And I had to stop and think about it for a while. They’ve spent tons of time doing “Austiny” things – climbing the 100 steps to Mt. Bonnell, swimming in the frigid water at Hamilton Pool, kayaking on Town Lake, watching the bats fly out from under the Congress Avenue bridge, taking the dogs to swim and fetch tennis balls in Bull Creek, swinging on the spaghetti at the Blanton, and chasing peacocks at Laguna Gloria. They’ve dined at Hula Hut and Las Manitas and El Sol y La Luna and Trudy’s. But really – none of that is “weird.” Uniquely Austin, yes. But not weird.
Weird is Leslie. Weird is that tattooed Lizard Dude. Weird is Eeyore’s Birthday Party. Oddly, the kids haven’t run into Leslie on any of our outings. I think s/he’s more of a night owl. We haven’t seen the Lizard guy either, although we did chat up a guy covered head to toe in tattooed leopard spots at Central Market. The kids were just toddlers though, and lots of awkward staring and questions ensued. And for whatever reason, we keep missing Eeyore’s, although we plan to go every year. For various reasons, they just haven’t been exposed to any major weirdness.
Until this year, and the Maker Faire. If I had to describe the Maker Faire, I would call it a Celebration of All that is Weird in Austin. As we were walking up to get tickets, this car drove by:
The kids were fascinated. And delighted. And then they wanted to know why we were stuck with a crummy Obama magnet, when we had an entire blank slate upon which we could profess our love for the candidate.
Ah, but little did they know what kind of automobiles awaited them inside the gates. There was this van with…ears? And lips? Also – something about Aretha Franklin?
There were other cool cars too. The Astroturfmobile:
The chalk van was a hit.
Moving on, we came to the clear favorite among the art cars – the Singing Bass and Lobster orchestra.
Really, it was no contest. The Big Mouth Billy Bass all flopped around and moved their mouths to whatever tune was playing, and the lobsters waved their claws along with the music. There was one particularly musical lobster in front, and he directed the entire show. This sign really helped set the mood:
They had fun assembling creepy mutant toys, a la Toy Story.
And hula hooping with extra big hula hoops.
I know this is hard to believe, but both children have won the coveted Hula Hoops War in their grade.
We’re very proud.
The Snake Bike was Travis’ favorite. It’s 70 feet long, and is powered by 6 people.
Some of those people don’t have legs that are long enough to reach the pedals, so they just kind of go along for the ride:
This was my favorite bike:
Abby enjoyed a smoothie that she blended up with bicycle power, then we headed inside to talk to the solar car people (Travis had burning questions about what they did on cloudy days) and the dude who was in the process of covering his car with stick-on velcro and yarn. And we saw the Carmadillo in action:
Travis other favorite thing was the Life Size Mouse Trap – yes, like the game. Only with bowling balls and bathtubs and skeletons. This was actually imported weirdness from San Francisco (really, I think Austin could learn a thing or two about weirdness from San Fran).
We also saw glass blowing:
Electrified blobs:
And lots of Legos:
We didn’t see Leslie or either tattoo guy there, but there was this…um…person:
I didn’t see his “Free Hugs” button until I downloaded my pictures. Otherwise, I would have been all over it.
I’m thinking the kids have it all figured out by now.
