Ba na na na na na na na...Ba na na na na na na...BAT BRIDGE!

Perhaps you are not yet familiar with the Bat Bridge here in Austin. If that is the case then please click here. And if you missed the above reference in the title then may I just point out that Bat Bridge sounds a lot like “Batman”. You know…the theme song…I know that it kind of ruins the joke when I have to tell everyone why it is funny but it also kind of ruins the joke if no one gets it. (NOTE: Mr. Swirly Patterns may disagree with this logic as he continuously makes jokes regardless of whether or not people understand them or find them funny but I am not Mr. Swirly Patterns. I cannot pull it off as he does.)

That said, Matt and I decided to celebrate our 1 week “living in Austin” anniversary by visiting the Congress Avenue bridge downtown at dusk. Maybe part of it too was that we had to console ourselves that all you Salt Lake jerks got to be at the FREE Andy B. and Josh Ritter concert at the Twilight Concert Series. You jerks. Yeah well, Matt and I went and saw 1.5 million bats fly out from under a bridge we were standing on…44 species y’all…that’s a lot of bats! And it really was a great evening to go and see them. I’ll tell you why.

The first day we moved in, Matt and I met a super nice couple named Cole and Holly. They really are great and not just because they are our only friends here so far but also because they love to tell us why exactly Austin is so “kick ass” (in the words of Cole). It really isn’t “Texas pride” as much as it is an “Austin pride” thing with them. And why shouldn’t it be? True, Matt and I were not nearly as enthused about the 4 block long street of bars and lounges in the heart of the city as Cole and Holly. But seriously, what other city has Mexican Vanilla ice cream, an art deco style power plant, half a dozen different farmer’s markets, or offers camping sites downtown along their rivers? Seriously people: this is a cool city.

If there is anything that these Cole and Holly folks like more than telling us about the “kick ass”ness of this city it is taking us around and proving it. Matt and I have found this to be a really great set up, especially on Bat Bridge night. C&H took us to get wraps at “The Freebird” on Congress Ave. so that we would have a place to park that wasn’t more than 3 or 4 blocks away from the bats.

Over dinner Cole, who is king of being the 1st to tell us about anything and everything Austin, brought up the “Keep Austin Weird” campaign. Sadly, I think it disappointed him a bit that Matt and I had already learned a little about it. But it was good to be reminded to expect the unexpected in this place as we exited the restaurant and crossed onto the sidewalk. About 5 meters ahead, a bearded and densely freckled 60+ year old fellow crossed onto the sidewalk about the same time. He led the way to the bridge in nothing but a g-string with a clothe devil’s tail hanging out the back, a halter top that covered his strikingly developed breasts, a garter pulled up his skinny left thigh, and of course stilettos. We all let him gain some distance as he hurried through a light to cross the street. When he got to the other side he started waving and blowing kisses at the cars passing by. “Just keeping it weird, here, Austin. Just keeping it weird…”

When we got to the bridge, there were peopled lined up all along the East side waiting for the bats to come. Below at a park along the bank of Town Lake kids begged their parents to buy them a light savers from the vendors as if it were Disney Land. Just when the edge of dusk began to sink into the city, the tourists boats lined up facing the bridge. Then, as if on cue to their 15 minute nightly gig, the bats came flying out from beneath the bridge. They came out in three different streams and then aligned into one thick current. It was really creepy, neat. Check it out.