Music, museums, markets make for a capital visit to the Southwest

May 13, 2007|WHERE THEY WENT, Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent

WHO: Michele Kfouri, 40, with sons Jonathan, 6, and Andre, 2, of Newton Corner

WHERE: Austin, Texas

WHEN: One week in February

WHY: "My father and his wife had moved there about 18 months earlier, and this was our first time visiting."

CLAN WITH A PLAN: "With young kids you want to have activities," said Kfouri, whose husband wasn't able to take time off to join the family. "My dad's wife did all the planning, and I had to do absolutely nothing." Kfouri's father, Jeffrey Maiken, and his wife, Jayn, had left California for Texas in search of a less-expensive lifestyle. "They fell in love with Austin and bought a house the weekend they were touring it. It's a college community and it's quirky and different from the rest of Texas. Their motto says 'Keep Austin weird.' "

WINTER AND WARMER: "We spent a day at Zilker [Metropolitan] Park, which is their rendition of Central Park," Kfouri said. "There's a small-gauge train that goes through tunnels and winds around tracks. It happened to be unusually warm, but none of the flowers were in bloom, which was unexpected for me. So it was a little barren. My 6-year-old actually complained one day that it was too hot. In fact, at the end, we forgot our coats and my father had to ship them home."

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: Twice they drove to museums in the city, about 30 minutes southeast from the Maikens' suburban home. "With Austin being so musically inclined, the Children's Museum had a room with a stage and video camera and a constant video stream, so that was a cool addition." They also visited the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. "It's big and great," she said. "Texas is the center of the universe, as far as they're concerned. We saw the IMAX movie 'Hurricane on the Bayou ,' which we all liked." Jonathan had his theater-going debut at "The Lion King." "He loved it," his mother said. "At intermission he was telling us about all the different characters."

REUNION AND FIRST UNION: Kfouri's brother, Marcos Maiken, and his wife, Emma, joined them from Louisville, Ky., later in the week. "We hadn't seen him since 1999, and the kids had a great time with their new uncle. " Because her brother is Brazilian, they honored the reunion with a carnival theme, eating feijoada stew and drinking caipirinha . "All the neighbors came. That was fun."

SOLELY FOOD: "I love food and told my father I wanted to go to Whole Foods, because it's based there. They're in a six-story building and on the bottom floor is their flagship store," Kfouri said. "It's bigger than anything I'd seen. They have a lot of food stations where you can do taste tests and beautiful outdoor seating with a running brook through it." Her father also recommended she visit competitor Central Market . "That blew my socks off more than anything I'd ever seen in my life," she said of their main store. "They have all the organic, like Whole Foods, but also the gourmet food and wine market was quite impressive. Everything was done to the nth degree, like they had every kind of apple and potato ever grown on the earth."