ACL

Hey y'all!

I am currently in Starbucks eating some oatmeal and drinking tea and listening to the civil wars. It's lovely. And the weather outside suits this fall state-of-mind I am currently in.

I've been having some requests to blog about my weekend at ACL.
So, here we go.

On Thursday evening, Ethan, Tim, Aubry, Barrett, and I took off in Barrett's pathfinder towards Austin. We were excited, giddy, and freaking hilarious. Aubry, Tim, and Barrett met Ethan and me in Edmond after their drive from Fayettville/Tulsa.
We missed all the traffic and made really good time all the way to Denton. In Denton, we stopped at Rosas' Mexican restaurant and tortilla factory that Aubry raved on. It was prety fantastic. Except we were those guys who went into the restaurant 10 minutes before they closed. It's okay.
Everyone enjoyed their cheap, pretty authentic food and then we were off again towards our final destination, Austin (or really San Marcos, because we were staying with Aubry's friend Kristen for the weekend).

We arrived around 3ish am and we were thrilled and exhausted all in one.
Friday morning was semi early because it was a big day at ACL.

When we got to the festival, Ethan and I kind if split up from A, T, and B. It was nice to experience ACL with my boyfriend. We layed on my floral sheet and played UNO and listened to some fantastic musicians.

Bands/musicians we saw on Friday:
Ray Lamontagne
Brandi Carlile
James Blake (who was so so so good)
Delta Spirit
Cold war kids
Bright eyes
Coldplay
Kanye West.

A lot of the time we sat towards the back and relaxed on the blankets and had good conversation.

The end of the night Coldplay and Kanye performed. Ethan and I agreed to stay for a few songs of coldplay's and then walk over to Kanye, who was performing at the other end of Zilker Park.
Both shows were a lot of fun.

On Saturday, we took our sweet time getting to the festival.
Because we stopped at a fantastic little restaurant, The Magnolia Cafe, for a hearty brunch.
First on our list was Iron and Wine. Ethan and Io stayed for a little bit and then wandered off in search of souvenirs and other shows.
E bought two shirts for two of his good friends and I bought something for my best friend, Marielle that she doesn't know about yet. ;)

After wandering, we thought about going to the Skrillex show.
So we did.
I was a little disappointed, though I don't think I gave them a fair listen.
We also listened to Allison Krauss who was great.

The rest of the night was kind of a blur. We smelled a lot of pot and waited for a while to see the beginning of Stevie Wonder's set before heading back home.
And by home, I mean San Marcos.

Sunday, we went to S. Congress street to do a little shopping and a little eating.
I didn't find any vintage finds (even though the shopping there is wonderful), but the Thai food Ethan and I had from Coat and Thai, a food truck, was super duper. And their Thai tea is really refreshing.
I got one of my favorites, Pad See Ew, which is egg noodles with broccoli and a sauce and tofu. So good.

Then we went back to Zilker to catch the last few songs of The Head and The Heart. They sounded really good and had a big crowd.

As the sun began beating down on us, we decided it would be a good idea to go swim in Barton Springs, which is a natural swimming area. The water is a constant 68 degrees all year 'round. Getting in at first was so bad. But once we got all the way in, it was refreshing.

We went back to Zilker Park around 3:30 so we could catch Broken Social Scene (on accident), Fleet Foxes, who were incredible, and Arcade Fire.

Ethan was a sweetheart and accompanied me to the hill in the middle of the park to watch Arcade Fire from. I got uncomfortable in the FF crowd and wanted a small break.
Even though Arcade Fire is one of Ethan's favorites (and mine too), he just wanted to be with me.
We talked about life and music and things and he eventually went back down to catch a last few songs of Arcade Fire. They ended on Sprawl ii--a fantastic ending and probably my favorite song on The Suburbs. Actually, probably tied with We Used To Wait.

It was a grand day, Sunday.
After Arcade Fire, BARET (that's our group name) met in the middle of Zilker to head out.
The streets outside of the park after the last show were so so so crowded--it was like an evacuation for a zombie apocalypse or something.

We eventually got on the road and made it back to Edmond around 6:30 in the morning.
It's good to be back safely, and I can't wait until next year's festival.

(I will be back tonight with weekend pictures)