Austin360 blogs > Out & About > Archives > 2010 > July > 01 > Entry
Summer Austin Colonies
Austinites were born to beat the heat. Shade, air conditioning, swimming holes, public pools and lakes form the first lines of defense. The Hill Country is marginally cooler than the city proper, at least at night, and the Gulf Coast beckons with constant breezes.
Since the earliest days of our history, Austinites with a little extra expendable income have set off for designated summer colonies. Here are a few of the most prominent, and who, according to our sources, chill there.
San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato: Hippies, poets, outcasts and others have found a safe haven in this Mexican mountain town. As early as the 1970s, purists felt that gringos had already ruined this quiet paradise, but one can still go all day in the right districts without hearing English. (Rich kids from Mexico City are another story.) Art, food and relaxation are among the chief thrills for Hal and Eden Box, Margaret Keys, Joe McClain, Suzieand Randy Harriman and more.
Marfa: As soon as the railroads pushed through the Davis Mountains, this town, along with Alpine, Fort Davis, Marathon and Terlingua, attracted herds of summer Texans. Later, cultural pioneers like Donald Judd and Tim Crowley transformed the existing, arid attractions with austere art, vivid food and gracious entertaining. (The mountains and the towns still look the same, though, unlike Santa Fe.) Find here Liz Lambert and Amy Cook, Eugene Sepulveda and Steven Tomlinson, Dick and Janie DeGuiren (honorary Austinites), Tobin Levy, and many others.
Aspen, Colo.: All the Rocky Mountain ski resorts double as pressure valves for boiling Texans. This particular colony embraces Rusty and Mary Tally, Dr. Nona Niland and David Braun, Laura and Jeff Sandefer, Joan and Jeffrey Lava, Rebecca and Bryan Hardeman, Johnna and Stephen Jones, Becky and Jerry Lindauer, Jeanne and Rusty Parker.
Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. These islands, along with the Hamptons, the Berkshires and Cape Cod — have long offered summer respite for Northeasterners. Now Austinites join them for great escapes from urban life. They include Carla and Jack McDonald, Tom and Lynn Meredith, Melanie and Ben Barnes.
Galveston: OK, so it’s still torrid during the summer on the Texas coast. No doubt about it. Yet the heat seems so much more tolerable while sipping an iced beverage on the Victorian porch of an Austin transplant or part-timer. Truly devastated by Hurricane Ike, the isle has not recovered, but instead is reinventing itself. Among the witnesses: Cliff Redd and Rick Johnson, Eva and Marvin Womack, Candace and Michael Partridge, Steve and Lynn Davis, Amelia Bullock and Bill Krumpack, Richard Hartgrove and Gary Cooper.
Photo: The New York Times
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By TipsyTexan
July 1, 2010 1:20 PM | Link to this
I was at a cocktail party in San Miguel one summer and it was surreal: standing on a patio in Mexico, but everyone around me was talking about Austin High graduation and UT registration.
The next day my friend and I took a taxi out to some thermal springs, and didn't know to arrange for the return trip, so we started walking back. Not 20 minutes later, some ladies drive by in a Suburban, and in a familiar accent shout "Hey, weren't y'all at the party last night?" And gave us a ride back to town. We might as well have been in West Austin.