Brown - Explorers guide: Austin, San Antonio & the Hill Country

This book is dedicated to my family.

CONTENTS

MAPS

E verything really is bigger in Texas. The people in Central Texas have huge hearts, plenty of patience, and a friendliness that seems supersized.

As I traveled the region researching this book, Texans graciously answered numerous questions, refilled countless cups of coffee, and served up some of the biggest slices of pie Ive ever seen. They shared generously the names of their favoritesfrom burgers to honky-tonks, enchiladas to swimming holes.

While the list was long, a guidebook can only be so big. This book is big enough to include all the basics and many of the extras, but as you make your way between the featured establishments, feel free to stray from the path Ive laid out. Change your plans, pull into a farm stand, stop at a bakery, have a beer, and by all means ask a Texan for directions, suggestions, and recommendations. Let em lay some hospitality on you.

Extra-large thanks to all the good folks living in Austin, San Antonio, the surrounding communities, and the towns of the Hill Country. I gratefully appreciate your courtesy, knowledge, and kindness. Since most of you did not know I was writing a guidebook, the sincerity of your gestures was truly heartwarming.

Enormous thanks to the folks at Countryman and W. W. Norton for the opportunity to write about a region I love.

Deepest gratitude to my fantastic family.

Thank you.

Amy K. Brown

www.amykbrown.com

DINING ALONG THE RIVERWALK IN SAN ANTONIO

T his book is divided into an introductory chapter followed by four main chapterson Austin, San Antonio, the Hill Country, and Nearby and In Betweeneach with suggestions of lodging, dining, and things to see and do, arranged by neighborhood. The introductory chapter describes the regions shared landscape and common history. The unique histories of Austin and San Antonio and the towns of the Hill Country are addressed in the introductions to their respective chapters. Considering the scale of Texas, the cities, towns, and parks covered in this book are relatively close to one another, so as you read bear in mind that many destinations make easy stopovers or day trips.

All the information in this book was verified at the time of its writing. However, things change, and it is always prudent to call ahead or check online.

LODGING PRICE CODES

Deep in the Heart of Texas

The subject of legends and lore, Texas has a reputation that has always preceded it. And as an icon of strength and swagger, Texas plays an essential part in the story of America. Filled with opportunistic cattle rustlers and hunky cowboys thundering off into the endless crimson sunset, the Texas of myth and movies is larger than life, hotter than hell, and rougher than a ride at the rodeo.

Deep in the heart of Central Texas is a region that will challenge all your assumptions with its distinct mix of friendly casualness, edgy creativity, discerning taste, and a strong inclination toward celebration. Each city and town offers its own incomparable mix of culture, food, music, and heritage, and plenty of festivalsfrom cultural to culinary, kites to kolaches which give visitors numerous opportunities to experience life in Central Texas as an honorary Texan-for-a-day.

With roots stretching back to the 17th century, San Antonio (see ) is now home to over a million people. Its pedestrian-friendly downtown, the celebrated Alamo, historic Mission Trail, and bustling Riverwalk cluster together to give the city an intimate feeling that belies its size. A strong sense of cultural history pervades all, with San Antonios Native American origins, Spanish influences, and Mexican overtones zealously expressed in art, food, architecture, and festivals.

While San Antonio embodies something quintessentially Texan, people are fond of observing that Austin (see ) inhabits a category all its own. Austinites are an educated, energetic, and decidedly unconventional bunch, and while they tend to be less conservative than the rest of the state, their live-and-let-live attitude very much mirrors the overall spirit of Texas. Nightlife in Austin abounds, thanks to its internationally recognized live music scene, though acres of parks, bike trails, and gardens make recreational activities almost as popular.

The Hill Country (see ), several towns along I-35 make wonderful day trips for the thrill of area amusement parks or tubing along cool spring-fed Texas rivers.

The folks in Central Texas are passionate about living here, and their infectious enthusiasm begins with the land that they love, a land rich in both resources and beauty that has been fought over for centuries.

MISSION CONCEPCIN, SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

Natural Wonders

Though now divided into two major cities, many towns, and numerous communities, Central Texas shares a common natural history that has been ages in the making.

Based on fossils of fish and aquatic plants, and other clues dating from the Cretaceous period (65144 million years ago), we know that the Central Texas region was once submerged under a shallow lake. At some point, possibly 1020 million years ago, movement along the Balcones Fault uplifted a massive hunk of limestone now known as the Edwards Plateau. The southeastern edge of this uplift was exposed to the elements, and its newer, softer rock eroded to form the dramatic cliffs and rocky outcroppings characterizing the present-day Balcones Escarpment, the ridge separating the undulating Hill Country to the west from the level Texas Coastal Plain to the southeast.

The movement in the earths crust also created the Edwards Aquifer. A karst aquifer, the Edwards was formed over time as limestone-rich bedrock dissolved, creating an underground honeycomb network of pockets, caverns, and holes in which water collects and through which it percolates. The sinkholes, disappearing streams, and cave entrances of the Hill Country are all telltale signs of karst regions. When it rains, water rushes over the Cretaceous limestone streambeds of this contributing zone and into the aquifer, topping off its massive holdings. As the Edwards is also an artesian aquifer, the water within is held under hydrostatic pressure, producing the regions many springs, such as Barton Springs in Austin, Comal Springs in New Braunfels, and Aquarena Springs in San Marcos. While the aquifer contains enough water for use well into the future, if its levels drop, so too does the flow of its springs, threatening the vegetation and many endangered species that rely upon them. Central Texans are aware of their own complete dependency on the Edwards Aquifer, a circumstance made increasingly complicated by rapid growth and growing demands for water.

LUCKY, TX