"My Kind of Town"

Austin has an un-official motto that is extremely popular and really true...."Keep Austin Weird!."   Now I don't know if Austin has an official motto, but for my money, I think the un-official one is just about perfect.

I had occasion to go into downtown Austin this afternoon.  While I was only on the fringes of downtown (i.e., south of the river), I wasn't in one of the quirky parts of the city.  It was a mix of offices, restaurants, and cultural stuff, pretty mainstream and quite well-travelled.  As I was waiting at a stop light while looking for a place to park, there was a guy walking by who was clean, dressed casually but not oddly, about 30 or so and carrying a backpack.  He was using his iphone, or ipad, or kindle or some sort of electronic gadget while he was walking.  On his right shoulder was a tail-twitching, highly alert squirrel.  The squirrel didn't appear to be attached to a tether or anything.  He was just sitting there looking around. Of course, it never occurred to me to whip out my phone/camera and snap a few pics.  It never does (sigh), I'm hopeless when it comes to photos, so I can't prove a thing!   Was he a pet or just hitchin' a ride??  Don't know, but it's not something you see every day.  Weird!

About an hour later, after I completed my errand, I was walking back to my car on the same street where the guy with the squirrel had been, and along came a cowboy riding a horse....neither the horse nor the cowboy were anything special, they weren't all gussied up like for a parade or a rodeo or anything....just a guy in jeans, a plaid shirt, boots, and a big Stetson riding a big brown horse.   Now I know that Austin is in Texas and Texas is home to lots of cowboys, but they are not typically riding down the street in Austin in the middle of rush hour!  Austin is a very urban city!   I've lived here 12 years and I've never seen a cowboy riding his horse through downtown before. I smiled, and the cowboy tipped his hat....very gallant!  Still.... Weird!

See, that un-official motto makes more sense now, doesn't it?    You just never know what you are going see when you're in Austin.  Keepin' it Weird!!     :)

"My Kind of Town?"  ---   yep, gotta love it!!