It's always sunny in Austin
Leanne Castro
Austin is a city of words. Around every corner lie illuminated signs reminding you to "Make Your Own Luck" or spray painted sentiments of "I Love You So Much" and "P.S. I like like you!!!" This love of the written word extends to the city's countless independent businesses, with everything from record stores to hot dog restaurants eagerly passing out stickers adorned with their tagline. While it is the "Live a Great Story" stickers on lampposts and "No matter how good of a dancer you think he is, he probably has venereal warts" labels on the mirrors of bar bathrooms that make Austin so quirky and cute, it is the spoken words of its inhabitants that make it feel like home.
It is downright disarming to have strangers not just openly eavesdrop on your conversations but actually invite themselves into them. Such is the M.O. of Austinites. The first few times it happens, it seems rude. "Don't these people know that you're supposed to pretend to be oblivious to those around you? Who are these animals?" you'll find yourself thinking. That is, until you realize this chattiness is born of nothing more than sincere friendliness. The citizens of Austin don't approach you because they want something from you or because they want to bother you—they approach you to let you know that you're on the wrong bus or that the activity they overheard you talking about doing requires reservations and at least a party of five. Maybe it's all the yoga Austinites do ("There is more yoga being practiced in Austin than in India," I was told by Practice Yoga Austin instructor John Mark Robbins) or maybe everyone is constantly drunk on Lone Star (which no one could blame them for—it's cheap and delicious), but there is certainly something in the city that makes its residents infinitely kinder and more approachable than your average group of people.
My money is on food as the root of Austin's happiness. There is not a person in this world who could be a Debbie Downer with a belly full of breakfast tacos or authentic Tex-Mex. Throw a stone anywhere in the city and it'll hit a food truck serving everything from Pad Thai to crepes. Austin takes its food trucks very seriously. Elsewhere in the world, food trucks are an option reserved primarily for drunk people or those in a hurry, but in Austin, food trucks like Thai-Kun are voted the No. 8 Best New Restaurant in America and are frequented by the likes of Ryan Gosling.
With all this hearty grub available everywhere, it would stand to reason that the "Everything's bigger in Texas" adage would apply to the circumference of stomachs in Austin. However, Austin is nothing if not the complete opposite of everything Texas represents, so naturally its people are constantly active. In the daytime, there is hiking on Mount Bonnell, which overlooks the entire city; walking along South Congress Avenue to browse used book stores and huge antique emporiums; paddle boarding amongst the turtles of Town Lake; or lounging in the icy, crystal waters of Barton Springs. All of this is followed by nights of live music, bull riding and dancing to Motown hits on the stage of local favorite club, Barbarella. These nights turn into the mornings that become the days of warmth and happiness that Austin prides itself on.
It's a place that always feel sunny, even on the cloudiest of days.