Austin, TX. March 1st - 7th

Note: This post was supposed to go out last weekend but was held up by some technical difficulties with the website.

A few stops ago in Crystal Beach, TX, our stay at Margaritaville was to just chill and have some downtime. That was NOT the case in Austin. We had people to see, places to go, and things to do. More on all that in a minute but first a few quick thoughts on Austin and Pecan Grove RV Park.

Austin has the coolest, urban, and hip feeling of any city we've visited on our explorations. For those reasons, the city has had enormous growth. The population has grown by more than 600,000 residents in the last ten years to approximately 2.35M currently. Even more crazy than the population growth is the amount of building that has occurred. If you haven't been to Austin in a while, you'll be blown away by the difference in the skyline. A lot of the growth has been driven by tech companies settling in Austin and originally the affordability of living in the area. Unfortunately, along with the growth has come a higher cost of living but I have to imagine with all the building that is occurring, the apartment market will eventually become saturated and prices will level off.

When writing about our stay in New Orleans, I mentioned that the best thing about French Quarter RV resort was location, location, location. I can say the same thing about Pecan Grove RV Park in Austin. It's the only RV Park in Austin that is within a short walk, bike ride or Uber from everything. That's where the similarities of the two parks stop. Pecan Grove park is old and about 80% of the park is full-time residents, albeit it really nice people. Full hook-ups are the only amenity worth mentioning. Sites are not level and mostly broken concrete or gravel. No pool, activities, etc. They have lots of pecan trees that were bare when we were there but I'm sure it's beautiful when they bloom in a month or two. They do have laundry facilities. Side note: Most places we stay have rules that prohibit hanging laundry or anything else. Pecan Grove actually provides the clothes line. 🤣

All that being said, would we stay here again? Absolutely! Because everyone was so nice, it's a very safe park, pricing was reasonable, and you can't beat the location.

Funny Story: When we pulled into the park and got to our site, I got out to take a look and I couldn't even figure out exactly where our site lines were. I wasn't sure exactly which hook-ups were ours. While I'm standing there, a nice guy stops in an SUV, tells me he's the park manager, and asks if he can help. I explain my questions, and he shows me everything I need to know. Turns out the site is pretty big and has a concrete pad (sort of) and a gravel area. I look at the manager and say, "So I can park my RV anywhere between that pole and that tree on the broken concrete or the gravel?" His reply was "Yep. Hell, you paid for the site, you can stand the RV on end if you want." 🤔🤣 My reply was "If you come back later and my RV is on end, we both are gonna have a really good story to tell." I thanked him for his help, we shook hands, and had a good laugh.

Ok...now for what we did in Austin. Buckle up!

Our good friends, Evan and Helen, joined us from SoCal for our first four nights. They got a cool AirBnB less than 5 minutes from us. On Sunday night we headed over to Rainey Street, a historic district with lively outdoor bars, restaurants and food trucks. We had some delicious street tacos, found a few cool outdoor bars, and played some Jenga while listening to karaoke. There's a video in the "Pictures" section from that night of my pathetic attempt to do a hula hoop after a few drinks.

Monday we met for lunch and shopping on South Congress Street (aka SoCo) before heading back to clean up for dinner. Timing was great because we had another friend from home, Steve, who was in town for business. He was only in town for one night so his wife, Christie, couldn't join us but Steve picked a great restaurant, Perlas. Perfect weather so we sat on the patio and caught up. I highly recommend the redfish. After dinner, we had drinks at The Continental Club, which is considered the premier place for live music in Austin. It opened in 1955 and has quite a history. The coolest part of that night was our Uber ride to and from dinner in a Waymo self driving car. It was different for sure but we got used to it quickly and actually liked it.

Tuesday we walked the dogs to meet Evan and Helen for lunch at Terry Black's BBQ, a Michelin recognized restaurant that's a staple in Austin. No way that we were coming to Austin and not having some BBQ. So good! There's a video of Stella on that day being taunted by a squirrel at our site.

A little rest in the afternoon before Evan and Helen joined us at our place for cocktails, Rummikub, and then Salmon and asparagus on the grill. After dinner we took a three minute walk to Barton Springs Saloon Pub. That place was busy for a Tuesday night and I found my new favorite drink. Grandma's Couch - Nosotros Mezcal, Tuaca, Maple, Apple Cider. BAM! You can drink it hot or cold.

Wednesday was a day to explore East Austin. We met for drinks at Cosmic Saltillo, sort of a coffee house / beer garden in an outdoor setting. Many young professionals working remotely on their laptops. Then we strolled East Austin with the dogs and found a cool place for lunch. East Austin is known for the murals painted on buildings throughout the area. There's some pictures in the "Pictures" section.

But wait! There's more on Wednesday. We couldn't come to Austin without seeing the bats. Yes, bats. I'm sure many of you know this, but the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin is home to the world's largest colony of Brazilian free-tailed bats. Approximately 1.5 million (not a typo) bats live in the colony. Between March and November, every evening just after sunset, the bats leave the bridge to eat insects before returning to the bridge later in the night. Spectators gather every night to watch their departure. We elected to rent a small, open air boat for an afternoon cruise on Lady Bird Lake. Charcuterie board, cocktails and sunset on the lake with friends. Hell yes!! We stopped at the bridge and got a great view of the bats leaving for the evening and then watched the skyline light up. Perfect evening! And cool pics in the "Pictures" section.

Evan & Helen left early on Thursday morning but we still had more to do. The city is very into fitness so there are always people jogging, riding, paddling, walking, etc. Easy to be inspired. There's a 10 mile trail that runs the circumference of the lake, so I did the ride in the morning. Then we took the girls to Zilker Park for the afternoon. Pictures don't do the park justice. It's huge (350 acres) and has massive grass areas for people to relax, picnic, play games, etc. And dogs are allowed off leash!

But wait! There's more on Thursday. Just a few minutes from our RV Park, there was a 9-hole (Pitch & Putt) golf course. Seemed like a perfect late afternoon activity so Melissa and I decided to play. This is not a country club! No dress code. No tee times. Just show up, pay the greens fees, and wait to tee off. You can even bring your dog if you want. This city has such a cool vibe!

We settled in for a few episodes of Land Man on Thursday night but we had plans on Friday as well.

Another bike ride around Lady Bird Lake, but this time with Melissa. It's a relatively flat ride on a wide path with mostly hard packed dirt and some sidewalks. It's right along the lake and just makes you feel alive. We took a detour off the path to ride up Congress Avenue to the Texas State Capital Building. Very pretty building and grounds.

Finished off the day with dinner at Juliet's Italian Restaurant, which was right next door to our RV park. Maybe we drank to much this week but we discovered two more delicious drinks at dinner: Forbidden Orchard and Smokey S'mores.

Whew! What a visit to Austin. Today we buttoned up everything and headed to Dallas. About a four hour drive on I35 North with rain most of the way. We checked into Lake Shore RV Resort, which seems like a nice resort.

This week is gonna be one of our more unique travel weeks and will probably include a roller-coaster of emotions, so my next post could be interesting.

Stay tuned! Enjoy the weekend! Thanks for following along.