Spring Break 2025, Part 3

My son and I crammed so much into 5 days, 4 nights in Texas I had to break my story into three parts! Again, I hope you had as good a break as we did, filled with family, friends, and food!!

Buda, Texas

Since the mid to late ’80s, shortly after we graduated high school, my sister has lived in Austin, Texas. I visited many times before I finally graduated college and moved down there, too. Her husband worked in the concert ticket industry at a company called Star Tickets.

Older Tulsa readers may recognize that company because they also provided ticket services for Cain’s Ballroom and “Brady” Theater.

Since my sister had “the hookup.” we saw many free concerts while I lived there. (Thanks, Bob!)

Soon after moving to Austin, I started working at various radio stations, so I, too, had perks of free concert tickets, and many other fun things to do like Austin Ice Bat hockey tickets and free movie tickets. It was never a dull moment when I lived in Austin!!!

Austin has always been a booming city and with one of the largest universities in the county, a hub of tech startups, and the state capital there, there was (and still is) a perpetual influx of young people. Back then that made for an exciting, fast-paced environment for us “new” young people; however, for those older Austinites, they yearned for the more quiet years of the “galactic cowboys” when Willie Nelson had a much shorter ponytail and he and Waylon hung out in a small town just west of Austin called Luckenbach.

Austin’s famous live music club scene downtown and city skyline has grown so fast in the last 20 years, it’s almost scary. And the traffic is terrifying. Plus my twin sister Lynda and I are a bit older and have slowed down a bit, so it’s no wonder she decided to move to a much smaller town called Buda.

During our spring break visit (first off, the weather was perfect!), we enjoyed a nice stroll through a couple arts and craft gift shops enjoying lattes and scones.

And much to my delight, even in a small town south of Austin, there is still live music!

Kayaking Downtown!

When in Austin, you must rent a kayak or canoe and enjoy Lady Bird Lake and the views of downtown Austin from the water. It was so much fun (a bit pricey, $25 per hour per person) and we almost didn’t do it, but I’m glad we did!

Boomer Sooner!

My son Atticus wants to attend University of Oklahoma, but while we were in Austin, he wanted to take a look at University of Texas. Here we are in the “belly of the beast.”

Work/Family Balance

It was great trip visiting family and friends, but it was also a work trip for me. I host a radio show at a really cool rock station in San Antonio called “99.5 KISS Rocks.” The station hosted Papa Roach at Frost Bank Center while I was there. They are one of my favorite bands, so I had to check it out!

My Brother, Roy

As always, on our way back to Tulsa, we had to stop to visit my older brother Roy’s grave to pay respects. My son’s full name is “Roy Jon Atticus Hernandez” in honor of what my brother meant to me. He passed way shortly before I found out I was going to have my first child. Here is Atticus showing some love to his namesake: