Keep Austin Weird

We left Jackson on Saturday, 2/5 and stopped for the night in Canton, TX. A Boondocker’s Welcome spot was our home for the night (the membership where hosts welcome fellow RVers to stay on their property). It was just a small business with room for a couple RVs, nothing too exciting. But free is always still exciting!

Sunday afternoon we arrived in Austin, took much needed showers, and went out to start exploring the city. Austin is a place we’ve always been interested in visiting, but never made it to.

Working in the Vegas

Working this week went okay for Mike. The connection was more of an issue this week than last. We expected that staying right in a city like Austin would result in a strong hotspot connection. But it just did not. Mike had to shuffle a bit between connections and ultimately used his phone’s hotspot the most.

He was able to join every meeting and get done what he needed, so I guess it was a win in the end.

The City of Austin

Exploring

We were here all week, Sunday until Friday and were able to get out several times to explore. We got to a few of the “trendy” areas to see what they were like. Unfortunately, we weren’t here over a weekend (no Friday or Saturday nights) so we didn’t see the areas those days, and it was a little quiet. (Technically, we did stay Friday night in Austin, but it was at a Harvest Host brewery on the edge of Austin, which very much felt like not in a city).

The well-known downtown area on Sixth Street was very quiet the times we went down there. There are tons of bars, some restaurants — mostly off on other streets nearby. This is a street known to have bar after bar of live music, from our understanding. I’m interested to see it one day on a weekend when there isn’t a pandemic still affecting tourism. But it definitely gave us the vibe of NOLA’s Bourbon Street. We imagine it’s a young drunk crowd there during normal weekends. It was our least favorite of the “trendy” areas we visited, but we went on some good walks in and around here.

A couple murals in the area.

And we walked to the Congress Avenue Bridge to get some city views. We weren’t here the right time of year to see the bats — March to September is the time to see them. Thousands of bats come out after sunset when they are living under this bridge. These are Mexican free-tailed bats and they migrate from Mexico each year. At the end of the season, the number grows to 1.5 million — yes, you read that right. They eat over 20,000 pounds of insects each night. Which all sounds just crazy, and we definitely want to be there for bat viewing next time!

Okay, sorry about the bat facts. But if you find it interesting, definitely Google it!

We also went for a walk down the river walk. Austin is a beautiful city.

We found a rooftop on a hotel that let us go up and soak up some sunshine while enjoying the city view…

Rainey Street was another area we visited. We liked it much better than Sixth Street, but it was definitely still a younger crowd than us old folks (not that this has ever stopped us). We didn’t end up with much for photos on Rainey street, but here are two. The first shows what this street is full of… old houses made into bars and restaurants. And the second shows one of the large outdoor areas with covered areas for live music. It was cute and a fun place.

East Austin was an area we liked very much, right away. It was probably our favorite of the four main areas we explored. There are divey bars and a couple breweries — definitely up our alley!

South Congress was the other area we liked a lot. We went to dinner at a place that was recommended by three different people, then walked around the area and immediately liked it.

And some other random pictures from our wandering Austin…

Eating

We were able to get some recommendations from a couple friends, and a couple of their friends for where to go and eat in Austin. Here are a few spots we experienced.. unfortunately we were there such a short time we weren’t able to do or eat all that was recommended.

Brisket, potato salad, jumbalaya, and wings from Green Mesquite.

Some brisket, collard greens, and mac & cheese from Stubbs Bar-B-Q.

Gueros’ was delicious! This was a place recommended by three different people and we really enjoyed it. Here’s my jalapeno margarita and enchiladas, and Mike’s tacos.

Friday night we stayed at Beerburg Brewing, a Harvest Host location. We ate dinner there. It was pretty good, and we finally had some queso which friends were acting like it was a crime we hadn’t tried yet in Austin.

Can’t forget to share the enchiladas I made at home before we left and froze. They tasted pretty yummy! And we have two more pans left. (I forgot to take this pic before we took a couple out, oops).

Where we Stayed

The RV Park we stayed in was called Austin Lonestar. Here’s a pic of our spot there. The park location was a little tricky as it’s right off a one way service road to a main highway… so there is always a couple extra mile drive to turn around coming or going. But it was the one park right in Austin and only about six miles from downtown, so we were happy with it.

This is our Harvest Host spot.. a pic from the brewery to the parking lot.. that’s our Vegas in the middle along the treeline. And a view of the brewery from the parking lot.

Kitties

Kitties are doing well… they’re very good at helping Mike with work during the day. They’re excellent nappers. And they’re just plain adorable all the time.

Patsy has really adapted so much better to RV life than last time. She spends a lot more time up on the dashboard relaxing, whereas last trip she was in the bed in the back a lot more. She also has even been getting up while we drive to use the potty if needed, which I never expected. My little old lady is the best! The boy is still bratty, entertaining, and cute as can be. 🙂

That was our first trip to Austin and we will definitely be back!