From top notch hotels to meals at all the best places, to guided tours of the “Austin City Limits” studio and the University of Texas, to live performances and private concerts by some of the area’s most legendary musicians, this tour gave a solid taste of Austin.

Kids Who Want to Party

Despite my injury, I wanted to get out and explore Austin as much as possible. So the first night of the trip, after my fellow travelers had gone to bed, weary from two-stepping at The Broken Spoke, I ventured back out of our plush digs at The Driskill Hotel to the world-famous wilds of Sixth Street. As I strolled along the club-clogged thoroughfare, I met coeds and recent grads from all walks (or stumbles) of life.

Passing such venues as The Chuggin’ Monkey (made famous from its appearances on MTV’s “The Real World”) and Austin’s version of the dance-on-the-bar chain Coyote Ugly, I was overwhelmed by the mix of sights, sounds and smells (some more pleasant than others) that wafted down the seven-block stretch of paved party. From Jazz to Punk to Country to Blues to Rock, Sixth Street had something for everyone. And even if you didn’t want to dance, the bars and restaurants were more than enough to keep the hundreds of college students who flooded the famed party lane each night fueled and lubricated.

Adults Who Want to Party

As the University of Texas has over 50,000 students (making it the second largest student population in the nation, next to Boston), it is easy to see why so many venues would cater to this demographic. As Austin is also the home of such corporations as Dell and Whole Foods (the flagship store of which weighs in at over 80,000 square feet), I knew there had to be places for people who were between graduation and retirement.

Whereas Sixth Street is a straight shot, the nearby Warehouse District consists of a series of blocks of (you guessed it) renovated warehouses. While the vibe is a bit more mature, the choices are no less abundant. From quiet coffee shops to swanky martini bars to legendary music venues like Antone’s (the long-time home base for the late Stevie Ray Vaughan and other Blues greats), the District offers a more sophisticated yet no less fun set of drinking, dining, and entertainment options.

Instead of ball caps and ripped jeans, the apparent dress code for the District was silky dresses and starched shirts. Though few venues require them, jackets can be a useful item of clothing as Austin can tend to cool off at night (weather-wise, that is). But keeping the night hot is no problem in this active party block, as the music spills through nearly every door, making it easy to scoot from place to place late into the night…which I certainly did.

The Non-Party Music Scene

By the third morning, I was a bit bleary-eyed, but coherent enough to appreciate lectures by local historians like Larry Willoughby and John Wheat, who explained how Austin came to be the “live music capital of the world” and how the capital of the Republic of Texas had encouraged such great cultural and musical diversity. “Lines really get blurred in terms of genres,” commented tour leader Gavin Garcia, a music professor and school at administrator at UT.

In addition to daily discussions with area scholars and residents, the Road Scholar trip offered in-hotel performances by Grammy-winning pianist Floyd Domino and conjunto artist Rodolfo Lopez, bringing to the sounds of the city to us.

Not that getting around is such a challenge, however. Thanks to the ‘Dillo trolleys and the Capital Metro bus system, tourists and locals alike can get to many popular places for free or, in the case of the busses, reduced prices.

Another benefit of the great Austin music scene is that, as there are so many talented performers in town, many clubs offer music starting much earlier than in other cities. Where else can you see Merle Haggard’s favorite guitarist Redd Volkaert at 3 PM on a Saturday or Blues legend W. C. Clark in full jam at 7 PM? Even for the early bird set, Austin has plenty to offer.

Museums and More

While Austin may be known for its music scene, there are plenty of things to do either before, after or instead of catching a band.

Among these are Austin's many museums. For the kids, the Austin Children's Museum offers a scale model of the entire United States and a full-sized bus in which to practice transit safety. For the history buffs, The LBJ Library includes many of President Johnson’s papers and personal effects; The Harry Ransom Center offers a rare Gutenberg Bible, Vivien Leigh's “curtain” dress from “Gone with the Wind” and what is claimed to be the first ever photograph; and the five-story Museum of Texas History offers its own IMAX theater. Even the capital building (the largest in the nation) is fun to walk through, if only to see a painting of W. in his younger days.

If the outdoors are more your scene, Austin offers Pease Park and a long and winding bike path along the Colorado River that passes by the Stevie Ray Vaughan memorial statue and under the nation's largest urban bat colony. If you hit it right, you can see over 1.5 million bats rushing out for their sunset feed. It is truly a sight to behold- and you can see it and be back to the hotel (or the club) in time for bed (or the next set).

No matter how old you are or how old you may feel, Austin has plenty to do and plenty of beautiful places to do them.