Texas
While we enjoyed our time in Arkansas, the weather there was not exactly the type that I was hoping to experience during my vacation. Yes, the tornados and hail did add some excitement, but overall, we were much happier to get to HOT and sunny Texas.
We stayed in a nice hotel (the Marriott) in central Austin from Wednesday to Friday. We (the Arkansas crew) arrived Wednesday afternoon from Dallas and Jeff flew in late Wednesday night from NYC. The hotel was in a good location, just 2 blocks from 6th street, which is where all the bars and clubs are (the Austin equivalent of Granville Street). Of course, as we don't drink very much, we didn't spend much time there.....
We spent Wednesday at a outlet mall about 25 minutes south of Austin. It was the standard cookie cutter US outlet mall. Ironically, while the boys complained about the shopping experience, they each bought more than all of us females combined.
The vegetarian thing proved to be a problem again on Wednesday night. We walked about 8 blocks to go to a popular BBQ place, only to discover that there was literally not a single thing on the menu that I could eat. We were told there would probably be some fish on the menu, so I figured it would be ok, but no dice. It all worked out though, because we ended up at a delicious steak and pasta restaurant. There were also happy hour cocktails....which of course turned out to be trouble for Emma who "loves a good deal."
We then checked out a really cool club. It was an indoor/outdoor venue with a live band that played 80s music (called the Spazzmatics). They were awesome. It's soooo nice to be able to go to an outdoor club in April in a summer dress and not need a coat or a sweater.
Thursday was a spa day for the girls and a "roam around Austin aimlessly" day for the guys. Sarah (the bride) came up from San Antonio for the day along with two of our other friends from Perth (Kirsten and Darragh) who came for the wedding and had been traveling around the south. The spa was AWESOME. It was pricey, but my 80 minute massage was excellent and there was full use of an amazing pool and lounge area. It was nice relaxing poolside in the sun.
To be fair to the boys, they did have one aim for the day; to become cowboys. Apparently it was a 3 step plan: 1) get a hat 2) get boots 3) get a horse. They succeeded with step 1 on Thursday; we came back from the spa and found them all in cowboy hats. They seemed to think that they were blending right in. Somehow, I don't believe that people were buying it; especially BJ with his Dutch accent.
Thursday night was the big hens night. We all went for dinner with Sarah and a few of her friends and then up to 6th street for some partying. We found a really fun rooftop bar and closed it down. The walk back to the hotel was interesting. Despite it being only 3 blocks we had a few casualties. One of Sarah's friends tripped about 5 times, Emma, Sarah and Kirsten went missing, and Darragh was doing cartwheels in the street before getting dizzy and face planting into the pavement at a pretty good speed. Overall, it was a really fun night.
Friday was a bit of a hangover day, but we did eventually make it to an area just south of the city centre called "SoCo" (south of congress). While 6th street is a more grubby party area, SoCo is a bit trendier, with lots of shops and restaurants. One block had a bunch of street carts and I tried breaded deep fried avocado. It was actually awesome. We also checked out a cowboy boot store. There were like 1,000 pairs of boots in that place; every colour and pattern that you can think of. I discovered that cowboy boots are expensive; I had no idea that a cheap pair ran you $400.
That evening we went for a really nice dinner at a steak house (I had tuna steaks). It was really good, but sooooo much food. Everything is actually bigger in Texas. Afterwords we went to another rooftop club on 6th street, but it was a more tame night than Thursday.
Saturday was the big day; the wedding. The ceremony was at a church about 45 minutes south of Austin. Sarah looked gorgeous and it was a very nice, concise ceremony. We then checked into a cottage close to the reception location. The cottage was really nice and included a hot tub (which was completely unnecessary in the Texas heat, but we still made use of it later that night after the reception).
The reception was at a winery. It was a very nice venue. It was a lot of fun; lots of wine, good food and good company. It was definitely the highlight of my 10 day trip.
After talking about it all trip, Emma finally got to meet a real live cowboy at the wedding (Sarah's uncle). The boys wore their cowboy hats to the reception and the real cowboy put them all to shame. They decided they needed to re-evaluate their 3 step plan; apparently buying a cheap hat does not actually make you a cowboy. Who knew?
The food was BBQ. Meat, meat and more meat. It looked delicious. I don't usually question my decision to become a vegetarian, but this was one of those times that I did. I settled for crackers and cheese and the sides (potatoes, beans, bread, etc). Everyone raved about the food, which did not help my struggle.
We had an after party at our cottage and I drank to much (surprise surprise). I was feeling pretty rough sunday morning; just in time for my trip home. We all had flights out of Austin on Sunday and it proved to be impossible to get from the cottage to city. There are no taxis in the area. As a result, our only option was to pay an absurd amount of money to get a shuttle directly to the airport. As we had to check out by 11am and as our flights were not until 6pm ish, we ended up having hours to kill at the Austin airport. Suddenly my 7 hour trip home turned into 12 hours. C'est la vie.
I'm excited to be home. I need to detox. No more alcohol or fried food (....at least until Friday).
- Siobhan
We stayed in a nice hotel (the Marriott) in central Austin from Wednesday to Friday. We (the Arkansas crew) arrived Wednesday afternoon from Dallas and Jeff flew in late Wednesday night from NYC. The hotel was in a good location, just 2 blocks from 6th street, which is where all the bars and clubs are (the Austin equivalent of Granville Street). Of course, as we don't drink very much, we didn't spend much time there.....
We spent Wednesday at a outlet mall about 25 minutes south of Austin. It was the standard cookie cutter US outlet mall. Ironically, while the boys complained about the shopping experience, they each bought more than all of us females combined.
The vegetarian thing proved to be a problem again on Wednesday night. We walked about 8 blocks to go to a popular BBQ place, only to discover that there was literally not a single thing on the menu that I could eat. We were told there would probably be some fish on the menu, so I figured it would be ok, but no dice. It all worked out though, because we ended up at a delicious steak and pasta restaurant. There were also happy hour cocktails....which of course turned out to be trouble for Emma who "loves a good deal."
We then checked out a really cool club. It was an indoor/outdoor venue with a live band that played 80s music (called the Spazzmatics). They were awesome. It's soooo nice to be able to go to an outdoor club in April in a summer dress and not need a coat or a sweater.
Thursday was a spa day for the girls and a "roam around Austin aimlessly" day for the guys. Sarah (the bride) came up from San Antonio for the day along with two of our other friends from Perth (Kirsten and Darragh) who came for the wedding and had been traveling around the south. The spa was AWESOME. It was pricey, but my 80 minute massage was excellent and there was full use of an amazing pool and lounge area. It was nice relaxing poolside in the sun.
To be fair to the boys, they did have one aim for the day; to become cowboys. Apparently it was a 3 step plan: 1) get a hat 2) get boots 3) get a horse. They succeeded with step 1 on Thursday; we came back from the spa and found them all in cowboy hats. They seemed to think that they were blending right in. Somehow, I don't believe that people were buying it; especially BJ with his Dutch accent.
Thursday night was the big hens night. We all went for dinner with Sarah and a few of her friends and then up to 6th street for some partying. We found a really fun rooftop bar and closed it down. The walk back to the hotel was interesting. Despite it being only 3 blocks we had a few casualties. One of Sarah's friends tripped about 5 times, Emma, Sarah and Kirsten went missing, and Darragh was doing cartwheels in the street before getting dizzy and face planting into the pavement at a pretty good speed. Overall, it was a really fun night.
Friday was a bit of a hangover day, but we did eventually make it to an area just south of the city centre called "SoCo" (south of congress). While 6th street is a more grubby party area, SoCo is a bit trendier, with lots of shops and restaurants. One block had a bunch of street carts and I tried breaded deep fried avocado. It was actually awesome. We also checked out a cowboy boot store. There were like 1,000 pairs of boots in that place; every colour and pattern that you can think of. I discovered that cowboy boots are expensive; I had no idea that a cheap pair ran you $400.
That evening we went for a really nice dinner at a steak house (I had tuna steaks). It was really good, but sooooo much food. Everything is actually bigger in Texas. Afterwords we went to another rooftop club on 6th street, but it was a more tame night than Thursday.
Saturday was the big day; the wedding. The ceremony was at a church about 45 minutes south of Austin. Sarah looked gorgeous and it was a very nice, concise ceremony. We then checked into a cottage close to the reception location. The cottage was really nice and included a hot tub (which was completely unnecessary in the Texas heat, but we still made use of it later that night after the reception).
The reception was at a winery. It was a very nice venue. It was a lot of fun; lots of wine, good food and good company. It was definitely the highlight of my 10 day trip.
After talking about it all trip, Emma finally got to meet a real live cowboy at the wedding (Sarah's uncle). The boys wore their cowboy hats to the reception and the real cowboy put them all to shame. They decided they needed to re-evaluate their 3 step plan; apparently buying a cheap hat does not actually make you a cowboy. Who knew?
The food was BBQ. Meat, meat and more meat. It looked delicious. I don't usually question my decision to become a vegetarian, but this was one of those times that I did. I settled for crackers and cheese and the sides (potatoes, beans, bread, etc). Everyone raved about the food, which did not help my struggle.
We had an after party at our cottage and I drank to much (surprise surprise). I was feeling pretty rough sunday morning; just in time for my trip home. We all had flights out of Austin on Sunday and it proved to be impossible to get from the cottage to city. There are no taxis in the area. As a result, our only option was to pay an absurd amount of money to get a shuttle directly to the airport. As we had to check out by 11am and as our flights were not until 6pm ish, we ended up having hours to kill at the Austin airport. Suddenly my 7 hour trip home turned into 12 hours. C'est la vie.
I'm excited to be home. I need to detox. No more alcohol or fried food (....at least until Friday).
- Siobhan
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