Keep Austin Weird! (Part Two)

I'm back to recap the second half our our recent trip to Austin, TX (you can read about the first part here).

Day Four:

We decided to drive out to nearby San Antonio for a quick day trip! San Antonio is a little under 1.5hrs from Austin so it was easy to do in a day. Nolan loves the car and napped both ways making it an easy trip.

When we arrived, the first thing we did was head down to the famous River Walk (Paseo del Rio). It was a very cute area of nicely maintained walkways along the river (and under the streets) with lots of restaurants and shops with outdoor seating. There were many river boats with guides going up and down the river - I sort of felt like I was in Disney World!

River Walk - San Antonio

The Boys in San Antonio

Nolan and Mommy

Waterfall along the riverwalk

This was by far the best weather we had all trip (nice and COOL compared to the other days) - so it was a great day to be outdoors and take in a new city. San Antonio definitely felt more "touristy" to us (probably since we were in the tourist area!) but it was fun to be tourists for a day!

Don't be fooled by his expression - he loved riding in his stroller!

After walking up and down the river, we stopped at one of the cafes and ate (yet another) meal of Tex Mex! We couldn't help ourselves - it's probably one of the cuisines we miss most in Philly! We then headed over to the other big (and nearby) attraction of San Antonio - the Alamo!

Remember the Alamo!

Joe is a big fan of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" movie during which Pee Wee Herman is looking for his bike and is (wrongly) told by a fortune teller that it is in the basement of the Alamo. He travels across the country to visit the Alamo where he is laughed at by an entire tour group after asking for the basement ("There is no basement in the Alamo!!") Anyway, Joe wouldn't stop with the Pee Wee Herman references our entire trip and was tempted to ask for the basement while there - wonder how many times they get that?! :)

So we were mentally prepared for the Alamo to be very small, and the main building certainly was! It took all of 5 minutes to walk through (thankfully it is free to visit!) But, I wasn't aware of all the rest of the "Alamo Grounds" behind it that is closed off by stone walls. It took quite a while to explore the grounds and we could actually take photos during this part (they are banned inside the main building).

Cannon Joe

Beautiful Trees

Still having fun!

Overall, I was glad we took the time out to see San Antonio while in Texas! Since everything was so concentrated in one area of the city, we were still back in Austin by late afternoon. Although it was great to see San Antonio, Joe and I agreed we felt more at home in Austin - I guess we love to keep it weird! Once back, we still had some time before dinner so we took Nolan back to his favorite spot - the Zilker Park Playground!

Man on a mission

Catalogue ready

Not quite as sweaty today!

Back to the swings (by request!)

Checking out the Zilker Zephyr as it passed by!

Train!

The playground had this awesome antique tractor that was converted to play equipment. We took advantage of the smaller crowds to grab some photos of Nolan on it!

Tractor!

The boys

Mommy gets a turn too!

After the park, we decided to head back to South Congress St (SoCo for those in the know) for a quick bite. Nolan had been picky with some of the restaurant food lately and I really wanted him to get a big meal so we went with something we knew he'd chow down - Pizza! I actually joked to Joe when we arrived that there's no way I'd be buying pizza in Texas after living in the NJ/Philly area for most of my life, but we'd heard rave reviews about Home Slice in SoCo and knew Nolan would eat so we went for it. Wow, was I wrong! Home Slice was SO good! The slices were pretty big and we wanted to save room for dessert after our heavier lunch so we all just split a piece. Nolan ended up eating most of it (yay!) and left Joe and I wishing we'd ordered another slice (boo!) Luckily, Amy's Ice Cream was just a few doors down!

Home Slice Pizza!

Amy's Ice Creams (and yes, that is a Smart Car in Texas... Keep Austin Weird!)

Amy's Ice Creams did not disappoint, so I'm glad we saved some room. I got the extra dark chocolate, which was so rich and decadent - delish! They even had a huge variety of yummy mix-ins too. It was nice to sit outdoors at both places and take in the beautiful weather! After that, we called it a night after another busy day and headed back to put Nolan down. Joe and I had fun finishing off the Shiner Beer while enjoying our covered balcony off the Master Bedroom of our rental - very relaxing!

Day Five (our last full day in Austin): We knew what we had to do before leaving the state of Texas - get some legit Texas BBQ! We had heard and read from many that the Salt Lick just outside of town was THE place to go, so we prepared for it by eating smaller meals for breakfast and lunch. We hit up another food truck we'd be wanting to try called "Biscuits and Groovy" (we'd missed good southern biscuits in PA!) for a quick brunch - so good! Then we headed back out to Zilker Park to do some walking on their many pretty trails along the river. It was another pretty day (although hotter than the day before) to take in all the beauty of this green space. There were lots of bridges and animals along the way, which made for great photos! There were tons of people out running the trails as well as kayaking in the river.

Pretty Zilker Park

Pedestrian Bridge in Zilker

The path takes you under a large bridge

In our element

There were TONS of turtles in the river! It was so fun to watch them swim along in little groups.

Turtles!

Birds in a pretty tree

Swan posing!

We made our way to a pretty spot to take in the Austin Skyline. What a great park!

We headed back home for Nolan's nap, then prepared to drive the 20 minutes out for an early dinner at The Salt Lick! This place was insanely good. I do not even enjoy BBQ that much in general and I was in heaven. Joe and I both got a sample plate with beef brisket, sausage, ribs, and turkey with coleslaw, beans, and potato salad. EVERYTHING was delicious and previously I had never met a coleslaw or potato salad that I actually liked. I guess I've learned that for me, Texas BBQ is the absolute best BBQ.

Now THAT'S a plate of food!

The Bread Thief!

After stuffing ourselves (I felt like we had just visited a Brazilian Steakhouse with how much meat we ingested), we ran around the outdoor area (this place was dead on an early Monday night, which was our hope!) They have a huge outdoor seating area and we could easily see how this place would be a madhouse on weekend evenings. Nolan was having a lot of fun on their "stage" outside so we snapped a bunch of cute photos while he used up his energy before passing out in the car.

Outdoor seating

Love the rustic vibe

Stand up Comedian?

What's THAT?

I adore this pic

Climbing everywhere

This one cracks me up

Great Family photo to end the trip!

We were treated to the most beautiful sunset on our last night in Austin. We could see the sun peaking through the trees on the ranch, and during our car ride back to the rental the sky turned the most incredible blues and pinks. We felt very thankful for this week together as a family and to be able to explore new places together.

Sunset on the Ranch

Our trip home was uneventful. Nolan didn't pass out for an entire plane leg last like time, so more entertaining was involved, but we all did fine and were thankfully still able to (barely) make it in time to pick up Dean at Camp Bow Wow before it closed due to a small delay. 

Thanks for everything, Austin! We so enjoyed our visit and hope to be back someday!

You Stay Weird, Austin!