Austin, Texas!!

We LOVED Austin!! In fact, my husband said, "It's a good thing we are visiting in the middle of summer, otherwise we may want to move here!" He is right. It is a city that is active and eclectic; there seems to be something for everyone. I am only disappointed that we did not have longer to explore this fun city.

When we arrived to our hotel, we took a little time to freshen up and let the boys get their customary we-are-at-a-new-hotel-and-must-explore-and-touch-everything-and-then-jump-on-the-bed wiggles out.  Then it was time to find dinner. In my opinion, we lucked out and happened to be right around the corner from the best little restaurant. It is called Moonshine and it is my kind of place. The restaurant decor is tastefully relaxed, but carefully modern and vintage at the same time. The menu has a great variety - new twists on American (particularly southern) classics - complete with beverages served in mason jars :) Everything we ate was yummy and we enjoyed the modern vintage ambiance. 

After dinner, we strolled down historic 6th street.  It was just about dusk and about as late as I would walk down that street on a Friday night with my 2 young kids!  We were not looking to have a "you have a baby...in a bar!" moment (Sweet Home Alabama, in case you didn't catch the reference).  The street is bar followed by funky little shop followed by bar - you get the picture.  It was just starting to gear up for Friday night as we walked.  We could hear the bands in the bars warming up for their sets later on in the evening.

Later we made our way to the Congress Avenue Bridge.  The craziest thing happens at this bridge!  The construction of the bridge has made it a prime location for Mexican Free-Tailed bats to make their nests and have babies.  So each summer to fall, spectators get an amazing show of bats flying out of their homes under the bridge (the Bat Conservation International website says it is around 1.5 million bats).  We visited a little early in the season, so we did not see the amazing show that some visitors see, but here is a picture of the bridge with people waiting for the show:

We did see many bats flying out and it was noisy as well!  I wasn't able to get good pictures of the bats we saw, so I thought I would post a picture of what the show looks like during the peak season.  This picture is from the Bat Conservation International website:

source:  www.batcon.org

Crazy, huh?!

The next day, we started out at Whole Foods Market to get breakfast and snacks for the road later.  Although we have Whole Foods here at home, I mention it because we learned that it originated in Austin.  So we strolled through the flagship store, which was quite large, and spent too much money, just as we do at the ones here.  Ha!

Next, we visited the area called SoCo, which is short for South Congress.  It is a strip with lots of unique shops and restaurants, as well as a food truck park.

 

My favorite shop as we strolled along the SoCo area is called Uncommon Objects - a funky antique shop that I could have spent days in!  They had such wonderful items that made for a fun treasure hunt.

Because by this time I felt that knowing feeling that moms have when their family is about to turn on them because they are hot and hungry, it was time for a local favorite - Amy's Ice Cream.  

Aaahhh...much better! We hope to have another opportunity to explore Austin more in the future!

As we left Texas, we were treated to this beautiful sunset.