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Old 12-27-2008, 09:58 AM
 
9 posts, read 52,293 times
Reputation: 10

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Thanks Mark311!
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Old 12-30-2008, 11:21 PM
 
1 posts, read 3,400 times
Reputation: 11
My girl and I have two teen daughters and no family in austin. Is therte anything to do for new years eve.
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Old 12-31-2008, 08:55 AM
 
9 posts, read 52,293 times
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Default We had a great time in Austin!

Well, we just got home late last night and all 4 members of my family had a great time in Austin. First of all, we don't have a lot of money for vacations so this was a real treat and we made the most of what we could afford. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel I-35 and Powell - for only a total $74.74 (taxes included) we had a nice room with 2 queen size beds - we also got a complimentary breakfast - w/Belgian waffles - little things impress me. We were not far from downtown only about 4 miles and the room rates were way more expensive downtown than they were just 4 miles away.

We arrived in Austin Monday morning and went directly to Guitar Center @ Northcross Mall for some piece of equipment that my son found in Austin that Guitar Center only carries and they have been out of stock in the Houston stores. He was elated once he got his special guitar software in his hands - the rest of the trip would be a breeze. We went to the Texas Music Museum on E 11th, they had a Country music exhibit right now and my husband and I really enjoyed that (my kids were a little bored, country music is not their thing) - a UT Music History Professor volunteering there showed us around and was extremely informative and nice.

When we left Music Museum, we decided to head over to 6th street it was still early around 3:30 (we wanted to make sure that we got there before it got dark and the wilder 21 and up crowd came out to play) We went to Wild About Music - great store - employees were really nice and loved the store's cat "Quincy" who greeted us when we got there - we literally spent 2 hours browsing through this store and found a few items that we couldn't live with out. We left there and walked next door to The HatBox - tried on several different styles of hats - that was fun too. By this time it was dark and we were hungry. Someone suggested Guero's Mexican food on South Congress - Very popular place to eat, lots and lots of people there - we had an hour wait, but the food was well worth it - excellent fajitas. It was late when we left there, but I still wanted to visit Central Market on North Lamar and get a bottle of wine. My husband and I are "foodies" although they might be expensive, they have a huge variety of foods and spices that you just can't find at our local stores.

We went back to the Super 8 and slept like babies, Tuesday morning we got up early and had the complimentary breakfast and headed out for the day. First stop was the Capitol, we parked at the Capitol
s parking garage (free parking for the first 2 hours) then walked a short distance to the Capitol building. We opted for the Self Guided tour - what a beautiful place, the craftsmanship that went into creating that building was amazing such detail. Even the door hinges were beautiful. We got a little queasy looking of the rail on the 4th floor looking down at the rotunda, but it was a beautiful sight to see. Very impressed with our great Capitol! We left there and walked over to the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum - we were also very impressed with this museum, there was so much in there that even us Native Texans didn't learn in Texas History. Great place to visit - very educational and interesting. After all of that walking we were hungry and someone recommended Fran's Hamburgers on South Congress, so we decided to try it out. I didn't know that it was Cash Only, they have an ATM right there just in case... Me and my 17 yr old had the Jalapeno burger, My husband had the Double Meat and my 12 yr old had the regular Cheese Burger we split a couple of orders of French Fries and Onion Rings. The food was great, the atmosphere was old and needed a good cleaning, but that didn't change the fact that we enjoyed our meal. We left there very content and headed to Cabela's in Buda - humongous store with everything the outdoors man could ever need and then some... Didn't buy anything, but enjoyed browsing. After that we decided to go back to South Congress - there were some shops that we wanted to visit - Lucy in Disguise w/Diamonds cool costume shop, Uncommon Objects and Allens Boots were just a few that we browsed in and all of the merchants were really nice.
By this time, it was getting late and we headed back home and said Good-bye to Austin.

My husband and I are looking forward to coming back to Austin real soon - maybe even a Valentine's trip - leave the kids with their Grandparents and see what Austin has to offer for me and my husband. We saw so many things that to do that we knew we would enjoy, but they weren't really family friendly places - so not this trip, but really soon...

Thanks Austinites for showing us a great time!
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Old 12-31-2008, 01:23 PM
 
7,742 posts, read 15,120,573 times
Reputation: 4295
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatchofHeaven View Post
Well, we just got home late last night and all 4 members of my family had a great time in Austin. First of all, we don't have a lot of money for vacations so this was a real treat and we made the most of what we could afford. We stayed at the Super 8 Motel I-35 and Powell - for only a total $74.74 (taxes included) we had a nice room with 2 queen size beds - we also got a complimentary breakfast - w/Belgian waffles - little things impress me. We were not far from downtown only about 4 miles and the room rates were way more expensive downtown than they were just 4 miles away.!
Glad you enjoyed it! I recommend that you use priceline, we often get $75/night for the nicest downtown hotels using priceline. There are times when you cant get below 135, but it is worth trying.

Look at biddingfortravel.com, they describe what rates other people are getting and have bidding strategies that let you slowly increase your bid so you can get with 5 or $10 of the minimum amount possible.

Priceline normally doesnt let you change your bid, but if you add another area you can. Most areas in austin dont have 4* hotels (only downtown). So select a downtown 4* hotel, then each time you add another area you can increase the price by $5 or $10. You wont get a hotel in those areas because they dont have 4*'s. So you in effect get about 5 chances to a 4* downtown for under $100.

Here are some examples of recent bids. As you can see the hyatt regency or omni is often available for $60-$75

4* Hilton DT Austin $90 2/5/09 - 2/8/09 (Thurs - Sun) 0 0 calipete
12/30/08 6:01 PM
calipete

4* Hyatt Regency DT 12/19-12/21 $65.00 2 0 Darcoop
12/23/08 8:13 AM
Darcoop

3*Doubletree Guest Suites DT $75 1/4-1/6 1 0 Sheryl
12/16/08 2:02 PM
apseals

4* Hyatt Regency DT12/6/08 $80 1 0 Sheryl
12/04/08 10:09 AM
lsr78

Rejected Bids for 4* Austin up to $115 for 12/6 4 0 Sheryl
12/03/08 12:22 PM
bluesman78

4* Hilton DT Austin $105 12/6 9 0 Sheryl
12/03/08 11:56 AM
EAnton781

4* Omni DT (3 rooms) 1/5 - 1/8 $70 1 0 Sheryl
11/28/08 11:48 AM
apseals
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