5-5 to 5-20-2014 Biking Indianapolis

The new bikes with electric assist that we got in Austin have really opened things up for us.  It makes it much more feasible to bike downtown, even from Beech Grove.  We found a nice, low-traffic road to bike on before joining up with the Cultural Trail in Fountain Square.  From there, it's a super quick ride downtown.  We've really enjoyed being able to bike downtown (enjoying the ride, instead of fighting traffic), have dinner, walk around, see Pacers games, and bike home.

We were shocked that the first time we rode downtown we lucked into CHEAP tickets for the Pacers playoff game.
Yes, it was already halftime, but we had a blast, and it seemed like there isn't a bad seat in the house.

White River State Park

Beautiful view of White River as it leaves downtown Indy.

The lovely trail past the Indianapolis Zoo.

Crossing the river in White River State Park.

White River State Park

The Cultural Trail downtown

We biked to Mass Ave., an area of downtown we like very much.

The 2nd Pacers playoff game we lucked into at halftime - better seats, and we won!

Drummers celebrating after the win

The beautiful Pathways to Peace Garden at Indiana and Senate.

Pathways to Peace Garden at Indiana and Senate (by Bourbon Street Distillery).

A nice, new, free bike repair station in Fountain Square - how handy!

4-19 to 4-26-2014 Maumee River "Fort to Port" Canoe Trip

Our friend, Abigail King, of Save Maumee Grassroots Organization (http://savemaumee.org/) had planned to paddle the entire length of the Maumee River (141 miles) from its start in Fort Wayne to the port of Toledo on Lake Erie.  She wanted to document the drainage tiles along the river, as well as raise awareness of water quality issues.  (The Maumee River IS the largest contributor to Lake Erie.)  She managed to put together a well-supported canoe trip with nice campsites along the way, a trailer to haul your gear to the next campsite, drivers to shuttle people, breakfast and dinner cooked for us every day, river and land medics, and visits from local media.

Abby, our fearless leader, and her canoe partner Erik Mollberg

3-5 to 3-15-2014 SXSW

So, Austin is known for having the SXSW (South by South West) Festival every March.  (People come from all over the world, the town swells, and traffic comes to a near standstill.We rode our bikes everywhere, so traffic wasn't an issue, thankfully.)  Anyway, the festival has three components: Interactive (for tech and web stuff), Music, and Film.  Obviously, we were most interested in the Interactive part.  (The music and film events usually had super long lines, and we're not into that.  Maybe we'll figure it out better next year.)

Our first SXSW event - a party at the Paramount Theatre, followed by a presentation by the creator of SXSW,
among other notables.

The Startup Crawl started in the lobby of the Omni Hotel building. 

The Startup Crawl was very busy, and it was hard to make it around to talk to all the vendors.

Eric spent most of the time at the Startup Oasis in the upstairs of Old School Bar & Grill on 6th Street.
He made use of their daily "Office Hours" to meet with experts in different areas of business.

One of our favorite parties was the "I F-ing Love The Science Channel" Party.
Bartenders all wore lab coats, drinks were served in beakers with glowing ice cubes, and they had
good food and freebies.

The Capital Factory had a lot of good stuff going on during SXSW Interactive.

Eric got to ride around town (and network) on the Can We Network bus.

Cara found the Bates Motel in downtown Austin (complete with a vending machine of "Mom's Killer Brownies")

Okay, not quite sure what Eric had going on here...

Cara enjoyed the Silvercar Moonroof Party with new friend, Lisa McNally.

View from the roof at the Silvercar Moonroof Party

Another view from the roof at the Silvercar Moonroof Party

We found a nice cool spot to rest for a bit.  Cara loved the shade concept here.

The Yahoo! Lounge was a good place to chill and get some work done.
Plus, they had a constant rotation of acts that would perform a couple of songs, then get interviewed.

We even enjoyed a near private performance by Spandau Ballet at the Yahoo! Lounge.

Video of Spandau Ballet

You see all kinds of stuff on the streets.

We did catch some good live music at The Tiniest Bar in Texas.

3-15-2014 You know you're in Austin when...

You know you're in Austin when...

...you ride your bike to a Trailer Friends (food truck) Meetup, and you have to park next to a mule.

...you see people riding mules on the streets downtown.

...bikes, cars, horses, and mules all share the road.

But you really know you're in Austin when...

...you find bats hanging out (literally) in your apartment!

(a closeup of our visitor)

(another closeup of our visitor)

 Don't worry, we rescued and released the bat under the Congress Street Bridge about a block away.