Keep Austin Weird
I was fairly skeptical of my trip to Austin for the pure and simple fact that I've only seen the panhandle of Texas, which isn't all sparkly and perfect, so my expectations were fairly low. However, the city of Austin made me eat my words!
If you haven't been there before, I would seriously recommend taking a trip, but make sure it's for longer than a day; there's a lot to see and do!
If you haven't been there before, I would seriously recommend taking a trip, but make sure it's for longer than a day; there's a lot to see and do!
Location
Austin's location is convenient. Cities like Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio are all within 3-4 hours away from Austin, and that's just driving; flights make it thirty minutes. That alone makes business commutes or family vacations less of a hassle because as much as we love our brothers, sisters, and parents, we don't love them enough to sit in a cramped car for eight hours every time we want to take a cool trip! Don't tell me that I'm wrong either. :)
Food
The food in Austin was a little too wonderful. I was trying to "ball on a budget", so keeping myself from eating everything was almost too much of a struggle.
This beautiful monstrosity above is a tomato basil pizza from a small pizzeria on downtown 6th St. I really wish I could tell you the name of said restaurant because they definitely deserve a visit, but I forgot! I know! I'm the worst person ever. I can tell you, however, that it is just a couple doors down from the Museum of the Weird.
Downtown has many cute little bakeries and high end restaurants, such as Trulucks which you should treat yourself to!
This beautiful monstrosity above is a tomato basil pizza from a small pizzeria on downtown 6th St. I really wish I could tell you the name of said restaurant because they definitely deserve a visit, but I forgot! I know! I'm the worst person ever. I can tell you, however, that it is just a couple doors down from the Museum of the Weird.
Downtown has many cute little bakeries and high end restaurants, such as Trulucks which you should treat yourself to!
Shops
For the most part, if you're looking for a shop in Austin, you'll find it! With more than one mall, there's a plethora of shopping opportunities ranging from Forever 21, A'Gaci, Calypso, Coach, H&M, Louis Vitton, Mac, North, etc.
Going to downtown, you can find stores like Urban Outfitters and the coolest tourist shops. Normally, tourists shops disgust me and I think they're filled with pretty useless things, but we walked into quite a few, always finding some interesting memorabilia. A store called The Smoking Catepillar was beyond awesome, especially being such a small shop. They have really cool shirts, for both guys and girls. They have hookahs galore, incense, Alice in Wonderland items, and (though I don't smoke, yet have the ability to appreciate this nonetheless) an amazing array of pipes and bongs. The glass blowing skills required to make some of them is astounding! And a lot of them change colors when used--How cool is that?!
As mentioned previously, the Museum of the Weird was an interesting shop with funny shirts, beautiful jewelry, precious figurines, and then they also had their museum. I desperately wanted to check out the museum, yet had no time to do so. :( Which means that if you're ever in Austin, you have to check it out for me until I go myself!
Going to downtown, you can find stores like Urban Outfitters and the coolest tourist shops. Normally, tourists shops disgust me and I think they're filled with pretty useless things, but we walked into quite a few, always finding some interesting memorabilia. A store called The Smoking Catepillar was beyond awesome, especially being such a small shop. They have really cool shirts, for both guys and girls. They have hookahs galore, incense, Alice in Wonderland items, and (though I don't smoke, yet have the ability to appreciate this nonetheless) an amazing array of pipes and bongs. The glass blowing skills required to make some of them is astounding! And a lot of them change colors when used--How cool is that?!
As mentioned previously, the Museum of the Weird was an interesting shop with funny shirts, beautiful jewelry, precious figurines, and then they also had their museum. I desperately wanted to check out the museum, yet had no time to do so. :( Which means that if you're ever in Austin, you have to check it out for me until I go myself!
Scenery
Now for my favorite part of the trip!
I love love love love nature. I may not love what comes with it (bugs), but I love everything else!
After living in the panhandle for 5 years, I nearly forgot what it was like to see trees. What is this thing you call green? I've never heard of it! However, driving down from Dallas to Austin, you start to see more trees and, frankly, life being added to the land. On I-35, starting at Round Rock and continuing down, you don't see a tremendous abundance. Yeah, there's a whole heck of a lot more than I'm used to, but it's pretty usual cityscape.
We went to the northwest side to scope out some apartments and starting traveling into the west side of town.
OH. MY. DEAR. SWEET. LORD. IN. HEAVEN.
There were these tremendous hills just covered in trees, rock formations that were cut away for the highway, and the impressively-sized river. To say the least, I fell truly, madly, deeply in love with that section of Austin, almost to the point that I didn't care to see the rest. Is that bad? . . . Nah.
We canoed for a bit, too. What amazed me the most about Austin was in that moment, for we were not even one mile south of Downtown for this canoeing adventure, yet there were so many trees surrounding both sides of us. It was absolutely beautiful!
I love love love love nature. I may not love what comes with it (bugs), but I love everything else!
