Austin, Texas

It was time for a little getaway. Nothing crazy, just a weekend without kids in a new place that wouldn't require a full day of traveling to get there. I saw someone I follow on Instagram post about paddle boarding in Austin, TX and that decided it! To Texas we went! We flew out the evening of June3, which was a Thursday. Shelley watched our kids for us. So nice having a sister to swap babysitting with! I swear the moment we landed in Austin, my hair went *poof* with the humidity. We stayed at a Marriot just south of Austin. It had been raining all week so I was nervous about the weather, but we woke up to clear skies! First, we grabbed breakfast tacos at Veracruz, which were very yummy. Then we drove about 45 min. south to New Braunfels. I thought we might go tubing down the Comal River but when we drove up they were closed due to flooding from all the rain. Well, on to Schlitterbahn then! I remember seeing Schlitterbahn featured on the Travel Channel as one of the top waterparks in the country back when I was a kid and it has stuck with me! I was fulfilling 14 year old Stephanie's dreams pulling up to this cozy, nestled in the greenery water haven! Now, it wasn't raining, but it also wasn't WARM. We paid what felt like an outrageous amount (buy your tickets online next time for a discount!) and stuffed our belongings in a locker then tried to figure out where to start. The park is divided into two locations and where we were only had two slides open. It was very different than the waterparks in Arizona. It's situated right next to the Comal river and I think even shares water with the river. Everything felt very natural and green. Like they built their slides right into the side of a hill with enormous, ancient trees swirling through all the walks and staircases. We got on a tram to ride over to the other location and spent most of the day there. They have the world's longest water slide and it was SO fun. I wish I had taken my phone with me to capture how cool it was. We sat in tubes and just floated down this slide for about 10-15 min.! Workers were positioned at certain spots to help push you through where people got stuck. There were swift rapids then easy going places. It was probably my favorite ride! We also rode the Master Blaster and one other super tall slide that you had to climb this towering staircase to reach. Crazy thing was, it was about an hour wait time for each slide. On the first one, we were so cold, we literally huddled together for warmth and secretly both contemplated leaving early. Thankfully, the sun came out and made the rest of the day bearable. Their lazy river was awesome. It goes around the wavepool and has big pumps that whoosh water through periodically. So you're floating, then suddenly overtaken by huge waves that rush you along. They also had a surf rider wave that you can take a boogieboard on. I was really proud of myself for trying it! And very nervous when Trav tried it too! He is only 7 days post surgery and probably shouldn't have been doing any of this. It might seem silly to go to a waterpark without kids but I had the best time with Trav. To just be "us" and enjoy the day being young and free together was exactly what I was hoping for on this trip!

We left Schlitterbahn around 4 or 5pm and were starving. We didn't want to waste stomach space on park food so we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We stopped at the famous Buc-ees on our drive back to Austin though and loaded up on fun snackees! This "convenience store" is more like a grocery store. It has 100 gas pumps, whole aisles of candy and fresh beef jerky. Unfortunately we learned the chocolate covered nuts were yucky, but we loved the jalapeno peanut brittle, praline pecans and beaver nuggets!

I did lots of research on restaurants before our trip and the Salt Lick was at the top for BBQ.. right next to Franklins. But at Franklins you have to wait 4 hours. Salt Lick is about 30 min. from Austin, isolated from anything else and surrounded by green hills and vineyards. It's really quite beautiful. It was nice to walk around, admiring the grounds. However, that's about all we admired, because the food was very average. Waaa waaaa. I mean, the meat was good, but nothing out of this world. I guess I did like the coleslaw but the potato salad was not great and everything was served luke warm. Had high hopes for the cobbler dessert but that was probably the worst of al of it. Took two bites and decided not to waste another calorie. This place is definitely hype. Oh well! Live and learn.

Only in Texas will you pass Slaughter Lane, haha!

Here is where dessert was redeemed. Jeni's Ice cream!!! Discovered this place in Nashville and have a strong love for their Rainbow buttermilk frozen yogurt. It is a symphony of tart on my tongue. I was oooing over every bite.

