Austin, Texas

Passive solar wall at Whitehall Co-op, Austin, Texas

In Austin we stayed at one of the nicest co-ops I've ever visited, the Whitehall co-op right by the University of Texas campus. When we arrived in Austin we were at a bit of a loss as to where to stay—we'd sent out a few Couchsurfing feelers but none came through. We did our usual drill of driving into a residential neighborhood in search of an open wireless internet access point. Then we remembered, "Hey, aren't there a bunch of co-ops in Austin?" Sure enough. We looked up the co-ops on the internet, made one quick phone call, and were soon invited to stay. "Fellow co-opers are welcome any time."

Their house is a giant two-story old wooden house with seventeen bedrooms and a large rooftop terrace and a garden out front. We noticed one wall was built out of concrete interspersed with glass water cooler jugs filled with water—a passive solar thermal reservoir—and in one bathroom the sink empties into a bucket, a simple grey-water application; the bucket is used to flush the toilet, saving them some water, which is expensive out in the arid west. They had some of their official documents (such as their current balance sheet) posted on the wall near the kitchen and it looks like they really have their act together. Their house is probably the cleanest co-ops I've ever visited, too.

One of the co-opers gave Bree and me a list of places to check out. It seems (in agreement with popular wisdom) that Austin has a very good hipster vibe to it, with lots of ecclectic businesses serving the throngs of students. We found ourselves at Spider House, a sort of cafe tucked away in what otherwise might be a back alley, with a huge outdoor terrace, colorfully illuminated by christmas lights and a wide variety of lamps, and two guys singing and playing the lap slide guitar. It was midwinter and eleven at night, but the Texas desert provided a warm breeze, and the place provided a perfect atmosphere to take a few margaritas.

Austin: thumbs up.