Girls' Getaway in Austin

My birthday is this week and let's just say I'm closer to the big three-oh than I've ever been before.  As my friends and I get older, impromptu weekend trips become more difficult with work/family/life responsibilities growing on the reg, so I cherish every second I get to spend with my girls on vaca!  This weekend my crew and I met in Austin- one came from SoCal and the rest of us from Dallas.

Since most of us live relatively close (it's a three hour drive or an hour flight from Dallas), we've all vacationed  here a lot.  Each trip is memorable in its own way whether it's a festival, wedding, or just a weekend escape.  We started the first full day of our visit with cocktails in a new up-and-coming area called Rainey Street Historic District southeast of downtown. Rows of bungalow houses have been converted to restaurants and bars so we had a little pub crawl starting at the appropriately named Bungalow, then made a stop at Icenhauer's.  We ended with some grub at a food trailer park and a riveting game of mancala.

One of the girl's Austin-bucket-list items was visiting a Christmas-themed bar called Lala's.  She'd heard of this place through Anthony Bourdain, and apparently Quentin Tarantino used to frequent it as well, so it was a must see for us as we were looking to explore things off the beaten path.  Lala's Christmas decorations are from the 1970's and the music in the jukebox is older than that.  Wrapping paper covers the glass doors so it's always dark inside, save for the soft glowing lights from the Christmas trees and wreaths.  The older, heavy drinking patrons mix seamlessly with the young hipster crowd.  This place is irony on the rocks and a nice, quiet respite outside of downtown.  People who come here know what they're looking for.

When day turned to night we each grabbed a deliciously hot and thin slice of pizza from Hoboken Pie, then headed to a music venue called Mohawk to see the band Thr!!!er per the recommendation of my Austinite friend.  No, this was not a Michael Jackson cover band as we had assumed, but they were entertaining, especially the lead singer who decided to take off his pants and perform in his boxers.

After the show, force of habit took us to Sixth Steet, also known as "Dirty Sixth".  The first time I laid eyes on this place I was a kid and thought it was magical.  Now I'd rather be anywhere else.  I tolerated two bars (The Buckshot which specializes in weak, fruity shot concoctions, then Barcelona which is a below-ground dance club that smells of sweat and farts) until we made our way to my favorite bar on Sixth, The Driskill Bar.   This hidden gem is not technically on Sixth, which is one of the reasons why it's oh-so good.  It's in the historic Driskill Hotel which takes up a whole block between Sixth and Seventh.  You might even say it's on Seventh.  Or Brazos.  Regardless, if you're looking for a place filled with college kids and you'd rather dance to Skrillex than converse with your friends, don't come here.  TDB is intimate, pretentious but approachable, smells of leather and mahogany, and the bartenders know what they're doing.  Our only problem was their kitchen closes at 1am so we were forced to fight the crowds on Sixth to stand in line for Brautwurst, which seemed like a great idea at the time.  The wurst gave us enough energy to fight our way into a cab.  So we had that going for us.

If Saturday was our day of indulgence, Sunday was our day of penance.  After fueling up with breakfast tacos and coffee, we decided to hike Mount Bonnell.  Laugh if you must, but on that day it truly felt like a hike.  At 785 feet it's one of the highest points in Austin.  If you look to your right, you can see the helicopter landing pad.  Ahhh... the Austin hippie lifestyle.

Our penance continued as we made our way to Zilker Park for an afternoon of kayaking.  For $12 an hour (cash only) you can rent a sea kayak or canoe and cruise Town Lake. It was nice, expect for the water moccasin that followed us for a while [shudders].  The hottest accessory on the lake?  A furry friend.

 When we were done we had a great idea, along with the rest of the city of Austin, to take a relaxing dip in Barton Springs.  After waiting in line for hours minutes, we decided to abort our mission and find food.  We couldn't leave Austin without having barbecue, so I recommended The Salt Lick.  We grabbed a couple of six packs from H.E.B. and headed to the Hill Country (Driftwood Texas, to be exact).  We were seated after an hour wait, which was bearable thanks to the dollar bags of popcorn, live country music, and the cold beer we brought.  We were ravishingly hungry by the time we were seated so we opted for the all-you-can eat family-style option for $20 each.  This was well worth the price, and we even got to take home the leftovers!  Bonus!  

Our agenda complete, we headed home yesterday morning.  It was the perfect weekend of food, friends, and fun.  If you'll excuse me, I think those Salt Lick leftovers are calling my name.