Let me start by saying it was a long drive with two fur balls in the back. One in particular has a lot of anxiety when riding in the car ever since being involved in a fender bender.......insert 6+ hours of panting in our ears. The other, to our surprise, was perfect. I guess those puppy training classes are paying off!
We stayed at a little "Hacienda" apartment via AirBNB. It was super cute (on the inside) but a little dated. However, it was conveniently located (right of South Congress), allowed dogs of all sizes and was much bigger and cheaper than a hotel room. Win.
After spending all of Friday morning waiting in line/talking to Kylo's fan club/devouring Franklin BBQ, the pups were ready for some down time and we were ready to be away from them for a bit.
Puppy parenting, man...it's exhausting.
We dropped the babies off at our AirBNB and headed to SoCo for some coffee and retail therapy. We walked all the way up and then made our way back down. There are some really cute shops (obsessed with The Gypsy Wagon) and some not-so-cute shops. I found these heart shaped floral sunnies and couldn't live without them!
We stopped for Happy Hour Moscow Mules and picked the dogs back up to head to Zilker Park and let them stretch their legs for a bit. We strolled down the running trails at Ladybird Lake and loved them - it amazed me just how many active people their are in this city! Props to you, ATX. OKC folk can learn a thing our two.
Watching the Austin Bats emerge from the SoCo bridge was next up on our itinerary (yes, I make vacation itineraries; insert nerd emoji). I googled the heck out of their emergence times....we even called the Bat Hotline (yes, that's a thing). The only information we found said they come out right before sunset. Sunset was supposed to be at 8:21, so I assumed they would emerge around 8:15. Wrong. We waited and waited and waited until we were about to miss our dinner reservation and didn't see a single bat. Bummer. Maybe next time.
The next morning, we needed to work off the copious amounts of food we had consumed, so we put on our Nikes and LuLu and headed to Mount Bonnell, the highest point in Austin. The "hike" to the top took all of two minutes. It wasn't so much of a hike as it was a long staircase (maybe 6 or 7 flights), but we still enjoyed it!
The view was fantastic; Austin's downtown skyline, the Colorado River, and miles of Texas Hill Country. Yes, please. Once at the top, we discovered plenty of small trails to explore that made the word "hike" a little more realistic.
Next up, SUP ATX! I have begged Cole to take me paddle boarding every summer since we met and it FINALLY happened! It was a lot harder than I anticipated. The first 10 minutes were basically me hunched over trying not to topple my board, but once I got the hang of it I really enjoyed myself. We paddled down Ladybird Lake towards downtown, floated down the Barton Creek turn off, and then made our way back. SUP is not something I'd do on a regular basis (or in OKC where there is nothing pretty to look at...), but I'd definitely do it again in the right location!
Our afternoon was blocked off as "patio time." Upon the recommendation of our Franklin BBQ line friends, we hit up Rainey Street, a block of historical bungalows that had all been converted to open air patio bars.
We planned on relaxing and enjoying each other's company over a few beers. It didn't happen. Let it be known that if you take a cute puppy into public, you will have a constant flow of people wanting to talk to you every where you go. Thanks, Kylo! It was mentally exhausting! We patioed and we beered, but we did not relax.
The dogs certainly enjoyed themselves, though. Every bar was dog-friendly (even inside!) and some went so far as to provide cucumber water for our four-legged companions. Kylo always drinks more than his fair share of H20, but he downed that cucumber water like nobody's business. I guess he is more high-class than I realized.
That being said, if any single friends want to borrow Kylo for an afternoon, we guarantee you'll have a group of guys or gals waiting in line to talk to you. His starting rate is $10 an hour.
We had so much fun in Austin and ate
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