would let go of these. They are beautiful!

Then we were off on a hike to the Nature Center. This is a really nice facility, much more involved and bigger than we had imagined.

There are really lots of things to do. There is even a camp and daycare on the site.

There are some wild animals caged here, including this coyote. Some are donated. There is a pretty good collection, but it is always sad to me to see animals with their movement constricted.

 There are trails, exhibit buildings, and several outdoor play/learning areas. This is one devoted to teaching kids about paleontology. Apparently there are some items in the limestone around Austin? There are shaded gravel/sand pits with shovels and tools so the kids can experience digging for fossils.

Again there are a series of water features, starting with this pool and water fall, then cascading down a stream into another pool.

My favorite lilies are here, too.

From the nature center we hiked over to the Zilker Pool to have a soda and cool off. Then it was back up the Barton Springs path, dragging our old asses.

Around 9PM or so we went over to the Velveeta Room, a local comedy club. After a couple of starting acts we got to hear Mario DeGeorgio. He is a New Jersey guy transplanted to Austin. We were lucky to hear him, as he tours a lot. This guy is terrific. He is obviously very bright, and mixes a lot into his act. There is lots of subtlety, word play, and repetition. As we left, we bought his book and howdied him. Apparently his parents live close to us. H tells us that he left NJ in disgust. He told us he is really happy here in Austin.