Austin City Limits Lights

I'm back from Austin, and, since I always do a DFW area holiday light post each year, I decided to dash off a quick post about some of the better lights in down there as well. This is based on a combination of hearsay (or maybe that should be "readsay," since I found it on the Web) and actual experience, and it's by no means comprehensive:

• Circle C Ranch: This south Austin neighborhood, near the southern terminus of MOPAC, has a couple of cool houses, including this one on Rigsbee Court, which is quite festooned in holiday brightness; all that's left now to top this off would be to sync everything to music, like all the cool kids are doing. (I'm not invading anyone's privacy here by publishing the address, as I found out about the neighborhood in this city-data.com forum post, where the Rigsbee guy posted his own address. And as I've said before, I love when I have the chance to use the word "festooned" in a blog post. Heh.) Another street in the area, Savin Hill Court (to the southeast of Rigsbee, off Back Bay Dr.) has a clever theme to it: Where Reindeer Go to Vacation. And a special bonus, if you enter the neighborhood heading southbound on Escarpment from Slaughter, is that all the trees along the road are lit up as well.


• 37th Street, east of Guadalupe: Not visited on this trip, but recommended by a few people in the city-data post. Some say that it's lost its luster over the years, but others say it's on the way back up. (Some pictures here (scroll down to the post from "twange.")


• Trail of LIghts in Zilker Park: I visited this myself three years ago. Although some people say it's gotten over-commercialized (and indeed, most of the displays did have named sponsors), it's something that's worth seeing at least once.


• Cedar Park: I didn't get to visit this yet, but I've read about a display synced to (what else?) the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Sharon Drive, off Sunchase Blvd. near Millburn Park, as well as another cool display (with complete participation) on a cul-de-sac called Chinati St. (that's not a typo; it's not named after a variety of wine, or if it is, the planners goofed and it stuck). And finally, the city features a giant illuminated live oak tree in the appropriately-named Heritage Oak Park (875 Quest Parkway).

I don't know how many Austin-area readers The Musings might have, but since my Christmas was in that neck of the woods this year, it seemed appropriate to add this to my posts about Dallas and Houston lights. Locals may of course feel free to chime in, especially if your view differs from what others have posted.

UPDATE: After re-reading the post about the Rigsbee house, it appears that the owner was letting people park and walk through the entire yard (I thought those people out there were friends or family; d'oh!). I'll have to try that whenever Christmas takes me to Austin again.