Alamo Drafthouse

Hangar Lounge

Well, we slept in until 10am again today. I guess it doesn't help when we stay out late the night before.

Laura cooked us another delicious egg scramble. After breakfast we took the dogs on a nice long hike. Austin has a huge urban trail system. Many of the trails are right along water. The hike we did today was called The Greenbelt and should have been along water the entire way, but with the excessive heat and draught most of the water was dried up. We did find a huge pool of water for the dogs and it was fun to watch them swim. Ume did such a good job! Laura let him off leash and he did well following the trail, only a couple times he got confused or went off trail. We played fetch with both Ume and Gaia in the water. As long as we threw a large stick and Ume could hear it plop than most of the time he could find it (as long as Gaia didn't take it). For just going blind earlier this year, he's doing really good!

After the hike we went back to the house and quickly got cleaned up so that we could make it to a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Austin. The Alamo is awesome and unlike any movie experience I've ever had. The theatre serves food, beer and liquor. Entering the Drafthouse everything is very rustic. The particular one that we went to only has two theaters. For each showing, people typically get there about 30-45 minutes early. You wait in line and are seated in a large group. The chars are about the same as in any other theatre but in front of the chairs there's a long table and then an aisle way which sits about a foot lower from where you're seated. There are menus located at each seat and to place your order you write it on a slip of paper and place it in a holder on the table anytime before or throughout the movie. There are two sets of previews for each of the movies as well. The first set, which lasts about a half hour, are short scenes from old and obscure movies that somehow relate to the movie you're going to watch. After these previews the feature film starts. A cool thing with the Drafthouse is that in addition to new releases they also play old movies. We were there to see a new release, The Thing, but they were also playing The Shinning as well. These theatres are a very cool concept and if you ever get a chance to visit one check it out. We went to a 5:10pm movie and it was only $7 and the food was very inexpensive! We spent the same amount at this theatre as we would have at a more mainstream place but had a full meal and drinks.

After the awesome movie, which by the way, completely scared Laura and me, we headed to 4th St. to check out another downtown Austin scene. We stopped at a bar called Hangar Lounge and it was awesome. There were three levels with a bar on the first floor, a lounge on the second floor and a rooftop bar. The drinks we're super cheap and the location was perfect for people watching below. Scott mentioned that if Austin had mountains he would want to move there. We also met up with one of Laura's friends, Jesse. After Hangar Lounge we headed over to 6th St. to check out the festivities. What a difference between 4th and 6th streets. Imagine 4th street as professionals and 6th St. as a college frat party. Honestly, I don't know which scene we liked better... LOL. The cool thing with 6th St. is that the whole street is shut down for a couple blocks so that you don't have to worry about traffic.

Another great and fun day in Austin.