Last year, when I went on vacation in Mazatlán, Mexico, my group followed the keen advice of a columnist in Arthur Frommer’s magazine Budget Travel and rented a century-year-old home in the historic district. I’m planning to stay closer to home this year, but I still check the Budget Travel Web site for deals, and I especially like the blog. Imagine my surprise this week to find my hometown of Austin on the editors’ Top 10 Destinations To Watch list for 2009—sharing company with Berlin, Budapest, Cambodia, Hawaii, Mexico, Panama, Reykjavik, Vancouver, and Washington, D.C.  (I’m not sure why the editors narrowed some places down to the city, and went for states or even countries in others, but no matter.) 

About Austin, the editors said that the “capital of down-home cool (and Texas) has been working to become the nation’s capital of pop culture” and singled out the upcoming South by Southwest (SXSW) music-film-and-media festival (March 13-22), as well as the Texas Biennial (contemporary art at galleries throughout Austin, March 6-April 11) and Art City Austin (big art bash along the shores of Lady Bird Lake, April 25-26). Google away for more details.   

I’d have to say I agree, especially about South by Southwest, though I haven’t purchased a wristband or tickets in years; free events and shows abound, and the unparalleled people-watching cannot be beat. (The international ad-hoc style show on Congress Avenue is better than a pile of fashion mags.) 

The Budget Travel eds also rave about margaritas on the terrace of the Inter-Continental Stephen F. Austin Hotel, but I’ll suggest a trip only slightly northeast to my new favorite watering hole, The Nomad (at Cameron Road and Corona). The mixologists here make a mean martini, pour a perfect pint of Guinness, and offer a dependable selection of good wines. Better yet, The Nomad is within an olive’s toss of the newly expanded Austin Film Studios (off 51^st), which hosts its annual Open House during SXSW (March 14 from 1-4). Fun, fun, fun! 

Over coffee at Sweetish Hill on West 6^th St in Austin, Architect Hal Box shared his thoughts on the new book he’s writing about plazas in Mexico. He and coauthor Logan Wagner (Texas A&M University School of Architecture) have measured 90 plazas and have an extensive collection of drawings and photographs to accompany the drawings. 

I asked about the Spanish influence on South Texas towns and he mentioned the plaza in Laredo, but went back to the origins of the project’s theme.

“The plaza actually originates in Meso-American sacred sites, or we’re working on proving that,” Box explains. “For example, the open space adjacent to a pyramid might actually (mythologically) represent the primordial sea where the gods lived and from which the people themselves emerged,” he adds.

  “When the Spanish came, they built around those spaces. In colonial cities and towns, the plaza evolved to become the heart of the town, where people went every day to share information, keep up with the news, and just experience the life of the community,”

  “The courthouse square in Texas is not quite the same, but that’s another aspect of the plaza concept we’re working on. And the last chapter of the book will include some ideast for how to adapt the plaza to today’s cities – in the hope that we can reclaim some of the suburban space where  there is little community identity.”  The book will be published by The University of Texas Press (www.utexas.edu/utpress   Look for Hal Box’s last book, Think Like an Architect which was a featured title in the 2008 Texas Book Festival –  www.texasbookfestival.org) 

When we’re hungry, but not in the mood for ‘cue in our favorite Hill Country town, we find a booth at Stonewall’s Pizza, Wings and Things on Llano’s courthouse square (101 W. Main). While there this past weekend, our group indulged in the fried-chicken salad (with honey-mustard dressing), cheeseburgers (delicious, doughy buns; served with battered fries), and a sausage-and-pepperoni pizza (wonderful crispy-but-chewy crust). We topped it off with Blue Bell Cotton Candy milkshakes! Yes, there are healthier items on the menu, including a turkey sandwich that my cousin swears by.
By the way: On the edge of town on Texas 29, I noticed what must be a new place that sells bottle trees (anyone been there?). The shop was closed when we passed by, but the displays of colorful glass radiating in the late-day sun had me rethinking my backyard landscape on the drive home.

I was recently visiting with a friend who works in the hotel business in Austin, and she and I discussed a trend I’m seeing more of these days: As the national economy feels a squeeze, hotels aren’t necessarily lowering their rates, but they are offering more package deals—reserve two nights and get a third for free, a restaurant credit with a night’s lodging, wine-and-cheese basket in room—that sort of thing. So when you book a room at your next Texas vacation spot, be sure to ask about similar deals.

And while we’re on the subject of a sluggish economy, how has it affected your personal travel plans? Or has it? As for me, I’ve gotten a lot less shy about packing a cooler and making those on-the-road dinners stretch into lunch the next day. As long as I can find ice, this works even if the place I’m staying doesn’t have a fridge.

So: Are you taking shorter trips or staying closer to home? Packing PP&J for breakfast? I’d love it if you’d share your tips for traveling on a budget. And…would you like to read more of this sort of thing in TH?

We’re excited about the February issue of Texas Highways (which is in the mail). This issue includes feature articles about Marfa, Fort Davis and the Big Bend Ranch State Park. Barbara Rodriguez wrote a couple of personal and amusing features about traveling the trans-Pecos with her 10-year-old son, Elliott (who has starred in several of Babs’ stories). Those who have been a touch daunted by the palpable hauteur in some of the art-world haunts (and we receive notes to that effect) will welcome the  light-hearted, travel-with-child perspective. Ms Rodriguez also teamed up with Elliott to make the Nature Conservancy’s Madera Canyon hike near Fort Davis, and that story will remind readers of a new way to enjoy the sky island of the Davis Mountains. And we can always rely on Wolfman Klepper to evoke the mystery and magic of the velvety dark skies.