Austin's Bike Lanes, a tutorial

Austin is one of those places that really wants to be bike friendly, and that almost *is* bike friendly... Just that not everyone's on board yet. 

First thing I'll say is that people don't tend to be openly hostile to me as a bike rider. Austin's a little too laid back for that. If anything, they go overboard to be "nice." I'll be approaching a 4-way stop, and a motorist will be stopped; instead of going when they see me, they hit the brakes again just to make sure I'm actually going to observe the stop sign. Well, I am... so GO. Don't waste my time! Admittedly, sometimes, after I've started decelerating and they're still not moving, I'll shake my head, start pumping, and go on through without stopping because... why???

However, people don't seem to understand things about the new bike lanes that are starting to proliferate the city.

Heading north from MLK on Rio Grande. Bi-directional on the same side, even!

These lanes? People seem to understand them. They've been around for a long time. They're clearly marked, and while I've seen several delivery or moving trucks parked in the lanes to load/unload, they tend to be free of vehicles or pedestrians.

However...

Awesome protected bike lane going south on Guadalupe from 24th to MLK.

Guadalupe still has the old-school "here, ride in the gutter, cyclist" lane northbound, but this lane southbound has opened since we moved to the Nuthaus in 2013. It's great! The lane is specially surfaced (which I like except after it's rained; I've seen a couple of bikes hydroplane as they came into a stop or turn too fast when the road was damp) to be smooth, and it's protected from traffic by parking.

Therein lies one problem: You're supposed to park, look both ways, then cross to the sidewalk. But no. Many pedestrians, during particularly busy times, will avoid the people-packed sidewalks and use this cool new apparently deserted boulevard. I don't have a bell anymore (mine fell off), so you'll have to excuse me when I scream at you as I approach at 12 miles per hour or so.

Yesterday when Mal and I were riding, a guy parked, saw his friends huddled around a news stand about half a block away, and started slowly meandering toward them, trash-talking the whole way. In the bike lane. "EXCUSE ME!" and he moved in good humor. I should have waited longer to alert him. A li'l pee in the old pants might cure this guy of this forever.

You know what this lane is *not*? It is NOT MOTORCYCLE PARKING. For the first time, also yesterday, I saw an entire motorcycle parked length-wise across the bike lane. Ironically, the parking space to the left of it was empty! There was no way to get up on the sidewalk, and I was fortunately able to use the empty parking space to get around the motorcycle, but if someone had backed into the spot or there had been a car there, I would have had to dismount and walk around the obstruction.

Finally, yesterday I ended up behind two cyclists originally using the lane in the way it was intended, albeit much more slowly than I desired to ride. I was waiting for an open space to get past them, as they were riding two-along. Then I think they saw a place they wanted to eat, and they slowed and finally stopped, maybe to read the menu posted in the window, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LANE.

They were appropriately sheepish when I screamed (I wasn't startled; it was the third obstacle in half a mile, so I was on guard), so I think they'll not stop in the bike lane any further.

Today, for the first time (probably surprisingly) I was almost struck by a vehicle turning right. Memo to motorists: when turning right across a bike lane, look first! It's just like turning right from the middle lane, even though that's the only lane available to you. Not only did she turn, she started to turn and realized traffic was backed up, and stopped in the middle of the bike lane! Meanwhile, I had a green light and was headed full-bore through the intersection. (No contact; we're all fine.)

New lanes partially open and partially still under construction going east and west on 3rd Street.

As you can see from the picture above, downtown, trucks do use the bike lane to load and unload. I guess that's kosher, but weaving in and out of traffic (when there is some) makes me nervous; I'd rather just ride in the street. When it's clear, it's wonderful! These are also very smoothly-surfaced.

To recap, use the bike lanes thusly:
1) To ride a bicycle.
2) To stop on a bicycle because you are at a light or have to yield to a pedestrian, as indicated in the lane.
3) To quickly mount or dismount your bicycle.
4) As a pedestrian to get from your car to the sidewalk and/or back.
5) As a pedestrian to get from the sidewalk to the crosswalk and/or back.

I think that's about it!

