We arrived in Austin about an hour after leaving San Antonio and went directly to the Cathedral of Junk, where Del, our host, was going to meet us. The Cathedral of Junk was another of my Roadside America finds, and I couldn’t wait. Vince, the creator, has a day job so I knew the only time we could see it was in the evening right when we arrived. It was almost 8:00 pm when we arrived and the sun was starting to set, but I was determined to see as much as possible! It’s basically a three-story, multi-”roomed” creation of junk in this guy’s backyard, and when I called him he just said, “When you arrive, just go to the back gate. The dogs will bark and that’s how I’ll know you’re there.” He was decidedly less enthusiastic about our arrival than Barney Smith at the Toilet Seat Art Museum, but I liked his approach: let us be while he went inside to drink a beer and come out later to check and see if we had any questions. That left Michael and I free to wander in and out of all the nooks and crannies and to climb around and take photos. It was hard to get many good photos because the light was so low, but you can see the ones I took on my Flickr page. I couldn’t even capture the entire structure in one photo–he just started building this on a whim back in 1988 and it just snowballed from there. He told us there were over 700 bikes in the structure, and that random people just leave their junk on his driveway (he is not the biggest fan of that practice).

There was no real rhyme or reason to the way the Cathedral of Junk was constructed; steps, ladders, and random elevations were all over the place, and Michael was a little nervous about the structural integrity of this thing that we were climbing on about 30 feet in the air. I was all, “Oh, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, come on,” but Vince Hanneman later confessed that he had no engineering knowledge whatsoever and was just grateful that nothing had collapsed yet. Okay! I wish I could have been there during the day with more time and better lighting to really photograph some little elements, but I had so much fun with the time that we had. It was like being in a tiny amusement park combined with a masterful piece of art: so much to do and see, and you couldn’t look at the same spot twice without noticing something new.

Del arrived as Michael and I were up on the top of the structure overlooking everything; I hadn’t seen him since 2001, and it was a really nice reunion. He’s lived in Austin for years but had never seen the Cathedral of Junk before; after he walked around with us for a little while, Vince came back outside and spent a while chatting with the guys and answering their questions. After a while I realized that I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes and that took the enthusiasm right out of me. We bid goodbye and Michael and I followed Del back to his adorable little house. His son, Julien, was already asleep (I forget that babies have such early bedtimes!), so we unwound a bit before getting ready to hit downtown Austin. It was odd to go out two nights in a row, let alone two weeknights in a row! Man, I sound boring! I’ve also never gone bar-hopping, which makes me sound extra boring. Jacksonville isn’t really set up to bar-hop (you pretty much pick one bar and stay there), and the last time I was in Austin I was underage and couldn’t get into bars. Now that I’m a 27-year-old who likes drinking and bars, I was pretty excited.

Our first stop was The Ginger Man, which had an overwhelming variety of beer on tap. I was immediately drawn to the bright green color of the Lindemans Pomme lambic, and it was AMAZING. It was one of those drinks where I couldn’t stop exclaiming after every sip. We sat out on the back porch area listening to a local band, and once we all finished our drinks we headed out to walk somewhere else. We wandered around for a while, not sure where to go, and ended up at The Aquarium Bar. It was right next to The Library Bar, and just from the names I couldn’t decide where to go! Two of my favorite places! The aquarium won out, though, and we stayed for one drink. It was populated mostly by frat guys and scantily-clad ladies, which made for amusing and entertaining people-watching. After the drink, we attempted to go to a “secret” bar located behind a used-car lot, but when we finally found it and walked in, there were about four people in there and the bartender immediately barked that they weren’t serving drinks anymore that night. Um, okay, so our last stop was the Peacock Bar, which was absolutely gorgeous inside. I originally ordered a cider, which had a really sharp bite, but then I saw that they had a sidecar on their drink menu and was immediately conflicted. Unbeknownst to me, Del went back to the bar to get me a sidecar and Michael drank whatever it was I was drinking: such service, gentlemen! It was a wonderful, enjoyable evening where the conversation flowed really easily and the drinks were delicious. When we got back to Del’s house, Blair (Del’s beautiful wife) and Julien woke up for a little while to visit; it was really great to meet Blair, because she had to work the next day and otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to see each other at all. Julien continues the trend of my friends having the cutest babies ever, because he is PRECIOUS!

I got to experience more of the Julien cuteness the next morning. Del let me hold and play with him for a while, and he’s such a good-natured, easy-going baby with really curious and expressive eyes. And that SMILE! Melt! While I was playing with Julien, Michael got to be the photographer for a while…when he wasn’t plotting on how to trade me for his new girlfriend, Dallas, that is.

While we showered and dressed, Del took Julien to daycare and wrote down directions to two record stores Michael really wanted to shop at: Cheapo’s and Waterloo Records. He had a meeting at work he had to go to, so we went out shopping with plans to meet him for lunch later. We stopped at Cheapo’s first; I liked the organization and the selection, even though when I get into a record store I always forget what albums I’m looking for. I found four abums that I really wanted (Wolf Parade, Amina, Johann Johannsson) and Michael found at least double that.
Then we went to Waterloo, which Michael loved. He kept exclaiming, “I want to live here! Inside the store!” and we both made out pretty well in the record department. After record shopping for a couple of hours, we made a quick stop into Book People, a really fantastic independent bookstore across the street from Waterloo. By that time, though, I was all shopped out; my brain was fried and I couldn’t think of any books I wanted to buy, and I was getting pretty hungry. We headed straight to Chuy’s and waited for Del to arrive; while we waited, Michael and I gorged ourselves on some queso compuesto, with guacamole, pico de gallo, and ground beef. Yum! Del arrived and did a super-sneaky move to distract us while he took care of the check, and I was so oblivious that Michael had to point it out to me later. Good move, sir! After a delicious late lunch (I had a fantastic cheese enchilada with a nice mild “deluxe tomatillo” sauce on top), it was time to say goodbye to Del and get back on the interstate. As luck would have it, it started pouring at the end of our meal, so a leisurely goodbye walk to our respective cars was out of the question; instead, it was a hasty hug and a run out to the car. Michael and I had a great time in Austin, though, and definitely want to visit there again.

Next stop: Dallas!