Austin, Texas is the bomb… Y’all!
If you follow me on Instagram you know that was in Austin this week! (If you don’t follow me on Instagram you can here
I went for a very quick girls trip and damn that place is fun! I know there are a TON of Austin based bloggers (Hey hey girls!) and I totally see the appeal. That place is blogging gold! The weather (check) The food (check) and shopping (chiggaty-check) I could go on….so I will. Here is my outsiders guide to visiting Austin.
If you didn’t know, I live in Las Vegas. Vegas Baby! So I don’t claim to be an expert on Austin, this is just a simple review of my very short (and fun) time there!
I do my fare share of traveling, I’ve seen a lot of places and Austin quickly shot to the top of my favorites list. It’s a walking city with so so sooooo much to do and see (and it’s clean which is a big bonus). I wish I had more time there so I could really experience all that Austin had to offer. Guess I’ll have to go back.
There are tons of hotels in the downtown area. I happened to be there during a big convention so the city was jammed packed and everything was sold out. My first choices were the Four Seasons or the W Hotel both of which were unavailable so I ended up at the Marriott Residence Downtown We had a 2-bedroom suite which was enormous and the location was perf! We could walk to just about everything. Oh and it had a Starbucks in the lobby so… Yea! I was happy.
The first night we walked to 6th street or as I’ve heard it called “Dirty 6th” and the name is fitting. We bar hopped, met a ton of cool people and it totally reminded me of college (maybe thats because a lot of people in those bars actually were still in college… but that’s neither here nor there) It was fun, we drank, we ate at gluten free pizza from a tiny little place at 2am and it was actually delicious!
The next day we we brunched the the Crape Cafe on 2nd street. It was so good you guys! Really quaint atmosphere and it was conveniently located right down town.
Que mouth watering now…
Then we ventured over to the capital building. It’s massive and sits at the end of Congress street which has a ton of really cute shops and coffee shops. We didn’t go inside the capital building (please…we had too much shopping and eating to get done) but I at least thought I’d take a pic in front of it!
From there we went to South Congress (which we needed a cab for) and shopped, shopped and shopped until our wallets begged us to stop. I love little boutique shops as opposed to big chain stores and Austin has got em’. Look at all these amazing finds!
“Old” Band T-shirts
This super cute luggage tag which I’m pretty sure I need!
I want everything on this table
Bought 2 of these for my kiddos. Aren’t they funny?
While shopping we stopped at Hotel San Jose for a drink on the patio. It was so quaint and just what we needed to keep going. I would highly recommend going there. It’s unlike anything we have in Vegas…really cool mid-century atmosphere.
That night we were going to go to a swanky dinner but ditched the idea in favor of watching the college national football championship at a bar. So instead we stopped at a food truck (or window) called Turf & Surf Po-Boy BEST fish taco of my life! Of my LIFE people! Im not even kidding! This place was attached to the Lavaca Street Bar you must go here if you’re in Austin! The place was bumpin and I was literally the only person rooting for Bama. I had so much fun that I didn’t even care that they lost.
Doughnut stop after the game at Gourdoughs (P.s. Austin food truck game is strong!)
After that we went to Rainey Street Its a street made up totally of old houses that have been turned into bars. I’ve never seen anything like it, it’s awesome. Unfortunately it was kind of dead when we went. Probably because it was a Monday and the big game had just ended but I can see how it could be literally the most fun street in the country when the weather is nice and it’s packed with people!
Day three we spend having lunch at Cafe No Se which is on S. Congress. It was clean, cute and they served me delicious food! It had an outside patio too for when the weather is nice. Highly recommend it.
It was close to 80 degrees out (in January) and I noticed how active people are in that city. A lot of runners, bikers (there are city bike stations located all over Austin) and there were a ton of people out on the river. I was thinking that I totally get why people love it there. If I have to move my family there tomorrow I wouldn’t think twice about it.
Maybe my next trip out I’ll have time to go out to Lake Travis or spend more time on Rainey street. If you’re thinking about taking a girls trip (or a guys trip) I would seriously consider going to Austin. My husband went a few years ago with his friends and had a similarly great experience. I would plan to go to a ton of bars, eat at a lot of food trucks, ride bikes, shop at boutique shops, drink at several different coffee shops, I could keep going… but It would never end. Thanks for reading. Maybe it’ll inspire you to hop on a place to Texas! Where everything really is bigger and better.
xoxo,
Kelly
Jacqui @FlightsFancyMom says
I LOVE Austin! I went there several years ago, also for a girls weekend! Did you get to Coyote Ugly? We also did the duck boat tour. It was a blast!
kellyestone@yahoo.com says
No, I didn’t get to do either of those things! I wish I had more time there, I guess I’ll have to go back soon!
Divya @ Eat. Teach. Blog. says
I’ve never been to Austin, but it looks like such a fun city! I went to San Antonio a few years ago. And Wichita Falls in TX (which doesn’t really count!), but I’m hoping to go visit Austin. Perhaps for a friend’s upcoming bachelorette party!
kellyestone@yahoo.com says
Yes! Austin would be super fun for a bachelorette party! I would consider it for sure!
Sumudu says
I go to Austin every year – and we have been to the Hotel San Jose courtyard once.
The bats are a sight to see – which I go to see every year!
kellyestone@yahoo.com says
I didn’t see the bats!! Can you believe it! No one told me about them until I was home. Im so so bummed about it!
Courtney says
loved all your photos! So inspiring makes me want to visit! I guess I’ll have to put it on my bucket list! 🙂
kellyestone@yahoo.com says
Thanks Courtney! Put it on your list for sure!!!