So March got here and we had visitors from the California side of the family, my sister Beth, her kids Isabel and 5-month old Guy, and my mother. Damned courageous of Beth to travel with two kids in tow. They didn’t come to build and cook like our previous visitors, and were only here for about 4 days, but were able to see a few new sights, like our neighborhood for example. Yeah, you would think we would have seen the golf course and more of the neighborhood after three months in Austin. In fact, my mother chastened me in disbelief that we hadn’t “been out more.” Well, welcome to the world of the two-year old (terribly too sweet).  (Note to Mom: You know that bed you slept in? Well it wasn’t there until about a week before you got here!) It’s actually quite a big neighborhood, and we still haven’t seen it all.It was remarkable they even got airline tickets, because they came the week of South by Southwest, which is a strange concoction of a conference/event/festival — film, music and new media/web, all wrapped up into a one, three-part big event–which is probably the busiest week of the year in Austin–not sure what all the politicians do during this time, probably go into hiding. I think it’s become the biggest music event in Austin, and it’s certainly a big draw with the web techie crowd for the “interactive” conference, and oh yeah, there’s a healthy little independent film industry growing too. So they mashed it altogether and today we have South by Southwest (aka SXSW). This meant the city was hopping and  the airport was full of lots of interesting if not strange people; mostly musicians, web programmers and designers and low budget film makers who apparently hadn’t taken showers in a few months before coming to Austin. There’s usually a crowd of these types at the airport, but the place was swarming with ‘em when they arrived. Made for some good first impressions, but then we did come from California, so it couldn’t have been a shock. So anyway, with this festival thing going on, downtown was hopping the one night we got down there. By then, everyone had moved from the airport to the streets of Austin, where in the warehouse district a few streets were closed off to corral all these people into a manageable area. So they got a good firsthand look at the creative community, and fortunately for us, since the crazies were all in town, the politicians were all on holiday.We also were able to get out for some down home serious BBQ, which is another thing Austin is known for (well it might be a Texas thing, the BBQ, but we’re not really in Texas if you haven’t got that point yet). We went to THE BBQ place, which is a joint called the Salt Lick, outside of Austin in the Hill Country in a small town called Driftwood (so small we passed it the first time without realizing we were there), and it is in an area where you might actually still see some hillbillies. We didn’t catch any though. They were probably  hiding out with the politicians, because that town was also over run by the SXSW crowd. So take note of that (the Salt Lick) for your visit (soon, right?). So this place is strictly BYOB. I think it’s actually in a dry county or something–Yep, Hays County, is dry. Guess the folks in Hays County were asleep (or passed out at their bootlegging still)  in 1933 when prohibition ended. Doesn’t make much sense, because patrons are encouraged to just bring their own…anything…beer, wine, moonshine. Seemed to be a little bit of everything, in little brown bags, and big open bottles.So their visit here was short, but everyone promised to come back soon. In fact, my mother and father are due here this summer, and Beth and Isabel also promised to come back soon, possibly without baby in tow. For some reason Isabel in particular was keen on coming back. Check out the pictures here.So the California entourage left after a few days, and it was only then that it actually felt like I had really moved out of California, because I realized I probably wouldn’t see them for awhile. I actually ended up going back to CA for my dad’s birthday in April, but this story is about something else. No, I’m not sure anymore what that is, but I’ll get on with the update now….on to Daniel and Louise!!