This past September, Mary Lea and I were in Austin on the weekend that UT was in Oxford playing Ole Miss. Besides battling rainy weather, we enjoyed our visit there. If you are an Ole Miss fan headed to Austin and you have never been there before, the following is the travel advice that Mary Lea gave to our neighbor:
Cheryl –
So good to see you yesterday and I am so excited about your Austin trip. Here are some pics from our trip:
Austin Images that brought things to mind:
SoCo area – South Congress area – there is shopping and this is the area where some of the food trucks are - The Mighty Cone was my favorite. And Fran’s Hamburgers was an old-fashioned burger and malt restaurant – not a food truck but an old drive-in.
There is also food trucks all over…and in another park area is Gordoughs - http://www.gourdoughs.com/ It doesn’t sound good but it is delicious…you and Jehu should split the Flying Pig.
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| Gourdough's: The Flying Pig, Bacon with Maple Syrup Icing Their slogan: Big. Fat. Donuts. |
The bats come out at the Congress Street Bridge every evening at dusk IF it is not raining. There is a viewing park at the Austin newspaper (Austin Statesman, I believe) that is a great place to view the bats. I know it sounds creepy but it is pretty amazing to watch…they come out for like an hour but 10 minutes is about all you need to experience it once!
Town Lake…we walked around it about 3 miles. Good walking trail.
6th Street - Great tex mex was at the Iron Cactus (they also have a restaurant on the Riverwalk in San Antonio). I highly recommend this restaurant.
We wanted to go to the Broke Spoke but it was closed for a private event…just a hole in the wall kind of bar/restaurant…but supposedly has amazing Country Fried Steak and is an Austin institution.
The Johnson Presidential Library is on the campus of UT and was under renovation, but the top floor of the library has a replica of his oval office including an avocado green phone…it was pretty cool but Ricky and I are history buffs.
The Salt Lick Barbecue restaurant was out from Austin in Driftwood, TX but it IS worth the drive. They accept cash only. Their bbq turkey is amazing. http://saltlickbbq.com/
We also drove out to Barton Springs (Zilker Park) and then Mt. Bonnell.
Also – I just remembered a great breakfast spot - Kerbey Lane Café – Just across from the UT campus - http://www.kerbeylanecafe.com/cafe-locations/ut/ They have great omelets and special pancakes. I think we had the lemon poppyseed pancakes and they were amazing. It is a UT hangout for students.
We walked each morning and walked around the Texas State Capitol grounds and it was a nice walk and an impressive complex.
We drove from Austin to San Antonio and back about a 90 minute trip. And, we discovered Gruene, TX by accident on that trip. We ate lunch at the Grist Mill Restaurant and they also have live music there in the evening. It was a great location…I think it may be 45 minutes outside of Austin - http://www.gristmillrestaurant.com/
Hope you find this helpful…and I cc’d Ricky in case he thinks of something I forgot. It looks like we were all about the food and I guess we were this trip because it rained the entire time. Very much hoping you all have much better weather.
ML
