Our Austin Move - 6 Months Later
Arrived July 2013 from Cary, NC where we lived for 4 years. Thousand Oaks, CA before that for 15 years. I grew up in FL. We have had a blast discovering Austin and finding new things to do here. We are never bored! The daily grind is the same no matter where you live. It's what you do in your free time that makes life enjoyable. To me, if you live your life going to work, chauffeuring kids from here to there, shopping at big box stores, watching TV and eating at chain restaurants, you might as well live in Anywhere USA. If you live in Austin, consider yourself very lucky and get out there and live. We do and we love it! Pinterest and Day Tripper are my friends
These are all the things we have done in 6 months, some more than once. Looking forward to doing it all again and then some! Open to more ideas too! Hope this gives newcomers some ideas - and even locals who forget what they have here
Day Trips
Most of our Day Trips are in and around downtown Austin just exploring. We like finding new food trucks. S.Congress many times, walking various areas of downtown, visited State Capitol, Texas State History Museum, parks, shops, etc. Like Motzarts coffee for bfast and then find something to do downtown. I love that you can just randomly park somewhere and just walk any downtown neighborhood to discover unique locally owned businesses.
Wimberley - went for a couple hours one day, need to go back. Cute little town with shopping and restaurants. Going to stay at 74 Ranch this summer, go to Krause Springs and Blue Hole.
Dripping Springs - Rolling in Dough & Thyme for breakfast then take a country drive or go for a hike at one of several nearby parks. There are also some breweries I'd like to try, but husband doesn't like beer! Ugh
Fredricksburg - cute town for walking, shopping & wineries. Need to do more wineries.
San Antonio - River Walk. Been there, checked off list. Not in a rush to go back.
San Marcos - Aquarena Glass Bottom Boat was fun and walked around downtown. Ate at Root Cellar, not great IMO. Want to go back for swimming this summer.
Burnet - went to Longhorn Caverns, neat! And then Perissos winery after.
Georgetown - cute downtown and historic area. Great coffee shop on the square.
Wineries
Flat Creek - been several times. Enjoy a cheese plate on the patio and a glass of wine. Kid friendly. They had their lunch and then ran around in the grass while we relaxed.
Chisholm Trail - Fredricksburg - neat drive through ranches. Saw cows and deer. We brought a picnic, did a tasting and then got a bottle to go with our picnic. Boys played horseshoes and had a good time.
Westcave Cellars - saw the sign after a hike at Hamilton Pool. Happened to be live music too, so that was a fun way to end the day.
Perissos Vinyards - Burnet. Nice family owned place, great views, good wine, picnic tables.
Food Shopping! My favorite pastime
Trader Joes - TGFTJ - I was dying until it opened in Sept. I have basically only shopped here for 20 years, so thats all I know. Can't wait for the Arboretum location to open.
HEB - nice chain type grocery. Too big for me.
Central Market - love for looking and drooling, but can't afford for everyday shopping. Pick up some indulgences here and there. Great bread, cheese, olives, produce. Think it's owned by HEB?
Whole Foods - meh - I know it's the HQ, but I've never been a fan. Last time I went, the young hipster couple in front of me had more expensive food for their dog than I could buy for my kids. I like going to the downtown store to tool around and take in the sights and smells. And go to West Elm and Anthropology to top of my afternoon of fantasy looking.
Specialty food shops - Noble Pig for picking up some pâté to go with our Cheese from Central Market or Antonellies when we are feeling spendy. There are a few more on the list to try.
Mandola's - wish there was a better option for Italian, but fun.
Ethnic - Asian and Indian markets around 183 are great for picking up ingredients way cheaper than Central Market.
Food Trucks & Restaurants
Midway Food Park - a few good trucks and fun playground for the kids. Various trucks around S Congress, S First and around town. Food parks are one of Austin's best features for us. Maybe really the only place to find "weird" in Austin besides some locally owned stores you have to make an effort to find.
Jack Allen's on 71 - awesome brunch followed by some shopping at Hill Country Galleria, Revival (my fav store in Austin) and/or hike at Hamilton Pool, Milton Reimers Ranch or Perdenales Falls. We have done these combinations a few times. Roaring Fork - had a nice brunch on patio. Never lived somewhere where brunch is such a big deal, so that's fun. More places on the list to try. Suggestions?
Oasis - Since we live so close, this is a usual stop with visitors. Views are great - Food, not so much. We now just go with out of town guests for drinks and chips & salsa. We also go to the car show on the 2nd Sunday of the month.