Oh, another request? If you're parallel parking, please be careful! There are those flexible barriers, but if you hit one of them, you're probably going to give an oncoming cyclist a heart-attack. :)

And, yes, I know there are rude cyclists. I can be one. But the bike lanes give such a sense of security, they should be secure places!

KTHXBAI

1st official "Mal"ady

We stayed home from church Sunday because Mal and I weren't feeling great. Mal's had a few roughish nights since then, but last night was the worst. Today, he pretty much fussed from the time we got up, and I told James that I could not handle another day of just crying. So I called a nearby pediatrician and set an appointment for later in the day.

Fortunately, it was 22 blocks north of here and about 7 blocks over, so I was able to ride my bike. I think Mal appreciated it. He fell asleep when we were almost there, but immediately woke up and played with the toys in the waiting room. The sick child waiting area is about 5 times the size of the well child area, and it has all of the toys. So them chillens can share errythang.

Mal weighs 21 (officially), which puts him in about the 92%. He is 27ish inches, unofficially, from when I was waiting for the nurse and held a yard stick up to him, without trying to straighten his legs. This is about average for his age, which is 6 months, 3 weeks. He is a big-booty baby!

I loved the doctor he saw. I don't think we'll keep using her; a lot depends on what insurance James ends up with at his next job. But she was quick and to the point and didn't lecture me about a dang thing. She asked the questions about symptoms and whether he'd been pulling on his ears. I told her no, until this morning when the Tylenol was wearing off, and he pulled on the tip top of his left ear, but just once and he wasn't being fussy.

She listened to his chest and back, and said he sounded fine. She looked in both nostrils and said they were clear. She looked in his right ear, and said, "It all looks good, which is good, but I know you want to know why he's been this way..." just as she was looking (or trying to look) into his left ear.

He didn't want her to. He turned his head and started getting nervous. Finally, she said, "Oh, yeah," then he pulled away. She said, "I don't want to call it until I see it," so I repositioned his head against my chest and she got a good look. "Yep. There it is." She described what she saw, which I will spare you, but he has an infection in his left ear.

What was awesome was that her office was able to send Mal's antibiotic prescription to CVS electronically, and by the time I rode my bike over there, it was ready. Because James had put money in a Healthcare Savings Account, even though we had to pay for this stuff (insurance expired the end of last month), we won't "feel" it in our regular budget.

Mal did so well, even stopping at CVS and having to hang out a few while they finished mixing his meds. He fell asleep about 5 blocks from home, so when we got back, I held him for an hour while he napped, then gave him his first dose of meds.

We decided not to go to small group, since Mal's been super fussy and probably wouldn't take to too much stimulation, but I had a doughnut shop I had to do between 6 and 9, so James and I decided to make it a sort of date to take advantage of a couple of Tax Day deals, and give D a break from Mal's crying (she had her white noise machine cranked this morning, since he woke up earlier than she did and he was clearly in pain).

Mal got to use his brand new convertible car seat today! I can't believe I forgot to take a picture; you'll just have to take my word for it. He cried/whined a bit, but fell asleep about the time I got onto the highway. We went to Sonic first, for James to get a 1/2 price cheeseburger and an order of chili cheese tots (I'd had some pizza from a lunch job). Then we went to the doughnut place for my job (a dozen to go, so tomorrow's breakfast is ready!). Last, we headed way down to Orange Leaf Yogurt for their $4.15 16-ounce yogurt. Mine weighed about 13.5 ounces, but James' weighed in the neighborhood of 18 ounces, and the cashier totally let him get away with it!

$4.49 with tax, baby!

Mal loved jumping around on that orange vinyl couch! He ate a pouch of apple raisin quinoa baby food while we had our yogurt, and then I let him have a taste of mine. He didn't seem overly impressed. I tried one more small bite, and he just wasn't interested. Not at all like the time he surreptitiously started gnawing on the frosting can and giggling like a bad movie villain. Well, glad he enjoyed his healthy meal better, anyway!

After that, we walked around the back and found a playground I didn't realize was at Southpark Meadows. On our way to the car, we saw three maybe ducks in a tree talking, seemingly trying to decide where to go. One flew out to a lamp post, then a few minutes later, the second one did. Finally, the last tried, overshot the post, and ended up in another tree. They were really cute, and it seems like Mal is going to be as interested in animals as Daphne was. Is. Was as a baby and is now.

