Now, the reason I was there was for a wedding - that's for another blog. If for no other reason than it'll get too long if I include it all in one... but more so because there's lots to say about the trip/travel through Texas, itself.
It all started in Houston, which is where we flew in and out of. Houston was your pretty standard large city, except that it was really hot and humid for a June day. We had some time to spare before we really needed to head out, so we did some exploring before getting on the road to head to Austin. Eric had a couple of places he wanted to scope out for work reasons, as he always does. But since we had the time, no big deal. But from what I could tell, while there were hints of what you commonly think of when you think of Texas, it was more big urban city than anything else.
When we finally head to Austin, we jump on I-10, and the urban sprawl that was Houston quickly diminished to ranches and not much else. Just large, expansive, dry land. Not dry as in desert, but dry as in it doesn't see much rain. And it got even more expansive when we got off the interstate (Unless you want to go out of your way through San Antonio, there's no direct link between Austin and Houston via interstate). it was crazy to drive for over two hours without seeing so much as a gas station, let alone a real town. Which is why we made a stop when we did see one... because we just didn't know! Of course, not long after that stop we did come to an actual, apparent town, Bastrop. But we didn't stop again (though there will be more in Bastrop later).
We finally get into downtown Austin, right at check-in time at our hotel. So we checked in and then decided to explore a little. We scoped out a few areas to walk to, and started our little jaunt. We didn't get far before we saw a bikeshare station, and I noted it was the same brand as the one in Indy ('B-Cycle' - this, too, will likely be another blog on it's own sometime). That's when Eric told me he thought we could use our membership here (and others of the same brand). So we gave it a shot, and sure enough, we had bikes at our disposal. Well, this should make exploring a little more fun! So we checked out the map and, sure enough, there was another station near where we wanted to go.
So our first spot to check out was a little area recommended by my old boss, who was just in Austin about a month earlier. He couldn't remember what it was called, but we quickly learned it was known as 'Rainey Street' and it was just as cool of an area as he described. And it must have had quite the appeal because they were, literally, wrapping up the filming of a move there, as we saw them packing up trucks with Universal Studios branded on the door. For the most part, Rainey St. is little cottage type homes tucked between the interstate, the convention center, a creek, and the Colorado River, that have been converted (for the most part) to little restaurants and/or bars. And there's a permanent food truck area with a stage at the south end of it. There's live music in the evenings, and that was just starting to get underway.
We found an actual 'new build' bar that appealed to Eric called 'The Container Bar' because it was built from... yup, shipping containers. It was actually pretty damn cool. So we grabbed a drink and explored the individual 'rooms/containers' throughout the bar.After we finished out drink, we got back on a bike and headed towards the river, where there was a trail along the waterfront. There was a bit of a buffer of trees/brush between us and the river, but we weren't anywhere near a road, as it was actually below the road, elevation wise. So we road along it until we thought we were near the City Hall, where we jumped back to the surface streets and found another station to park the bikes. Then we walked through the 2nd Street District, which I guess is their revived downtown shopping district. There were some cool shops through here... but we were just window shopping.
At this point, we were getting hungry. We started to head to a dive burger joint that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives some time ago, but quickly learned it was located in the heart of the festivities of the Austin Bike Rally that was going on. No bueno. So we skipped out and ended up at the extreme opposite end of the dining experience, The Capital Grille. We justified it by saying it was our anniversary dinner... so, it was good.
Saturday we woke up and decided to do some exploring by car. Again, Eric had his list of places to check out for work research, so we had to head out of downtown to do that. Again, we had the time, so why not. We actually found a pretty cool shared maker space, which, if you don't know what that is, you're not alone. Picture a workshop that has every machine available for your use, from 3-D printers, to industrial sewing machines, to waterjet cutting machine. And you pay a monthly membership fee (like a gym) to have access to all of it. Pretty neat idea if you're a start-up company.
Anyway... after we were done with that exploration, we found a new In-n-Out Burger that had just opened and decided to grab lunch there. It was good... though not sure why it gets hyped so much. It's still just a burger.We got back to the hotel and still had some time to spare before we had to get ready for the wedding. So we hopped back on some bikes and rode up to the State Capital Building, We had driven past it earlier, and it was really a pretty building, not to mention the campus around it. And, to our surprise, not only was the campus open, but so was the building, itself.
It was as beautiful inside as it was outside, and the detail was amazing! