When Marriage Certificate Trio came to visit with 15-month-old baby Hat and a penchant for outdoor adventures (their wedding), I was worried about how to showcase this fair city. But consider the Mission Accomplished.
Thursday
Downtown vibes. Had to stop by CU29 for an alumni happy hour, but fell in love with the $6 Old Fashioned.
Then we took a wander to Red Ash Italia, which was phenomenal. Everything we ate was absolutely sensational, and the staff was gracious and sweet with a baby (it’s not really a family-friendly place). I can’t wait to go back—apparently reservations are hard to come by, so perhaps a stop by the bar for happy hour?
Friday
After a work day for the women while daddy took the baby to Kerbey Lane Cafe, we went for a Town Lake walk, the 5-mile loop. Center of the city, all the sights.
After the walk, we headed for delicious dinner at Pinthouse Pizza. Yum.
Saturday
Start the day with breakfast (lunch) tacos at Tacodeli.
We then headed for a “nature walk” to Twin Falls on the Barton Creek Greenbelt. Twin Falls is one of my faves because it’s short and easy, but you can walk for a long way, splash in the creek, swim, do all the things.
From there, we headed out to Driftwood for “wineries” which I suddenly realized are just fronts for places to drink wine, because no one is actually producing grapes OR wine out there! Anyway, our fave was Fall Creek (across from Salt Lick, which was on the agenda but way too insane).
We had to hustle all the way back up north to meet my fam, but managed to squeeze in a stop at Bent Oak Winery, which was a surprise gem in an industrial park! I spoke to the winemaker and found out all the wines are under 1g of residual sugar—so I joined the wine club. Whoops.
We came home for dinner, and then hosted an impromptu wine night for friends!
Sunday
I signed up to play 5-on-5 flag football through ATX Sports & Adventures, and it was not what I expected (or wanted). Nonetheless, the fam trekked to watch me play.
We drove through the original Tyler Perry’s (really known as P. Terry’s) for burgers and fries on our way to Zilker Park to play some volleyball!
Zilker was crowded on a sunny, late-February day where some stir-crazy Austinites were all too excited to get outside, so we hung out there for a long time. We finally left just so we could eat…
Hula Hut! My family’s perennial fave. Sometimes there are missteps, but the food is always great, fast, and cheap.
It was an awesome weekend. So there you have it: how to go on outdoor adventures and see much of Austin has to offer—with nary a bar in sight.