How A Texan Is Spending Summer Time (Austin, Grapevine: 2009, hotel)

[TexasGirl@Heart]

I just got back from my Summer vacation--it went way too fast. I spent 4 days in Austin, Texas!!

We rented bikes and rode the trail up and down on both sides. My butt hurt for 2 days after that one.
We climbed the steps to Mt Bonnell--that is a beautiful view.
We hiked down into Hamilton Pool Preserve. What a little oasis. After that we drove to the Oasis and watched the sunset over Lake Travis.

Night time:
Weldon Henson at Hill's Cafe. He is great.
Dale Watson at the Broken Spoke
Dale Watson at Ginny's for some Chicken sh*t bingo!
James Intveld at Ginny's.

Food:
Azul Tequila--great suggestion by THL!
Taco Express--looks like a dive--but great migas
Flip Happy Crepes--yummy
Kerbey Lane Cafe.
Waltons fancy and staple (I think that's the name)--Sandra Bullocks pastry and coffee shop on West 6th St. NOW I know how the rich keep getting richer! $16.00 for a root beer and sandwich.
Oasis--ok--nothing spectacular except the view. I had a grilled chicken salad. Actually not bad, but how can you mess up salads!?!?!
Uncle Billy's BBQ-- I now have a favorite BBQ place! Their moist brisket was delicious.

[Mr. Solis]

We just got back from Garner State Park. This was our 3rd camping trip up there. We climbed Old Baldy again, put some more little rocks on the pile, on the summit. We took our dog with us up the Hill, and she led us all the way up, I think she is half mountain goat, very surprising to me. My kids ages 6 & 7 climbed like champions.

We met a couple from Orange Texas on the way up, the guy said he had been going to Garner SP since 1971, and he showed us a cave we didnt know was there, we all went in with flashlights, then on the way out we tried it without the flashlights, very cool in every sense of the word.

The Frio river was not as frio as it was last time, and not as deep. We had a great time camping though, got pretty cold at nights. It was nice to get up before the sun and make a fire just to drink hot coffee and heat up some beans.

My wife is attending the first summer session at UTPA, and I will attend the 2nd summer session. Maybe before the fall semester begins we will go on a 2nd trip up north.

We have South Padre Island 75 miles to our east, so we can take mini vacations on the weekends, and fortunately, we know of a few hotels that are very affordable, and have great views, well one of them anyways.

Have any of you been to Garner State Park? And/or do you know of any comparable state parks for camping river playing, hiking?

[case44]

Originally Posted by TexasGirl@Heart

I just got back from my Summer vacation--it went way too fast. I spent 4 days in Austin, Texas!!

We rented bikes and rode the trail up and down on both sides. My butt hurt for 2 days after that one.
We climbed the steps to Mt Bonnell--that is a beautiful view.
We hiked down into Hamilton Pool Preserve. What a little oasis. After that we drove to the Oasis and watched the sunset over Lake Travis.

Night time:
Weldon Henson at Hill's Cafe. He is great.
Dale Watson at the Broken Spoke
Dale Watson at Ginny's for some Chicken sh*t bingo!
James Intveld at Ginny's.

Food:
Azul Tequila--great suggestion by THL!
Taco Express--looks like a dive--but great migas
Flip Happy Crepes--yummy
Kerbey Lane Cafe.
Waltons fancy and staple (I think that's the name)--Sandra Bullocks pastry and coffee shop on West 6th St. NOW I know how the rich keep getting richer! $16.00 for a root beer and sandwich.
Oasis--ok--nothing spectacular except the view. I had a grilled chicken salad. Actually not bad, but how can you mess up salads!?!?!
Uncle Billy's BBQ-- I now have a favorite BBQ place! Their moist brisket was delicious.

Glad you had a wonderful time, TG@H. What you need to try on your next visit to Austin is a place called the Hang Town Grill. It's in southwest Austin (actually West Lake Hills) and it has the best burger I've ever had in Austin. Give it a try sometime.

http://www.hangtowngrill.com/

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Hey Case! I will be sure to check out the Hang Town Grill on my next visit to Austin! Hopefully, I will be staying the next time I come to town!

[turkeytrot]

Originally Posted by blueskies49

I know two people who went on Alaskan cruises and they absolutely loved it! I saw pictures that one person brought back of the glaciers, so thick and cold that they were blue! Very cool!!

I have talked with a couple of people who have been there and they say the same thing.

We're counting the days.

[ATXIronHorse]

Originally Posted by case44

Hi, everyone! Let's all gather around around the computer campfire because I have a simple question for all of my fellow Texans. Summer is approaching, so what are you planning on doing?

Riding motorcycles, cooking briskets in the BBQ pit, music festivals, going to the lake, hanging out at patio bars...It's gonna be a good one!

[LizzySWW]

I'm inside but wishing the darn cicadas would SHUT UP out there! They are too LOUD today & the louder they are the hotter & dryer it seems out there. :-)

[case44]

Originally Posted by TexasGirl@Heart

Hey Case! I will be sure to check out the Hang Town Grill on my next visit to Austin! Hopefully, I will be staying the next time I come to town!

Hurry back if you can!

[TexasGirl@Heart]

Originally Posted by case44

Hurry back if you can!

From your lips to God's ears!!

I see from your status, you will be on vacation in 3 days! Where are you headed?

[case44]

Originally Posted by TexasGirl@Heart

From your lips to God's ears!!

I see from your status, you will be on vacation in 3 days! Where are you headed?

I've mentioned this on Page 1 already (since this is my thread), but my next vacation will be partly spent at home running around and mostly off to West Texas, where I'll be in Lubbock for five nights and six days. There will be gorgeous sunsets and sunrises. I'll be tasting some of that area's best food and some of those places are locally owned. They've had some new things developed and other things underway near Texas Tech and downtown, so I'll be checking those out. I'll also be attending the Silent Wings flight museum out by LPSIA. I'll plan to also revisit the Buddy Holly museum, and there is some great memorabilia. The area also has four wineries and I plan to stop at one of them for some sampling. Since I'm an infrastructure and Texas roads guru, I'll be checking the progress on the new Marsha Sharp Freeway, which is only the third freeway being built in that city. I'll also explore the canyons along the Caprock escarpment. They do have some wonderful vistas near Post. One place I probably won't go to is Caprock Canyon State Park due to its 80-mile distance outside of Lubbock.

So, it promises to be a fun time. Ten days off from work, and six of those days on the road.

In the meantime, here's a link to some good pics of Caprock Canyon State Park. Caprock Canyons roads and trails