Aww, duck it.

Now I need to get to sleep. Last night was ROUGH, and I'm ready to hopefully get a better night's slumber all around. Hoping the meds kick in fast!

Oh, I told James that my rule of thumb needs to be: If I feel myself thinking, "I cannot be around this kid one more second," I need to take that kid to the doctor. The only time I felt that way about Daphne, when she was about 9 months old, she had double ear infections, double conjunctivitis, and an upper respiratory infection. Glad we only had one ear giving us a problem on this day!

An update on the Nuthaus and its surrounds

Well, it's official. There's a lockbox on our door, and we're planning to move when our lease is up this summer. We're looking in town, so will still be in a pretty urban area... but it won't be the same. That has its good points and its bad points.

We love walking everywhere. The walking score where we're looking is nowhere near as good as here. But we'll get to walk a bit further, so maybe get more exercise. And we'll get to know a new area of Austin. This part isn't the only cool part, right?

Someone stole one of our flamingos last night, which brings the stolen flamingo count up to 4, plus the one someone took then abandoned in the alley, and I found it and put it back.

Also, last night our neighbors had a very weird domestic dispute right outside of our bedroom window (the house is like 4 feet from ours) when the woman came home and couldn't get into the house. She said, "Seriously? You're going to be like this? Let me in! I want in the house!" This went on for about 10 minutes before she went upstairs and started trying to get him to open the door up there. Reminding him, "I have a key!" and yelling his name and, "Let me in the house!" THAT went on for about half an hour. I was seriously considering calling 311 because clearly she needed some help.

Side note: She's very sweet. She's offered to help me with my baby, if I need it, but I think I'll take a big old pass on that one for now.

Anyway, the better part of an hour after it started, the guy's voice chimes in. It didn't sound like he came from the house, so maybe he'd parked and walked to a bar or something? He said, "Just a second. I'll let you in." (She was upstairs at that door, and he was down at the lower entry.) He then said, "I found the other key." And we didn't hear anything after that. Weird stuff.

Today, a guy was walking by, saw Mal and me sitting out front, and stopped to chat with us. That happens a lot. But he told me I had a "little blessing" in my lap and said he had gotten 3 packages of wipes and would bring me one, leaving it on the bench cushion outside. Oookay.

Finally, I'm sad to say the crochet guy has disappeared! After like a year! The last time I saw him, I took him some cookies we'd made at a cookie exchange just before Christmas. I figured I'd do that first, and then next time I saw him, ask him what he was making. Now he's gone.

I rode down to get cat food today, and I love this neighborhood. I got a little misty-eyed sitting out on the porch today. This has been a great two years.

My favorite quick bike route in Austin (so far)

Saturday, my sister and I checked out Shoal Creek Trail for the first time, and we LOVED it! I made a MapMyRide route of it and then went back yesterday to do almost the same loop, with some video. The only difference is that instead of turning left onto 12th and then taking Lavaca north to 15th, I actually rode my bike through the Capitol complex, and it "felt" like less of an incline (or maybe I just had more to distract me visually) in addition to being fun.

Saturday, my brilliant diversion was to take us in front of the Governor's Mansion, but the steep climb on 11th unfortunately killed my sister's new-to-her bike chain mid-shift, so we ended up coast/walking the rest of the way home.

I called this route "Very Varied" because you start out at West Campus, which is a student area with housing, fraternities and sororities, and trailer food. Then you hit Shoal Creek Trail, which feels for all of the world like it's in the middle of nowhere, even though it largely parallels Lamar. You get glimpses of the high-rises downtown and can sometimes hear the traffic, but a lot of it is wooded and in the shade, even at 2:00 PM.

Near the south end of Shoal Creek, you have to come off of the trail because of construction as the power plant is renovated for the opening of, among other things, Trader Joe's. At that point, we're back into the city, just for a bit, as we detour down San Antonio to Town Lake Trail. As I noticed the first time I rode the north lake trail, it's not nearly as popular (and therefore populated) as the south trail. This is great for biking! I feel like a jerk, slowly pedaling behind runners, looking for a safe spot to pass where I won't hit oncoming joggers.

