Spacious Amtrak seating.
My first summer at Hollins, I met Abbie Pannell in the Tinker dorms. As new students, we were in the same classes, and I had a great first year getting to know her as well as my other classmates. She explained how she recently moved to Austin, Texas and that I was welcome to visit. I always wanted an excuse to go visit the Lone Star state, and having a friend who lived there made the trip all the more tantalizing. I planned on flying out to Abbie in early June of 2020. We’d spend a week in Austin, she’d show me around, and then we’d drive up to Virginia in her car the next weekend in time for summer classes.
Abbie, a gracious host with nice plants!
Unfortunately, the pandemic cancelled 2020 and 2021 in person classes, so I wouldn’t get to see Abbie in Texas or at Hollins for our usual grad summer semester. Still, I was eager for an Austin visit and I wanted to make a trip out of getting there. This past May, I looked into booking a rental car to drive from Virginia to Texas, spend a week in Austin, and fly home. With travel being at an all time high this summer, prices for cars and flights were astronomically high. I also waited last minute to make my travel plans, so that certainly didn’t help. Luckily, I had accumulated enough Amtrak points from all the train trips I took in grad school, and I looked up train routes to Austin. With all my saved points, I was able to book a cheap, albeit semi-complicated route to Austin. I took the Capitol Limited Amtrak and started in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia on Wednesday evening, and arrived in Chicago, Illinois Thursday morning for a four hour layover in The Windy City. From there, I hopped on the Texas Eagle Amtrak, passing St. Louis, Little Rock, Dallas, and Fort Worth. I arrived in Austin Friday evening, drained from audiobooks and leftover Chicago deep dish. I had some leftover Southwest points to get me a flight home a week later, so the long train trip would just be a one-way adventure. At last I was in Texas and with my grad school friend, who I had not seen in two years.
Terry Black’s with Abbie and Marina.
Abbie showed me around her home in the Zilker neighborhood, a funky community within walking distance of the city. She is an expert indoor gardener; I marveled at her healthy green plants and succulents and came away with enough growing advice to start potting my own indoor jungle. We started our Austin adventure Friday night with a trip to Austin Eastciders. Abbie and I met some of her friends to try a cider flight and each new flavor we tried was delicious. Saturday we walked all around downtown in the Texas heat. We started on the trail that goes over Lady Bird Lake (an Austin landmark) to get brunch at The Westin, where Abbie was a server. She ordered a bunch of plates and we shared an avocado toast garnished with radishes, bacon deviled eggs, cocktails, and more. Being book lovers and members of the Children’s Book Writing and Illustrating M.F.A., she showed me the Austin Public Library, one of the coolest libraries I’ve ever seen, and BookPeople, a bookstore with an extensive children’s section complete with handwritten staff recommendations.
Zilker night walks.
I spent my week in Austin outside, running in the early morning to unsuccessfully avoid the June humidity. Abbie had to work a few days during my visit, so I had some alone time to walk and take pictures of cacti and flowers. She directed me to one of her favorite coffee shops, Opa! a Greek cafe with great chai tea and even greater baklava (I loved it so much I went twice and camped out with my laptop). Marina, a childhood friend who now lives north of Austin, agreed to meet up with me Sunday afternoon, and we toured the adorably quirky Austin Botanical Gardens. Abbie met up with us after her shift to introduce us to dinner at the legendary Terry Black’s Barbecue. The line was out the door, which Marina and I would soon understand why. I am not exaggerating when I say Terry Black’s is one of the best spots for American barbecue, and I’ve been to some great spots in the South. Our shared bounty included brisket, sausage, and an array of colorful sides.
Abbie ensured my visit included more Austin staples: a takeout trip to Whataburger, indoor rock-climbing, a hike on the Barton Creek greenbelt, a grocery run to H-E-B, bat-watching under the Congress Avenue Bridge, a Tex-Mex brunch, and kolaches. It was a relaxing time. On nights in, she introduced me to a Netflix series, Hilda, based on the popular children’s graphic novel series and I brought her into the world of Twin Peaks.
A final tea time.
On one of our last nights of our Great Austin Adventure, Abbie drove me out to Hill Country for a mini hike up Pennybacker Bridge Overlook, which rests over the Colorado River. I looked out at the Austin skyline and reflected on a successful trip: Abbie and I prepped for our summer semester and read books, had a wine, cheese, and tea party with one of her serving friends, and took lantern-lit night walks in her neighborhood when the air was slightly less humid. We hiked, ate, laughed, and lamented on not being able to finish our M.F.A. in person with all our summer friends from all over the U.S.. My Austin adventure with Abbie was worth the wait (in terms of patience and train miles), and I’m already looking forward to the next grad school friend visit.