Romancing the Round Rock

Central Texas city among the nation's most romantic, but it ain't Austin

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and a new survey says Austin's neighbor to the north is leading the country when it comes to romance. According to a timely release by Amazon, unassuming Round Rock, Texas is the 14th most romantic city in the country.

Amazon determined which cities have the largest population of Lotharios and sirens by compiling data on romantic products bought by customers on a per capita basis. Romantic literature, movies and sexual wellness products factored into the final ranking of cities with a population of 100,000 or more.

Austinites may scoff at the idea that Round Rock is more expertly trained in the art of the “forbidden dance,” especially since Austin was named one of OpenTable's most romantic cities in 2013. However, that list was based on the number of “romantic” restaurants in a given city. (And besides, who’s to say that Round Rock Donuts couldn’t beat out any other fancy restaurant in Austin?)

According to Amazon's survey, Round Rock isn't the only Texas hub for romance. Coming in at no. 1 is San Antonio, who also earned a top spot on OpenTable's list. For now, the River City can boast not only romantic restaurants, but the highest number of residents buying Nicholas Sparks novels.

Here’s the complete list of Amazon’s 20 most romantic cities:

1. San Antonio, TX
2. Seattle, WA
3. Knoxville, TN
4. Miami, FL
5. Alexandria, VA
6. Orlando, FL
7. Vancouver, WA
8. Cincinnati, OH
9. Spokane, WA
10. Dayton, OH
11. Columbia, SC
12. San Jose, CA
13. Murfreesboro, TN
14. Round Rock, TX
15. Sioux Falls, SD
16. Las Vegas, NV
17. Pittsburgh, PA
18. Everett, WA
19. Erie, PA
20. Clearwater, FL

Austin's neighbor to the north is leading the country in romance.

James Howard Wikimedia Commons

Austin's neighbor to the north is leading the country in romance.

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More Foraging

Free 'food forest' in East Austin expands with thousands of new plants

Angelina Alanis at Festival Beach Food Forest

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Angelina Alanis gives a tour of the garden, which is open to anyone.

In East Austin, there is an edible forest garden called Festival Beach Food Forest where anyone can walk around and harvest free produce, nuts, medicinal plant leaves and herbs. And over the summer, it grew to several times its size.

The forest has fig trees, peach trees, grapevines, asparagus and more that's not in season right now. You can grab passionfruit and plants like yaupon holly, with leaves that can make a caffeinated tea, rosemary and lemon balm.

"[Lemon balm] is part of the mint family," said Angelina Alanis, communication and partnership coordinator for Festival Beach Food Forest. "It has a lemony taste but it's good for a nervous stomach. I'm prone to anxiety so I always grab a hunk."

The food forest is located right next to Interstate 35 and Lady Bird Lake on 29 Waller St., near a part of town that's known for being a food desert, lacking grocery stores.

"There's as much as a 20-year life expectancy difference between parts of East and West Austin, and a lot of that comes down to food access, health care access and also access to nature."

Alanis said for the past nine years, the volunteer-based grassroots project been helping with the issue and just recently expanded in the summer from two-thirds of an acre of city parkland to over 3.5 acres.

"We're going to have hundreds of new trees," said Alanis. "We've already planted 150 new trees in the area and then thousands of plants on the ground."

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They also plan to add a community kitchen and a pavilion to do things like cooking classes or informational sessions.

Read the full story at KVUE.com.

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