You could take the lake trail out further east, but I exit where the construction cuts it off at the actual lake at Waller Creek Boathouse. Then it's just a matter of looping back north through downtown however you choose. If you want more of a work-out, you can take Trinity further north than 2nd and wait to turn west until 8th or so. Those hills are not my favorite, as I try to avoid hills where there is a lot of traffic both for safety and because if the hill kicks my rear, I don't want too many witnesses to my shame of having to push the bike.

So, in this short 7.4 miles, we have urban, wooded park, university, and even some regular business and neighborhoods.

Also, this is the first video I've put together using Adobe's Premiere Pro since we subscribed to Creative Cloud. There is a learning curve, but I'll get there.

Park Focus: Palma Plaza

Today, I thought we'd do something a little bit different. There is a park in our general area, and every time we drive past, I itch to explore it.

This afternoon, I rode my bike over, and first of all, I don't recommend doing that if you live east of the park. We've walked once before and it's not much better. Accessing it on foot from the south, we had to walk up Castle Hill. I didn't want to do that, so I accessed it from the north, which meant riding my bike on 15th, which was only marginally better and nearly killed me.

But it didn't! And so, without further ado, my maybe second video and very first single-focus video I've done on this site. Hope you like it and that it inspires you, too, to explore our magnificent city park system!

2014 Bloggin' Mama Social

Thanks to Free Fun in Austin, I got connected with LiveMom and Orange Wall Collective, leading to both the See's Candies event I attended Thursday night and the great Bloggin' Mama Social I thoroughly enjoyed tonight.

The event was held pretty much right on the river at Alta's Cafe, so I got to ride my bike! I don't mind telling you that I was a little nervous. I rode over 10 miles in a stretch two weeks ago, but since then, I've grown a lot in the general baby area, and the last couple of rides I've taken have been significantly more challenging. I'm pleased to report that this was no problem, especially getting there, as it's mostly downhill.

Overcast skies, I presume, and a chillier-than-the-past-few-days temperature meant I didn't have to share the trail with much of anyone.

Under the First Street bridge. This is the first time I've seen it from the north side of the river.

Alta's Cafe is located in the Waller Creek Boathouse, and is a lovely place to sit and watch the action on the river. 

If you're on the Ladybird Lake trail, on the north side of the river just east of the Four Seasons Hotel, you'll see trail signs for the Waller Creek Boathouse. You'll know you've made it when you see this thing:

Conversely, if you're downtown, just take Trinity south until it ends. Literally. There is probably some parking around there, but you really should just walk or bike. It's beautiful, even on a cloudy day!

Plus, if you get there at the right time, you can watch the rowers coming in for the evening. They all put their boats up on stretchers, hosed them off, then stacked them for storage for the night. 

As the event started, I met a former homeschool mom who has a cultural event blog. It was fun talking to her before I took my seat at a table and started in on the food.

The cheeses and bread are from Alta's, but the brownie was a gluten-free one from Peoples RX kitchen... and I have to give them props, because most gluten-free stuff eventually breaks down and tastes like moist sawdust to me, but this brownie was delicious.

Meanwhile, sharing my table were three other interesting women. Araya Hildara has a Spanish-language About.com section on pregnancy and childbirth, and she blogs on the site as well. Her friend, Gisele, a midwife, was with her. Gisele is just starting on a blog about raising children naturally. Finally, Cheryl Carey, founder of Taste and See Healthy Baby Food, is working on raising funds to give gift cards on Mother's Day to the moms who are in engaged in the family support services with Any Baby Can of Austin. Any Baby Can is a great program, and our small group adopts a family at Christmas. If you can help contribute, click here and write "Gifts for Moms" in the comment box. Also, I plan to take Cheryl's baby food class some time early next year! She has a couple of group classes a month, so check out her website.

These are the first treats I've had from Baked by Amy's. They were good, but apparently the pecan bars were the awesomest, because when I passed the table later, willing to try one because of the rave reviews (I don't typically like nuts in sweets), they were *gone*! 

Catherine Prystup, hostess, and Michael Swail, co-owner of Alta's Cafe.

