Visiting Austin TX

[stomachmonkey]

Oh, and if in your travels you see a Bucee's, stop and go in. Get yourself some Jerky and Fudge. You'll thank me.

[chuckr]

Was just there , used to live there. For half a day.... either do 6th street, or Lake Travis area. 6th street parking is a bit of a challenge. I paid 30$ a day two weeks ago. The Oasis at sunset hard to beat !

[billybek]

When I was there for a conference I did the Capitol Building tour, had dinner at Stubbs one night and had a few beers while listening to live music on 6th.
Also had lunch one day at the Driskill.
Enjoyed my visit there.

Was funny, when I was ordering dinner at Stubbs, I tried to order one meal and the lady serving me looked me up and down and told me "Thats too much food for you." Ordered a smaller meal and it was still too much food for me.....
Washed it down with a few Shiner Bocks.

[Pazuzu]

Do the Capitol tour and try to count the Texas Stars.

No, really, they're everywhere! I asked, the docent said it was something north of 3 million stars.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

I was going to tell you to go see Graffiti park we saw it last November and knew it was going to be closed down and it did. So sorry you missed it, it was pretty cool.






The homeless are abundant and aggressive and kind of a buzzkill.

The place is a giant bar, we were in town for a week staying in Lake Travis and had planned on driving in each day to explore more of the city. We ended up going out into Hill Country and had a great time exploring cool little towns out there.

If you have time and like Whiskey about 1 hours drive west on some nice roads in Andalusia Whiskey Co., you can only buy their whiskey in Texas (last time I was there that was the case) I wished I bought more.

https://www.andalusiawhiskey.com/

The hill country has many many vinyards too with tasting rooms and damn good wine. I was impressed but I am no expert. I prefer Whiskey.


We ate at an Asian place in downtown Austin that was amazing, furthermore we were one of a few tables with white people at them, the rest were all Asian so it had to be legit. I will find out the name of it and post later after I ask my wife.

We only had one incident with an aggressive pan handler in the years we have visited (during an IT conference). Told him I don't carry cash and he said he cries a little bit every time he hears someone say that as they walk past an ATM. Our 9 year old blurts out that we didn't pass any ATM machine. Guy said smart kid and walked off.

I forgot about the stuff SW of town. Our boy loved the military museum.

[Jims5543]

The weather was really nice when we were there, cool but not cold. We ate outside at one place along the sidewalk, every 5 minutes someone would walk up and ask for money. We were approached a lot just walking around, keep in mind the day we were there we walked about 10 miles all over the place. I never felt it was a problem other than being a buzz kill.

Also the Starbucks was a homeless shelter, the bathrooms were destroyed and the employees seemed to had given up on trying to make them resemble anything usable.

We ducked in to use the bathrooms and left not using them, the place was full of people obviously camping out in there. We went to a little coffee shop, purchased some coffee and snacks then used their bathrooms which were unisex and well, it was kind of weird to be taking a piss in a stall next to a woman tending to her kids. The bathrooms in many places in Ireland were unisex too except everyone had a private room/all then there was a general washing area with sinks. It just seemed weird to re-purpose a conventional bathroom with stalls that are not very private to a unisex one. I could care less personally I just feel bad for the poor woman that have to share them with men.

Anyway, I am sure we could have found more to do in Austin, it was a pretty nice city, we decided to go check out the Hill Country and enjoyed that greatly.

We saw LBJ's house in Johnson City.



This was an antique store in Johnson City, it was closed, see anything weird?




Marble Falls was a cute town too. I purchased a really nice Vietnam pocket knife for my FIL who is obviously a vet. I found it in a little co-op style store with various vendors.



I kind of dig little towns over cities, I am more at ease in them.



I will be back to Austin, possibly next year, I am hoping to attend a Chive Charities Green Gala that they throw every year, as a donor I get 1st dibs RSVPing to attend. I have passed for 4 years now I think I need to go for the 5th year. We will be sans kid so we will be able to go out in the evening and check out the music scene and bar scene better. Plus we will be staying in downtown so it will be easier to explore and walk around.

[bivenator]

Bring a tent and stay for awhile.

[flatbutt]

There used to be a nice rooftop bar on 6th? St, forget Coyote Ugly. if it's still there.

[mattdavis11]

Lived there until last November, and still work in and around the city. I'm not going to input any sight seeing other than maybe Wimberley, TX is a small town, artsy fartsy cool place. Team it up with the Salt Lick.

The others have given great advice. One thing that also has been mentioned, the homeless. It's tent city now, there are some that are very aggressive, and they are everywhere. Watch your step, might be turds on the side walk.

I hate having to say what I have, it really used to be a great place to live, but it's a schithole now. No turning back.

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

There used to be a nice rooftop bar on 6th? St, forget Coyote Ugly. if it's still there.

Iron Cactus. Turned into a Mexican restaurant, same name and place. Live music is nearing death in Austin, no one wants to go downtown anymore. The Domain is the place which attracts the decent people, and it's nice, safe too.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

Lived there until last November, and still work in and around the city. I'm not going to input any sight seeing other than maybe Wimberley, TX is a small town, artsy fartsy cool place. Team it up with the Salt Lick.

The others have given great advice. One thing that also has been mentioned, the homeless. It's tent city now, there are some that are very aggressive, and they are everywhere. Watch your step, might be turds on the side walk.

I hate having to say what I have, it really used to be a great place to live, but it's a schithole now. No turning back.

Where are you now?

Been shopping real estate in Bee Cave / Lakeway this year.

Kinda like Rough Hollow or the general vicinity.

Looking for a lake view if I can get it.

[mattdavis11]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Where are you now?

Been shopping real estate in Bee Cave / Lakeway this year.

I moved to Seguin, 55 miles south of Austin, 40 miles east of SA on I10.

Explore Spanish Oaks (Bee Cave), my brother and his family live there. Nice place, good schools.

Another brother is selling in South Austin, he lives in the county, but what all say is in Austin, 2 doors down from the Moon Tower Saloon. Big place, probably will fetch mucho dinero. Back in the day it was said Willie wouldn't leave, he stayed there from time to time. However, my bro can't take it anymore.

After 32 years, my father is selling his second home. It was outside of Austin then, but was annexed in the early-mid 2000's. Still a nice neighborhood (Onion Creek), but the surroundings have gone south.

Austin proper is not what you are looking for. Things went down hill real fast, with the exception of real estate, it's hot.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Take a run down to San Marcos, easy 30 minute drive south. Nice little authentic TX town with good curio shopping and food.

Yep. Daughter graduated from Texas State. When I was there we went to her favorite Mex places so I only know a few.

Lolita's Cafe (Loli's now - some struggles with original name) is a drive through breakfast taco joint. Pretty good grub but I don't think OP has the time to visit given only a half day to play.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by mattdavis11

.....Explore Spanish Oaks (Bee Cave), my brother and his family live there. ....

Ran through Spanish Oaks about a month ago.

Nice place. Not worried about schools anymore other than for resale value, both kids will be in college.

We are looking just a couple miles NW of Spanish Oaks off 21. Serene Hills and Rough Hollow. I want to be on the water again.

Also the wife would prefer to build if she can.