Austin the state capital of Texas is one of the best places to live in the U.S in 2017. Austin is a pretty cool city to visit but it does have some drawbacks, not a lot though. We stayed close to E Cesar Chavez Street which is an up and coming street for food and a night out. Our first night out we hit the Eastside Tavern within walking distance of our digs. The tavern had an upstairs patio which we took full advantage of. The cocktails were great! Make sure to order the Eastside Martini and if you are after Margaritas hit the Eastside Frozen Margarita. On the way home we stopped by the Weather Up for a night cap.
Day 2 we decided to hit the Texas Capitol Building. It is well worth the visit and free to get in which is a bonus. Then we headed for Red’s gun rang. This was my first time at a gun range in the States and the guys there were awesome. Took us through the drills and what they required of us on the range. Really professional.
Then it was onto our big night out in Austin. We decided we were going to do Rainey Street since it has a little bit more class than Sixth Street. The motto was one drink and move on. I think we might have strayed away from that towards the end of the night. Highlights of the night was Craft Pride with Texas craft beers on tap, Half Step the cocktails here are amazing and if you go to Rainey Street you need to visit Bangers sausages and beer.
After our big night out it was a recovery day, a few breakfast tacos, juices and water. We still had time to go to Black Sheep Lodge, they have some sort of happy hour every day and then onto The White Horse which is a bit of a dive with live country music but still worth checking out.
You can’t go to Austin without checking out a few Breweries so our last day was devoted to a pub crawl but first off we needed to get some food. So we hit La Barbecue. We got there pretty early but still had to wait in line for 1 ½ hours. I’m not sure why it takes so long to get the food done but by the time we got to the front, they had run out of ribs, but one good thing is you get free beer while you wait. Just a heads up, if you pass through Lockhart you might as well go to Smitty’s Market as the BBQ is to die for. So we started at the top of Sixth Street and hit Hops and Grain, Lazarus and Zilker. They all have their likes and dislikes! One thing is if you go to Lazarus, don’t expect any social engagement as out of the 30 people that were there, 25 were on Laptops. We did keep heading down Sixth Street and do a few more bars but by this time, everything started to catch up, so it was home time for bed.
A couple of special mentions, Blue Owl Brewing are doing sour mash beers – something worth checking out, and we hit Gourdough’s food truck on our way out – sugar rush all the way. All in all Austin is a fun city to go to but if you aren’t into hipster everywhere you look, it might not be the place for you.
