Playing hooky.

It’s COLD in Austin today!   And since we are both off work, we decided to make it an adventure.   We took the Austin MetroRail train downtown to check out the Austin Boat Show at the convention center.

Commuter rail is really only in its infancy in Austin.  It doesn’t go to too many places, but it’s a start.   People can and do debate the pros and cons of what Cap Metro has implemented.  We have never tried it though, til today.   Here are some things I observed:

– no park & ride parking lot at Kramer station.  we had to drive around to find a free spot on a street nearby.
– a day pass is $5.50 per person (actually valid for 24 hours), easy to purchase at the kiosk.  though one of the 2 machines was out of order at that station.
– trains don’t run into the evening (i.e. past 6:30 pm) on weeknights.  but, since today was Friday, trains do run til about midnight.
– the train was nice, on time, and warm.
– the cars have wireless for passengers to use.
– there are bike racks inside the train car.
– there were not many riders – each train appeared to only have 2 cars.
– the ride from Kramer station to downtown station, which is right outside the convention center, took about 25 minutes, with only a handful of stops.
– overall, it was a nice commute.   I’d ride it again.

After we got downtown, we were only 2 blocks away from one of my favorite restaurants, Chez Nous.  And they had just opened for lunch!  So, we had to go in.   Delicious, as usual.

The boatshow was nice.   Lots of power boats, travel trailers, and our favorite vendor:  Texas Sailing.  Go check them out!  The show runs through this Sunday.