Michael explained that they'd just opened this outdoor venue during one of the coldest winters in Austin history. You should totally go check it out, now that it's nice, though. Besides, check out their menu from the link above. Good stuff! I can personally vouch for the cheese part of their charcuterie plate. The meat stuff looked delicious, too, but is off-limits to me in my delicate (giggle) condition. As was the sustainable wine and the local craft beer. But I can't wait to go back and try it all very soon.

Mike McDonell of Kidventures Camps, a sponsor of the evening.

Pro blogging mamas panel.

Hilah Johnson of Hilah Cooking

Shellie Deringer of Saving with Shellie

Wendi Aarons, freelance writer and blogger

They were all insightful and interesting, but I won't go into detail here. Lots of stuff to think about, though. It was very neat that people actually care about local businesses and local bloggers and how we can help each other enough to put on an event like this. I loved meeting moms with totally different perspectives than I have, and seeing what a wide range of interests and passions we have.

About the time I decided it was time to head home before it became completely dark, it started pouring rain! Fortunately, I don't melt, but I did get pretty drenched. After my shower, though, I was rewarded with being able to riffle through the swag bag all attendees received. We have some awesome businesses around here, and I cannot wait to try the Daily Greens juice tomorrow morning!

James and I laughed because of the contents was a Cutie in a clear cellophane gift bag, tagged by McDonald's. They're trying, gosh darn it. But you can be sure that I will use the free small smoothie gift certificates!

There were door prizes given out at the event, too. I might have won a night at the Omni Downtown (where I paid half price to stay once, thanks to Hotwire.com), or a $50 gift card to a local fine dinery, or even a gift basket from Terra Toys. Instead I won this. And, yes, I will be reading it tomorrow. I like to start my week off inspirationally.

Night Rider

Lately, I have been feeling lethargic, fatigued, and exhausted. When I'm moving, I'm fine. But I have to sit down. A lot. Like for work, and because my daughter is in school. Things like that.

Tonight, after James and I had set up D's computer and played a game of Scrabble, he was ready to settle in for his own computer stuff and I wanted to ride my bike. I sat at the table, pendulum ready to swing to "get a head-start on sleep" and "take a ride."

I knew I'd feel better once I got out, so I did it. The sun was mostly down, so I turned my obnoxious flashers on and headed out, planning to ride just a couple of miles, just to knock the cobwebs out.

The night is clear and beautiful. Today started off very foggy and was warm and humid. With the sun down, it was pleasant. I easily made my way up a hill that is exceedingly more difficult when it's sunny and hot.

I drove down a West Campus street, where students were converging for a night out. It's warm enough that many have broken out the cut-offs and tank tops. I saw one already-drunk pretty boy wearing cowboy boots and Daisy Dukes stumble-skipping across the road in front of me. Good thing I drive defensively!

Then I hit "The Drag," enjoying the newish bike lane. Again, lots of students out and about. The bars and restaurants were packed, including Kerbey Lane. When I got to where I needed to turn off to come home, though, I wasn't tired. I felt like I needed a better workout, and the night was so gorgeous. I kept riding until I could see the downtown buildings popping up over the tops of closer parking garages. I drove past the lit-up courthouse.

Approaching 2nd, I realized that something was going on. The whole street was cordoned off and there were

security guards manning the sidewalk "entrances." Since I was on my bike, I got to zip past lines of cars trying to figure out where to park. I drove only about a block on 2nd before getting out of the way so as not to endanger pedestrians.

Heading toward Congress on 4th, I passed Fado's, which had live music spilling out into the street. Another bar was blasting Michael Jackson's "PYT" and the next Guns and Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine." Also, there was a pedicab in front of me booming "Thrift Shop." The trailer had a life-sized Darth Vader attached to the back of it, and picturing him singing "Thrift Shop" kind of made my night.

When I got home I found out that an Alzheimer's fund-raiser called "2nd Street Sound Check" was what I happened upon during the ride. Most of downtown was packed. I love seeing all of the people out, and experiencing the energy... quickly, and in passing, on my bike.

