I love Austin. I came here 23 years ago expecting to only stay 5-6 years, and here I am, 20+ years later.
Austin doesn't "feel" like Texas - yes, you may see some cowboy boots and hats, but Austin is much less "cowboy" than either Houston or Dallas.
Austin is a very laid back, funky, city with a small town attitude. A common bumper sticker that you will see around town says, "Keep Austin Weird". Another bumper sticker you might see is "Titty Bingo" - which is the name of a local band.
Many of the old hippies that didn't stay in California, came to Austin - some of them are my good friends. There is a wonderful feeling of acceptance here. My husband and I noticed immediately that we could go into a place of business, e.g., a restaurant, and someone would be dressed up in a suit and tie and next to them was someone in shorts and flip flops and it seems perfectly normal and no one thinks anyone else is over/under dressed.
Austin is considered by many as the "Live music capitol of the world". And indeed, you can find live music most anytime of the day or night in most any part of the city. We have large beautifully decorated guitars placed around the city to symbolize our love affair with music.
It is said that famous people who have homes here, e.g., Sandra Bullock, Lance Armstrong, Walter Cronkite, and Dennis Quaid, love it here because they can be out and about and no one bothers them. I heard Jesse James (Sandra Bullocks husband) in a TV interview, say that he loves Austin because he doesn't get stopped by the cops when they see all his tattoos.
Yes, Austin City Limits is filmed right here in the middle of town on the University of Texas campus. While it looks like the bands are playing outdoors, it is really just a pretty small room with a backdrop of the city lights. Yes, we have to regularly replace the green Austin City Limits highway signs on the roads into the city. The tickets are free and it really is a wonderful way to see some great acts up close and personal.
Austin is home to one of the worlds largest colonies of Mexican freetail bats (they come here from Mexico in the summer). They live under the bridge on Congress street over the Colorado river. When they fly out in the evening to feed, you will find hundreds of people down by the river banks watching the large black cloud of bats emerge. It takes them all about 15-20 minutes to fly out. It looks like a large wavey black cloud.
The restaurants in Austin are very very good - if not, the restaurant doesn't last long. Everyone loves to go out to eat and there is usually always a long wait at almost any restaurant in the evenings on the weekends. Many of them also have live music venues. Janis Joplin sang at Threadgill's restaurant back in the 60's before she was famous. Russell Crow and his band and Dennis Quaid and his band play at Stubb's BBQ joint.
I could blab on and on about Austin, I really do love this place.
Here's a website where you can learn more about my favorite city.
http://www.austintexas.org/