Mex/Tex-Mex - I dont know what the difference is... other than at TexMex places the waiter says "Quwayso" rather than quesso. Mesa Rosa on old 620, Chuy's, Guero's on S Congress. Any better suggestions?
Downtown - Driscoll Hotel Cafe - the hangover burger was tasty and it was fun to visit the hotek. Easy Tiger - love the fresh pretzels and beer cheese. Gordoughs!
Ethnic - Sway, expensive Thai food but excellent! Muang Thai (cheap & tasty solid lunch spot, Lakeline) MaiThai downtown, terrible. Ramen Tatsu-ya, yum! Need more options for ethnic food here besides food trucks, seems to be lacking.
BBQ - Rudy's, our go to spot. Salt Lick, Driftwood - a must do on your things to do in Austin list. Be prepared to wait and BYOB. Countyline on 2222 - nice atmosphere and patio, but food not impressive IMO.
Restaurants with playgrounds and good food, a cool Austin bonus! Central Market N Lamar, Flores on 620, Zacks Steiner Ranch, Midway Food Park.
Parks & Hiking with the Kids
We usually pack a lunch or go to Jersey Mikes and grab a to-go and head to a park a few times a month.
Brushy Creek - our favorite park for the Dino Dig, Splash Pad, lakeside walking path, feeding ducks, picnic and kite flying. We go at least once or twice a month.
Trailhead Park - Canyon Creek near our house so we go often. Nice covered playground, soccer field and hiking trails.
Turkey Creek Trail & Emma Long Park - Nice shaded trail and swimming at EL Park. Have to pay for park, but trail is free.
Mayfield Park - nice trails and peacocks. Picnic spot. Want to go to Laguna Gloria. And in my dream world, take art classes there.
Mt.Bonnel - awesome views, hiking and picnic. We do this often for a quick outing on the way to and from downtown.
Hamilton Pool - avoid during peak summer times for swimming. But other times of year it's a nice place to hike and picnic. Been a few times.
Perdenales Falls - hike, picnic and swim. Boys loved swimming there. Although in Sept '13 the water was pretty low and looked murky.
Austin Nature Center - We parked under the bridge at Barton Springs road and hiked into the back entrance. Not on purpose, we were lost. But it turned out to be a nice hike with a bonus of the park. Been there a few times.
Zilker Botanical Gardens - nice place for a stroll. Been a couple times.
Barton Creek near 360/1, boys found a few fossilized shells here, very exciting for them.
Spicewood Springs Rd - pretty drive. Sometimes I just drive this road to avoid 183. A little out of the way, but worth it. On the list for Spring, hiking at St Edwards and Upper Bull Creek.
Misc neighborhood playgrounds we come across driving around. We see one and we stop for a quick 20 min play.
Other Adventures
Austin Zoo - not so much a zoo as it is an animal rescue organization. But enjoyable none the less. Fun train ride.
East Side outings - Tillery Park - succulent nursery. A relaxing place for a bite to eat or coffee and get a few cacti to add to my collection (although the truck that was there said she was moving?) after went to Festival Beach Park, old school playground and walk near the river. Will go back and explore this area more. On the list, EastSide King, Bufalina, East Side Farmers Market, some other funky restaurants in the area.
Decorated a tree on 360 at Xmas. And yes, we went back and cleaned up our tree!
Natures Treasures - Gem store - boys love gems, rocks and fossils so they like going here and adding a rock to their collection.
Austin Flea Market - Bust! Won't go back. Cheap and nasty. Why are there no good flea market in Austin? Still have to check out all the stores on Burnet. Went to City-Wide at Parmer Events. Have to pay to get in and stuff is overpriced. Not the same feel as a real flea market, like Rosebowl in Pasadena or Melrose in LA.
IKEA - gotta love having an IKEA nearby.
JUST DRIVE - we have found some of our most interesting finds by just getting in the car and driving. No plan, just drive. See something interesting, we stop. We avoid chain restaurants for the most part (except PF Changs and Rudy's). We rarely ever go to a Mall or big box stores, except Target for the usual household stuff. We like The Domain for mall needs because it's outdoors and pretty. We like interesting places with character, like to support small businesses, and like to show our kids how to experience the world around them. We don't watch much TV or play video games. We like fresh air. That's how we roll. And probably why our van has over 100k miles already!
Still on the list
Can't wait for some TX wildflower looking trips.
Find more swimming spots for summer.
Highland Lakes and more Hill Country driving.
Dallas/Ft. Worth weekend trip
Houston weekend trip
South Padre Island weekend trip
Santa Fe, NM week road and Marfa trip
We will enjoy it while we can here, until the next job transfer...
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Heb
