There were coeds in high heels, frat boys in cargo shorts and sandals, and couples with matching chopped orange hair and tattoos doing their best to ``Keep Austin Weird.''
But if you want to sample the real flavor of the Lone Star State's funkiest city, here, based on four days and nights of exhaustive research, are my top picks of distinctly Southwestern attractions that you won't want to miss.
• Mexican free-tailed bats: When the Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake near downtown was renovated in 1980, Mexican free-tailed bats found a cavelike home in an inch-wide, 950-foot expansion joint on the bottom. After the colony grew to about 1.5 million, the city panicked and called for the exterminators.
Cooler heads prevailed. What once was seen as a threat is now a city symbol and tourist attraction. There's a bat sculpture as public art, and the local hockey team is the Austin Ice Bats. From March through October, when the bats are visiting, folks gather on the bridge and below it to watch the stream of hungry bats exiting at sunset.
• Allens boots: South Congress Avenue has rebounded from its seedy period, and Allens Boots, circa 1977, is one of the institutions that has survived. It has boots made of alligator, crocodile, ostrich, African antelope, goat and calf, with prices starting at a couple of hundred and topping out at $6,000 a pair.
There were boots with skulls and boots with real cobra heads on the toes. The favorite of UT fans featured a longhorn on the front.
• Broken Spoke: Beer cost a quarter when the Broken Spoke opened in 1964. The sign out front says, ''Through this door pass the best country dancers in the world.'' A small museum inside has cowboy hats that belonged to LBJ, Willie Nelson and George Strait. A plaque inducting Bob Wills into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame is on the wall.
Nearby is a UPI news story from 1988 that says the movie Urban Cowboy had inspired a short-lived rise in Texas dance halls. ''Cowboy Bar Fad Dies Out'' was the headline.
Don't tell that to Jesse Dayton and his band, who were belting out the classic (Is Anybody Going to) San Antone, while a mass of dancers moved, counterclockwise, around the floor. Grab a cold longneck -- Shiner Bock is the local beer of choice -- and a partner and join in, even if your Texas two-step is a bit rusty.
• The Continental Club: The Continental Club also is a South Congress survivor and the granddaddy of Austin's wealth of live music venues, serving up legends since 1957. The Continental opened as a private supper club with acts such as Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller.
In the '60s, Candy Barr and Bubbles Cash were the stars as the club offered Austin's first burlesque shows. In the '70s, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Ely and Kinky Friedman played there.
On this sultry night, a ''Kinky for Governor, Why the Hell Not'' bumper sticker was still on the wall, and Dale Watson, billed as the heir to the throne, was on stage. With long sideburns, a blond pompadour and thick dark eyebrows, Watson looked like a rockabilly version of James Dean.
• Waterloo Records: Waterloo Records on Lamar Boulevard has CDs by every imaginable artist in alphabetical order, from ABBA to ZZ Top. Yes, it was Nirvana for a music lover. What a Rush! I was in Dire Straits for cash, but It's A Beautiful Day when you pull out the credit card.
I found what I was looking for, a vintage album by Doug Sahm, the Cowboy Mouth of the Southwest, the Cream of the crop. I paid the cashier and headed out the Doors for some fresh Air, away from the Animals. I had been in Bad Company, but I found the whole experience interesting. U2?
• Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: One of Lady Bird Johnson's projects was in its glory during my visit. Actually, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is a tad more spectacular when the bluebonnets are blooming in spring. Still, there was plenty of color on a walkthrough with Damon Waitt, the senior botanist, who explained that the center's goal is to educate people about the value of native plants by displaying them in several settings.
''We only grow what was here originally,'' he said. ``But we have a big palette to chose from with more than 2,400 species in the region, and about 700 featured prominently in our gardens.''
If you want to see how Texas Hill Country looks at its best, hike one of the short trails that wind through the 279 acres.
• Texas State History Museum: The Texas State Capitol was impressive, with a cavernous rotunda displaying 51 portraits of former governors, including George W. Bush and James Stephen Hogg, who named his daughter Ima.
But the best show was up the street at the Texas State History Museum, which has a 15-minute video called The Texas Spirit. As we went in, spokesman Robert Hicks warned that ``nothing in Texas is subtle.''
The video started at the Alamo with cannons booming and smoke flowing from behind one of the three screens. When it told of the hurricane that struck Galveston, a misty rain fell in the darkened auditorium. When a plague of grasshoppers flew across the screen, a whiff of air made it seem one had just grazed my neck. And when a rattlesnake coiled to strike . . . well, hang on to your cowboy hat. I guarantee you'll jump in your seat.
• Oasis: The start of a perfect evening begins with a 30-minute drive from downtown Austin to the Oasis, which proclaims itself the ''Sunset Capital of Texas.'' The Oasis is a restaurant that has risen from the ashes of a fire started by lightning in June 2005.
The decks that cascade down a bluff overlooking Lake Travis have been rebuilt, and the place is once again serving terrific views with its margaritas and chicken fireballs appetizer. There are more than 40 decks, but you might get there an hour or so before sunset to get a good seat.
Some tour buses with lousy timing were pulling in as I headed out in the dark for some baby backs at Artz Rib House. There, I was soon up to my elbows in barbecue sauce and tapping a toe to Michael Ballew on acoustic guitar.
