Hypothetical Travels with Tina: Austin

Southwest Austin, West Lake Hills, Rollingwood, Travis County... A great place to raise a family!

With the North Texas football team having clinched their second straight year of double digit losses and Todd Dodge boldly leading my school to loss number 20 in his 3-20 college coaching career, I find myself longing for some sort of escape from the soul crushing reality of the present.

I'd like to take an imaginary journey to a wondrous, magical place. A heaven on earth; an Edenic wonderland where the streets are paved with gold, the sky is always blue, and each day is even more blissful than the last: Austin, Texas. Specifically, the 78746 ZIP Code.

Tina likes her suburbs the same way she likes her wine: rich and white. And it doesn't get much richer and whiter than West Lake Hills, where the population is 95.6% white and the median family income is over $132,000.

The schools in the 78746 are fantastic. I don't have any daughters who are about to start high school next year, but if I did- I'd want them to go to the school that Newsweek ranked 52nd out of the top 1000 schools in America.

I certainly wouldn't want them stuck in an academic wasteland like, say, Carroll High School in Southlake, which didn't even make the list in 2008.

Yes, Westlake High School is an educational marvel. Even though it is the only high school in the Eanes ISD and has over 2,400 students, the administrators somehow manage to keep an average student-to-teacher ratio of 25 to 1. And their average SAT score is 170 points above the Texas state average!

Westlake isn't all about bookwork, though. Like any good academic institution, they know that part of learning is well-roundedness through extracurricular activities. Artistic students get to explore their gifts through a wide variety of media. The band has won Texas State Honor Band three times! There are clubs for everything from Japanese Pop Culture to Knitting to Swing Dancing to Underground Film to Origami to Chinese Culture to... Well, let's just say there are a lot of interesting clubs.

Oh, and it seems they play a little football, too.

That's a pretty nice stadium! Can't complain about a facility like that!

Actually, they play some pretty good football, with 5 appearances in the 5-A State Championship in the previous 13 seasons. Things have been a little rough lately, what with their relatively new head coach struggling out of the gate and stumbling to a 6-4 record this season. He's only been there for 5 years as the head coach, though, so it may still be too early to judge him based on his results. And besides, I'm sure a school like Westlake, which excels in every single way imaginable and has a history of top level football success, is perfectly content to settle for mediocrity on the football field.

Their coach also happens to be the Athletic Director, so hopefully he can take comfort in his unusually high salary for a high school football coach. I imagine it's pretty tough to live up to the high standards set by a legend like Ebbie Neptune, and any coach/A.D. who took over a job like that would have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Big, spacious homes and rolling hillsides.

The 78746 ZIP code has so much more to offer than just beautiful scenery and outstanding public education, though. There's also fantastic shopping with the over 180 retailers who call Barton Creek Square Mall their home. And there's 14 screens of modern stadium seating at the local AMC for any movie lovers, plus three nearby Alamo Draft House theaters.

Might the pot of gold at the end of your rainbow be found in the 78746? There's only one way to find out!

Yep, the 78746 ZIP Code area is the perfect fantasy getaway for anyone trapped in a hopeless situation.

From time to time, I think about trying to find myself a new job somewhere in the 78746. I'll tell you one thing... If anyone ever offered me a job that would allow me to move there, I'd go in a heartbeat.

Even if I had a good paying job already, I'd have to consider that in these turbulent economic times, I could always find myself unemployed tomorrow. Or three weeks from now. If I had an offer in the 78746, I don't know how I could possibly turn it down.

Yep, I'd TAKE THE JOB.

In a heartbeat, I'd GO.

I don't think anything could make me not TAKE IT.

I think I'd have to QUIT AND TAKE THE DAMN JOB PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE QUIT AND TAKE THE JOB PLEASE JUST DO IT QUIT AND TAKE THE JOB!!!!!

I might have to swallow my pride a little bit, but I'd still have a great job in a great place that's a great location to raise a family. Especially if I'd still be doing what I loved somewhere that I could easily be successful again. It might not be easy, but I think I'd have to go for it.

And if I had a friend in the same situation, I'd probably encourage them to do the same thing.