Viva! Streets Austin

Today the husband and I decided we would get out and mix and mingle with the locals.  I found out about Viva! Streets- Austin through a Facebook invite from the local chapter of Black Girls Run.  Per the website, it's a free festival that invites you to bicycle, play, get fit, people watch, and celebrate good health.  Free and fit?  That was right up our alley.  We had a blast.  Here are just a few pictures.

Two miles of car-free 6th Street.  We walked....

And walked some more.  I will say there is no shortage of ATM's on this street.  

Then we stopped as the stations were getting into gear.

There were tons of bikes.  It was great to see so many people taking advantage of this day.

BikeTexas is a non-profit bicycle education and advocacy organization.

The event was well organized with plenty of clean facilities.  I have issues with these things but at least they were clean enough to erase some of my phobia.

There were even bikes for the bike-less!

A little friendly competition.

My favorite stop at the stage for some Zumba in the streets.  This group was my favorite.

I'm no side-liner. I had to get in there and work up a sweat.  

Then there was yoga.  I didn't get to join because the hubs got hungry.

While in search of edibles, we made note of a few places we'd like to come back and try another day.  This was one of them.  They weren't open so we didn't get to see the menu.

Just the other day the husband was telling me how his favorite 'sweet' bread was Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate filled Croissant).  We came across a cute little place called Easy Tiger that happened to have them.  They  were indeed delicious.  Think we will be going back there for sure.

The garden looked promising but I was thrown off by the littered river.  

I liked this sign.

The bike atmosphere was everywhere.  Pedal powered shaved ice snow cones were very popular.

This guy was pleased to give the hubs his very first snow cone.

He was  leery but several people told him he can't live in Texas and never have a snow cone.  It's a summer necessity!  Turns out he really liked it.

Fun with the camera.

And this was the end of our stress-free weekend.  It was a lot of fun and probably the first time I've actually enjoyed 6th Street.  Glad I could prove to the husband that even a bar-hopping street can prove to be fun.  After walking 10 miles back and forth we headed home and spent the remainder of the evening listening to music and chatting.  It was lovely.