There are rooftop lounges with white billowing curtains and all blue lighting. There are construction tunnels and trees strung with white lights. There are upscale restaurants, a CVS, and a 7-11. You can't "type" the people on the street. There are kids in helmets riding bikes with their parents. There are DINKs going out to dinner. There are indigent people, likely relieved that tonight is so mild. There are pedicabs and horse-drawn carriages. Oh, and, of course, buses. Lots and lots of buses.

I drove up Congress, literally smiling, enjoying the cool breeze as the Capitol neared. Then it was up the hill past the Governor's Mansion, particularly enchanting at night. After that, I was ready to head home.

As I drove in, I realized that when I moved here almost a year ago (actually, eleven months ago to the day), I started calling this "my" neighborhood. At the time, I just meant the area around where I live. But now, I feel like it is truly mine. I know its personalities... It does change. It's different at lunchtime on weekdays, and on weekends when students' parents are in town. It's different on weeknights and on weekends. It changes, but it's all so familiar to me now. We have legitimate neighbors like "Grandma" (who has recently appeared on two occasions, after having holed up most of the winter) and "Grandpa," whom I learned is called "Santa Claus" by the attorney on whose stoop he frequently sleeps. And Crazy Guy. There are all of the cops who frequent Taco Cabana. There are the business people who walk past the house to Chick-fil-A at least twice a week. There are the Jimmy John's bike delivery drivers.There is the lady who stands in front of the Scientology building selling carnations (Daphne asks, "Where does she get those?"). Oh, man, and there are dogs. The dog across the street whose owner brings him out every morning, lets him do his business, and never ever cleans it up. There are the dogs that belong to homeless people... those dogs are super well-behaved and most of them are pit mixes. There are dogs that are apparently too delicate to walk across a busy street because the owner picks them up in his arms to run the crosswalk.

This place is my home. I love it. I'm not intimidated by traffic patterns I don't understand anymore. I'm never worried about going out alone after dark. I know this place, and it knows me, and we belong together. Now if only our landlord would let us buy this house...

Downtown Christmas, Visit 1

Yesterday, James bought me a much-needed and even more appreciated new bicycle! It's an absolute wonder, feeling like my ride is working *with* me instead of against me! And I'm riding it everywhere I can find the excuse to ride.

This morning, my brother-in-law, Ken, dropped my sister and their kids off downtown and came over to park at our house. Then we both rode our bikes downtown to join them at the Chuy's Children Giving to Children Christmas Parade.

We had a very cool adventure before the official parade even started! We needed to clear the Capitol from the north before heading down toward 3rd, because Congress south of the Capitol was closed for the parade. Brazos doesn't go through, so my plan had been to take San Jacincto, which was also closed to traffic. There was a police officer standing there, and I asked if it would be okay for us to bike through. He said, "Sure!" There were people walking, too, from wherever they'd parked.

As Ken and I made our way down San Jacincto, we passed the Angry Birds balloons, cheer teams, a unicycle club, and other parade participants. They were actually starting on San Jacincto, getting the bands geared up, getting the kids psyched up ("Let's smile! It's show time!"), and making sure that they were all on the same page before they burst onto Congress.

The organizers were very intent on what they were doing, and we almost got run into several times, but we weaved in and out of the parade entrants. There were people taking pictures and filming, so I was glad I had on my festive zebra-print Santa hat, because maybe it helped me fit in.

We rode past the 501st Legion and Darth Vader and some friends... and finally broke clear of the parade route after several blocks. It was fun, though!

We met up with my sister's family and watched the parade from a lot closer than I'd anticipated, having gotten there literally as it was starting (obviously). 

Shades of "The Music Man." Anyone?

If that were diet and if I weren't already married, we might have something special.

Excited to see a greyhound adoption group representing!

After the parade (actually, a bit before it was officially over, but we were all about beating the crowds), we went a couple of blocks over to the Four Seasons. Every Christmas season, they have a gingerbread display in the lobby. They actually have open houses with cider, and where you can chat with the pastry chefs, on December 4 and 5 from 5-6PM.

This year's theme is Whoville from "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." Each of the pieces is for sale, with proceeds benefiting Seaton Shiver Center, which treats cancer. Here are pictures of the village and each piece, in case you want to decide on which to bid before you head over.

Stay tuned! There are more Christmas festivities to come from...