After living in the panhandle for 5 years, I nearly forgot what it was like to see trees. What is this thing you call green? I've never heard of it! However, driving down from Dallas to Austin, you start to see more trees and, frankly, life being added to the land. On I-35, starting at Round Rock and continuing down, you don't see a tremendous abundance. Yeah, there's a whole heck of a lot more than I'm used to, but it's pretty usual cityscape.
We went to the northwest side to scope out some apartments and starting traveling into the west side of town.
OH. MY. DEAR. SWEET. LORD. IN. HEAVEN.
There were these tremendous hills just covered in trees, rock formations that were cut away for the highway, and the impressively-sized river. To say the least, I fell truly, madly, deeply in love with that section of Austin, almost to the point that I didn't care to see the rest. Is that bad? . . . Nah.
We canoed for a bit, too. What amazed me the most about Austin was in that moment, for we were not even one mile south of Downtown for this canoeing adventure, yet there were so many trees surrounding both sides of us. It was absolutely beautiful!
What to do in Austin
I constantly struggle with coming up with things to do. If you've ever hung out with me for more than an hour, you know this by now.
And, for once, I was having trouble narrowing my options down! I mean, that may because I was basically a tourist, but I'm not going to take that into much consideration. :)
There are several waterparks in Austin. I think the cheapest one is in Pflugerville . . . ( I know, I had trouble saying the name, too. ) But if you still want to go some place cool to go swimming, Austin has a natural spring that is gorgeous and only costs $3! The river is really cool, too! There are so many options to do, like paddle boating, kayaking, canoeing, boating, etc.
Downtown is really amazing, but I would suggest going in the late afternoon just because of how hot it can get! There's so much to do there, and, for example, there's music in the courtyard every Friday in July. You can take Segway tours as well.
The State Capitol was quite nice, actually, and it has a lovely park to simply relax in.
There's archery options and awesome dance studios that are surprisingly and wonderfully priced!
One of my favorite happy accidents was running into Emerald Tavern Games and Cafe. My friend was taking a dance class and right next door was that cafe, so I thought, What the heck? I'll go in and read while I wait for her. As the total nerd that I am, I LOVED IT! They had designed the store to look like a real old tavern (to a certain extent, of course.) They sold coffee, regular food, wine and other alcoholic beverages, nerdy board/card games, and they had events that would go on in the back. And just to add on to it, the atmosphere was really enthusiastic and friendly!
You can leave Austin for a moment and travel to Lake Travis, too!
There are quite a bit of parks in Austin that all seem to come out of a romantic film where the two potential lovers bump into each other in this magically scene of, Wow, will we ever see each other again?
And, for once, I was having trouble narrowing my options down! I mean, that may because I was basically a tourist, but I'm not going to take that into much consideration. :)
There are several waterparks in Austin. I think the cheapest one is in Pflugerville . . . ( I know, I had trouble saying the name, too. ) But if you still want to go some place cool to go swimming, Austin has a natural spring that is gorgeous and only costs $3! The river is really cool, too! There are so many options to do, like paddle boating, kayaking, canoeing, boating, etc.
Downtown is really amazing, but I would suggest going in the late afternoon just because of how hot it can get! There's so much to do there, and, for example, there's music in the courtyard every Friday in July. You can take Segway tours as well.
The State Capitol was quite nice, actually, and it has a lovely park to simply relax in.
There's archery options and awesome dance studios that are surprisingly and wonderfully priced!
One of my favorite happy accidents was running into Emerald Tavern Games and Cafe. My friend was taking a dance class and right next door was that cafe, so I thought, What the heck? I'll go in and read while I wait for her. As the total nerd that I am, I LOVED IT! They had designed the store to look like a real old tavern (to a certain extent, of course.) They sold coffee, regular food, wine and other alcoholic beverages, nerdy board/card games, and they had events that would go on in the back. And just to add on to it, the atmosphere was really enthusiastic and friendly!
You can leave Austin for a moment and travel to Lake Travis, too!
There are quite a bit of parks in Austin that all seem to come out of a romantic film where the two potential lovers bump into each other in this magically scene of, Wow, will we ever see each other again?
Please Make Sure You . . .
There are A LOT of homeless people around in Austin. Many will work for the money you give them. Others are too weak from the heat and lack of water to do much but lie in whatever shade they find.
Even if you don't live in Austin, you will find this kind of tragedy anywhere.
My request to you is that you be a kind, humble human being and help them if you can. I, personally, never give them money. However, if I should be carrying a water bottle (whether I've drunken out of it or not), I will give it to them. Many times I have even purchased water for them. Please help those that are struggling, even if it is just a simple gesture.
Even if you don't live in Austin, you will find this kind of tragedy anywhere.
My request to you is that you be a kind, humble human being and help them if you can. I, personally, never give them money. However, if I should be carrying a water bottle (whether I've drunken out of it or not), I will give it to them. Many times I have even purchased water for them. Please help those that are struggling, even if it is just a simple gesture.
I definitely fell in love with the city!
There's a very wonderful and apparent vibe buzzing throughout the city, and there's always these cool, out-of-the-box shops!
Have a terrific day.
Go out and make yourself proud.
Get your butt to Austin!