Austin - “The perfect place to let your hair down and have a good time."

Street Art on the 6th

Wow… they weren’t kidding when they say Texas is another world and I only saw a small part of it! So here is the good, the bad and the highlights of our weekend getaway to the great state of Texas. (We loved the signs about having fire arms everywhere!)

Fire Arm Policy

As many of you know from my previous blog, we got delayed by a couple of days due to the ice storm that hit Southern Texas last week. It all worked out in the end and we still accomplished everything we had on our list in 4 days instead of 6. But I’m sure many of you are not surprised by that! I’m going to split this blog into 4 categories: Austin, San Antonio, Live Music and of course FOOD. 

Great Sign 

While Austin is home to many landmarks its unofficial slogan is “Keep Austin Weird,” and it lives up to that promise with funky shops, The Lady Bird riverside, plenty of live music and one-of-a-kind neighborhoods with lots of atmosphere. We covered the city by foot, walking 24km in one day to taken it all in. As you know, I have a thing for walking for hours. The weather was perfect at a sunny 16 degrees. On the weekends after 8pm the famous Dirty 6th Street is closed off to traffic and provides hours of prime people watching! From Rainey street food trucks to the University of Texas campus and from Soco (South of Congress) to the Capitol Building we left no sidewalk behind! The only “bad” thing we found was that there were many homeless people especially along the 6th, they were aggressive at times, but who can blame them.

Oldest Hotel

Capitol Building

University of Texas Stadium 

Congress Street

Rainey Street Food Trucks

San Antonio became a day trip since we had already covered all the places we had wanted to see in Austin the day before. We rented a car a few blocks from the hotel and off we went. San Antonio is only an hour and ten minutes away. In standard Karla fashion I had planned out our day, what to see and where we needed to go. It is a picturesque city but easily covered in a 3-4 hours. After hitting the Alamo, El Mercado and doing the Riverwalk (once again using GPS my city for a self guided tour) we hit the road again. If you’ve seen my video, you’ll know where we went. I had never heard of Buc-ees but my brother suggested it, so we pulled over on one of the exits and all I can say is wow. It’s a mash up of Wal-mart, 7-Eleven and Costco. You name it, they sell it and their name is branded on just about everything. I’ll post the video on my Instagram Bleach2Beach for those of you who missed it. It takes a lot to make me feel overwhelmed but this time I was truly Shock-and-Awe! The night before we met some lovely ladies while listening to some live music who suggested we stop in Gruene which is about halfway back to Austin. We had time so we did. It is a great little historical district with breweries, cute shops and great little restaurants and coffee shops along a river. It was a wonderful way to spend the evening before heading back to Austin. This is why it’s great to strike up conversations when travelling, you find little gems 💎 like Gruene (pronounced “green”)!

Famous Buc-ees 

 Boots and more

Historical District

Beer and Wine Garden in Gruene

San Antonio Buckhorn - Oldest Saloon

My San Antonio Wings

We Made It To The Alamo - San Antonio

El Mercado

River Boat Cruise

Cute Coffee House in Gruene

Many told us that the music scene in Austin is a great attraction and that we should check it out. I’ve become a bit of a live music junkie since starting this year of travelling. There is just something I really enjoy about watching these passionate and talented artists perform. Austin, Gruene and even the airport allowed me to indulge in watching some great performers. (I’m working on a video of some of the talent we saw.) One duo were a set of twins known as Take2, they had been on Disney Cruises performing until the pandemic and also performed on The Voice. They had such a great vibe and  a unique charisma that transformed their performances into musical theatre. Walking along the 6th in Austin is a unique experience in itself, bars and bands are competing for your attention, everyone is watching to see which bar is bringing in the biggest crowd and who is offering drink specials. Lol 

Shakespeare Pub

Drink Called Adios MotherF***er

Free Advice on the 6th

Take2 Twins @ The Dirty Rooster on the 6th

Did you say you love BBQ? Well Austin did not disappoint and luckily the walking helped to burn those calories. We are talking melt in your mouth goodness. They serve it to you right of the grill with the smokers working out back to make sure there is enough to go around. We also tried some yummy Spicy Fried Chicken, Voodoo Donuts, Buc-oo’s snack rings, Mexican Cuisine and Hopdoddy Burgers. At least Rob can’t complain that I didn’t feed him even though I made him walk so much!”

Cooper’s BBQ

Gus’ Spicy Fried Chicken ( Fried in Peanut Oil)

Chuckles Donunt from Voodoo

Terry’s BBQ 

Hopdoddy Pesto Mushroom Burger Bowl

Poblano San Antonio Mexican

Hot Sandwiches at Buc-ees

If you’re looking for a weekend getaway, Austin definitely is a great option. And yes people do really walk around wearing cowboy boots and hats, we even saw a construction worker sporting a pair of cowboy boots. After all this is Texas 🤠