For the forth of July Weekend, Michael and I decided to explore a US city that neither of us had been to. We heard so many good things about Austin so we decided to book our flights even though we were going to be visiting in the heat of the summer. After our trip we agreed that even though the heat (108 and humid) was not the most pleasant it is one of our favorite US cities for many reasons. We stayed at the OMNI in downtown, which had a great location near 6th street and the city center. The room was very reasonable, comfortable and clean. I would definitely recommend staying here.

 

July 1st Saturday

The first day we started off by walking to the SFC Farmers Market Downtown. It is located near the Republic Square Park. This market had a lot of fruits a vegetables as well as breakfast tacos, crafts and hard cider to try.

After the farmers market we walked over to the State Capitol Buidling. They offer free tours about every 30 minutes or you can do a self guided tour with their brochure. Michael and I did the self guided tour which was much better because we were able to go through the capitol at our own leisurely pace. Along the tour we were able to explore much of the capitol buidling and get a taste of the states history.

After the capital tour, we rented bikes from the B-Cycle bikes that are located all around the city. For $12.99 you can rent the bike for 24 hours the only caveat is that you need to dock back into a station every hour or you get charged extra. After renting the bikes we rode to True Food for lunch to go and brought our lunch over to the Barton Springs Swimming Hole.

Barton Springs is a set of four natural water springs located at Barton Creek on the grounds of Zilker Park that they have turned into a huge swimming hole. This was a great place to cool off and lay on the grass. It is $8 for non-residents to enter the swimming hole and is totally worth it. If you want you can swim outside of the gates but we chose to go inside so we could lay on the grass. After cooling off in the spring we went back to our hotel to get ready for our adventure out in the city.

Next we headed out to East 6th street. Sixth street is very long and has a different vibe whether you are on the east or west side. The East side is more low key and has unique breweries that are more relaxed and laid back. The West side is where you can find plenty of bars with live music that stay open very late. On the east side of 6th Street we went to the Lazarus Brewery. They have a cool atmosphere inside and nice patio for sitting outside. They offer many types of beers and wine and also serve chips and tacos.

We then walked across the street to a cocktail bar, Whistlers, where we had an amazing cucumber martini drink. We already ate but the cocktail bar has a food truck on site as well.

On the east side of 6th street we also found an old dive bar, the White Horse, that had free two step dance lessons most nights from 7-8. It was really fun to learn the two step from locals and meet other people. We circled up and switched partners throughout the lesson where we learned the two step, the dip and the twirl. After learning our new amazing dance moves we decided to head back to west 6th street.

Thursday-Saturday they shut down the main drag of 6th street starting around 8:30. The street becomes one huge party as people walk from bar to bar listening to the live music and enjoying the company of strangers. We noticed that there were a million bachelor and bachelorette parties in Austin and I am not surprised since there is so much to do in the city.

We decided to stop at the Blind Pig Pub where they had a live band on the second floor deck. The second floor opened up to the night sky and had a bar and games like giant jenga and corn hole. The band we listened to was great and it was also a great people watching place. After a long day we finally decided to head back to our hotel for some well deserved rest.

 

July 2nd Sunday

We went to Forthright for breakfast, which is a cafe with a leafy patio in a quiet cul-de-sac by Ladybird Lake. They offer a light breakfast and great cold brew coffee.

After breakfast we got ready for our Kayak adventure and then headed back to the lake. We rented a double kayak from Congress Avenue Kayaks for two hours for 20 dollars. Since it was so hot outside, 2 hours was the perfect amount. They also have single kayaks and stand up paddle boards.  The river is very wide so even though there were hundreds of people out on the river, it did not feel over crowded. We kayaked down the river to a side canal that leads to the Barton Springs. The water was extremely blue and e bikes by the previous day where the water was extremely blue and we saw at least 15 turtles along the way.

After kayaking, we walked to South Congress (SoCo), which has some fun stores to shop in and restaurants with outdoor music. We stopped at one and decided to sit and listen and have a drink.

From there we took a Lyft and went straight to Rainey Street.  Rainey street is a row of renovated houses turned into bungalow bars. Day or night, you’ll find relaxed bar-goers strolling from bar to food trailer to bar again.

We had dinner at Bangers Sausage House and Beer Garden. They have a huge beer garden with live music and offer a wide variety of sausages, salads, beers and wines.

After dinner we explored some of the other bars and ended up staying at the Container Bar.  The Container bar is composed of seven stacked containers with a dance floor in the middle. It was a great palce to hang out and watch all the bachelor and bachlerotte parites mingle. Many of the bars have games like giant jenga, connect four and cornhole. Rainey street is definitely the more laid back going out scene than 6th street.

July 3rd Monday

We went to Blenders and Bowls for breakfast, which serves acai boals and smoothies. This is the perfect breakfast for a hot, humid day and it was the first time Michael or I had an Acai bowl.

After breakfast we rented a car to go on a road trip to San Antonio. The rental for a full day was only 50 dollars and it only took a little over an hour to get there.  San Antonio had more of a family, touristy feel to it, but we both really liked it. We first went to the Alamo, It was founded in the 18th century as a Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound, and today is part of the San Antonio Missions Worl Heritage Site. It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo, in 1836, and is now a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District. It was fun to walk around inside and read about the Alamo, we spent about 40 minutes there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Alamo, we walked over to the San Antonio River Walk, which is a network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets. The walk is lined by bars, shops, restaurants, nature, and public art. We went to Boudros for lunch on the river. It has great reviews and the food turned out being very good.

 

After exploring the river we drove back to Austin. We spent the last hours of the afternoon laying by the pool and swimming before we headed off for dinner.  We went to dinner at Corner, which is a fun restaurant on the corner of Congress and 2nd Street(how ironic) with a cool outdoor bar area and large indoor eating area. We sat at the bar for dinner and the food was very great! Another plus was that they had large fans to keep us cool.

After dinner we we went to Rainey street for the second night in a row. Since it was a Monday the street did not start to get really crowded until later, around 10:00 pm. The previous night it was crowded by 3:00pm since it was a Sunday. We went back to the Bungalow bar and finished the night off with some ice cream from the local grocery store. Overall, it was a very successful trip.

July 4th Tuesday

We flew out of Austin around noon on our last day so we did not have a lot of time in the morning to do much. We walked to get smoothies for breakfast and then walked along the river for one last picture. The flight home from Austin was very fast and we cannot wait for our next trip to Austin! Maybe not in the middle of the summer when it is so hot.

Photo Credit: Raineystreetbars.com, Michael McCartney