i had a premature love affair with the city of austin when i was 17 years young. with one visit to the university of texas, i wanted to be a longhorn and embrace my home state of cowboys, southern drawls and matthew mcconaughey. as fate would have it though, i soon realized the reality of going to an out of state school and the costs that come with it. i carried on with the seminole tradition and went to tallahassee, an experience i wouldn't trade in hindsight.
so on my recent trip to austin and my first time back to the city, i was anxious to see whether those old feelings of excitement would pop up again. visiting my old ny friend, who now lives there, was wonderful. we explored south congress, hopped into vintage stores, devoured some delicious tex-mex (worth moving to austin for that in and of itself in my opinion) and drank our way down rainey street listening to live music everywhere we went. what a lovely place to be!
a few highlights are below if you ever venture to the tech-booming city it now has become. the grunge is balanced by the natural friendliness of texans, the urban downtown is balanced by the greenery found in zilker park and its surrounding walking paths and the "weird" is balanced by the young professionals bee-lining to the city for work all over the country making it not so much weird, as different. and different, is a good thing.
my very brief list of highlights. there is so much more than this of course...
shop:
uncommon objects - a hodge podge of stuff. but in a good way.
sunroom - my friend got a killa jumpsuit here. lots of good finds and owner is a former nyc'er
room service - good for trying on grandma's sunnies and muumuus
mercury design studio - great stop for gifts
eat:
perla's - seafood? in texas? don't your worry. it is tasty.
contigo - located in east austin with an outdoorsy feel / american food / great cocktails
torchy's tacos - queso was a highlight. just so damn good.
drink:
rainey street bars - try clive for some live musica while sitting on the outdoor patio. at the end of the street sits plenty of food trucks waiting to feed you.
garage - sip on cocktails in downtown austin. located in a parking garage, this bar takes on an unusual location and experimental concoctions
walk:
zilker park - get your walk on and get lost amongst the foliage - little creeks peep through to reveal locals taking a dip or letting their pups loose in the cold water.
south congress - an abundance of shops, bars, restaurants are here and it's a lively street to walk along