Saturday morning, Doug and Rachel met us at Lady Bird Lake to do some paddle boarding! They woke up early and drove 3 hours to spend the day with us! How's that for friendship! We had so much fun together! The weather was warm and it seemed we had the lake to ourselves. And only Doug fell in, ha! Did I mention that Austin is BEAUTIFUL?! Soooo green. Wasn't expecting that at all. I guess it's considered an urban forest. 

We ate some damn good lunch at Torchys. My favorite! Bring on the queso!

Then we drove to Mount Bonnell. I thought we would have a short hike to the top but we literally just parked and walked up a staircase to the top. Oh well for exercise. It overlooks the river and the cityscape. Oh, and some very pretty mansions. 

Next, we drove to Barton Springs and got the worst news of all! It was closed!!! Wahhh. It's a community pool made from fresh springs, but all the rain had caused flooding and the water wasn't safe to swim in. I had made reservations and everything. I was royally bummed out. We walked further downstream and saw that beyond the pool and barricades, where the water flowed into the river, people were still swimming. Now, it was a clientele of smoke and drinking and loud music and people who looked near homeless, but we were desperate. Doug found a rope swing and made a go of it! After a little convincing I decided, why not?! With Shelley's tale of horror in my mind, I gathered the rope up in my hands so it couldn't fall and whip between my legs. I basically just fell in the first time, but managed a little jump the second time. I'm glad I did! It was fun! Trav couldn't risk river parasites and Rach wasn't digging it, so just me and Doug salvaged the Barton Springs plans. :)

There were some bikes nearby you could rent so we went on a ride along the river. Although, first, we took a wrong turn and spent a precarious 15 min. mountain biking with our beach cruisers! Haha! After our brains were sufficiently jostled, we found the right path and LOVED our jaunt along the luscious riverside!

Dinner at Loro was good. It's a pretty location, but the service was awful. The food is Asian fusion so we just ordered a bunch of plates to share. 

Can't go wrong with some Jeni's for dessert though!! The Shaws had to head home afterward, but it was the best 8 hours with them! So grateful they made the sacrifice to be with us. 

We ended our night on Congress bridge to see the bats. It's this phenomenon between March and October when around a million bats live under this bridge. Then a little after sunset, they start pouring out to fly over the river and eat all night. The exodus can take up to 45 minutes. Huge crowds gather on the bridge and sides of the river to watch. It really was incredible. The first few bats start to fly, then it's like a cloud of bats streaming from under the bridge. After 10 minutes or so, all I could think was, "gross". 

Sunday morning we went to Gourdoughs for breakfast. Now, THIS is a restaurant I can get behind! They started as a donut place then evolved to a restaurant. We got the deviled eggs as an appetizer and were full just from those! Trav got the Counte Gordough Cristo and I got Texas A'migas...  SCRAMBLED EGGS, SLOW ROASTED PULLED PORK, REFRIED BEANS, ROASTED POBLANOS, FRITOS, AVOCADO SMOTHERED IN QUESO, AND TOPPED WITH PICO DE GALLO

I made a good choice.

Then we took a double decker tour bus of the city. Only hiccup was when we got off at the capitol building and when it was time to get back on the bus, they left the stop early! So annoying. I had to call the tour company and the owner came to pick us up to catch the bus on the next stop. I really like learning about cities, but dang my memory. I wish I could recall some of the fun facts or why I took these pictures! The highlight was probably walking around the capitol grounds, but the visitor center was closed and it was DANG hot. We saw a couple getting married too.

There are a couple of fun murals we took pictures in front of! Greetings from Austin! 

Then, we walked along South Congress street and had fun looking around a costume shop, boot store, bookstore and farmers market. Torchys was right there too so that made for an easy lunch!

Last stop was Lick ice cream. Creative, unique flavors. Every single one I chose had some sort of herb in it, haha. I think Travis picked better. Really crisp, clean taste though. I'd recommend it! 

I was bummed to find out that Henbit is closed right now. I was really looking forward to their cookie! But I found out they still make them and sell at Wholefoods. So I ducked in there really quick to snag a few. And that was it! Austin in 3 days! We had so much fun and I would absolutely recommend it as a destination! Travis will forever and always be my favorite traveling companion. I LOVED our time together and the memories we made. So grateful for him and his easy going nature. I do the planning and he funds it. We made a good team. :)