#harrysboots

Boots are back ! Harry yesterday eve 23/7/16 photos copyright HSD

Days 57-65 Oct 6th-13th, Traveled CO, TX KEEPING IT WEIRD IN AUSTIN October is seeing a change of pace, which is lovely.  After a lot of hiking, October is filled with more cultural events, the first of which was the Austin City Limits Festival.  We drove down through endless cotton fields and lazy spinning wind farms as the weather grew increasingly warmer heading southeast towards Austin. On my way we stopped at San Saba to buy some cowboy boots, because at the end of October I'm going to spend 5 days on a working ranch and needed boots for riding.  I figured Texas was pretty much the best state to buy them in and thanks to Yelp found Harry's, this incredible boot shop that's been around for over 75 years and has hundreds of boots.  The ladies were very helpful, especially to a complete cowboy boot novice as myself, and showed me the type of heel I'd need for riding. I'm now the proud ower of a beautiful pair of boots that will get put to the test in a few week's time. It was my first time in Austin and boy did I love the city. I rented a little bungalow just off south first and it was great to be able to stretch out, unpack... and do a mountain of washing! The bungalow was self-proscribed 'Austin Weird' and Lilster also found herself right at home amongst the plastic dinosaurs and set up camp on a mustard coloured velour armchair as I went out to explore the city.  I did a big loop down south first and south congress popping in and out of shops and just soaking in the unique Austin vibe.  As my friend Leslie had suggested, I started the day with a breakfast taco... and am now hooked on the things!  Maybe Sydney needs a breakfast taco truck... hmmm? I had tickets for the Friday and Sunday of the ACL and met up with Leslie and her boyfriend Brian.  True to American events this was incredibly well organised, you could even connect your credit card to your wristband and charge everything that way.  Zilker park was beautiful and the food, all from local eateries, was the best festival food I've ever had.  Highlights for me were the old school sound of Leon Bridges and for dancing the visceral drums from Of Monsters and Men.  The only thing this pale Brit struggled with was the heat, even at 7pm it was still in the 30s! Sat I had time to explore Austin further.  I started again with a breakfast taco and then Lilster and I did a big walk along the lakes and down to Barton Springs - she swam and I paddled. I then went to buy all the basics I needed to continue doing some oil paintings; Asel's Art Supply was brilliant and very reasonably priced. They were up near the university so I looped back down through the Capitol and had lunch watching the 3rd & 4th quarters of the OU/Texas game - great game and Texas pulled out all the stops to win.  Austin was such an incredible city, I can see why their motto is 'keep Austin weird' and their healthy distain for Dallas - my favourite retort I saw was 'Life's too short to live in Dallas'.  Austin I hope I'll be back someday; Leslie thank you for showing me your amazing city. Heading out to far west Texas for the Marfa film festival!

Perfección nivel: Harry Styles🙈💕