Thanks to a newly added nonstop flight from Pittsburgh to Austin, Susan and I were on our way to Texas to experience some real summer heat (a measly 100 degrees). It may have only been a long weekend but we certainly accomplished a whole lot during our 3.5 days. For one, I've added Austin to my list of favorite cities - with all of the outdoor activities, nightlife and food trucks it's hard not to love it! What makes it even better was being able to meet up with two of my favorite Connecticut people - Maddie (fine, she's really a Texan) and Kyle (just moved there for work).
We were lucky and able to stay at a studio where our friend was living for her internship for the summer - unlucky was that she was away for the weekend. But it was a cute apartment and we even got to use the old school record player.
But enough about that, let's get to the good stuff - the food! The culinary portion of our weekend consisted of:
Torchy's Tacos - An amazing local chain which served some delicious queso and, of course, tacos.
Magnolia Cafe - A breakfast and brunch spot which had a bit of a wait but my Texas Benedict was quite tasty.
Lucy's Fried Chicken - Lucy's smelled heavenly and the food tasted just as good. Although, next time I'll get fried chicken instead of the chicken salad sandwich.
Little Lucy's - A donut food truck we indulged in while out on Rainey Street.
Paperboy - I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this was the best bacon, egg and cheese I've ever had...and I'm a B.E.C. professional.
Shipley's Do-Nuts - We seem to love our donuts (and kolaches). Another chain but not like Dunkin Donuts...this place was good. We went to the New Braunfels location.
Rudy's - Oh what don't I love about Rudy's bbq. I love it so much we went twice when in New Braunfels.
While you might think all we did was eat, you'd be surprised to find out that we also did a plethora of activities over the course of the weekend. On Friday we had a 'crazy' night out on Sixth Street where we people watched from Maggie Mae's rooftop and The Ranch.
On Saturday we went to Barton Springs Pool which was chilly and refreshing on one of our hot Austin days.
Saturday night was our 'mellow' night on Rainey Street, the bar area of choice for my next trip. Many of the bars are old converted houses - it reminded me a bit of Key West. We did a casual bar crawl and went to the Container Bar, Icenhauer's, Lucille, Half Step and Bungalow.
On Sunday we drove about 45 minutes south to New Braunfels for some river tubing. This may have been my favorite part of the trip - slowly tubing down a river drinking beer with your friends was not a bad way to spend a Sunday.
That night we went to Gruene (pronounced 'Green'), a historic town home to Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas. We played some pool and then enjoyed the outdoor area at Gristmill restaurant (of course while enjoying continuous live music).
Unfortunately, our last day was upon us. But we certainly took took advantage of it with a day at Schlitterbahn water park, rated one of the best waterparks in the world, before heading back to Austin.
With a bit of time to spare before our flight, we decided to take a quick trip to the HOPE Outdoor Gallery to see the graffiti walls and this cool Austin wall. But alas! Our trip had come to an end.
Considering we only had 3.5 days to work with, I'd say we made the most of it. I had so much fun experiencing Austin for a weekend. I'm sure there will be a next time...and with cheap roundtrip flights through Allegiant, I'm sure (hoping) it'll be soon!
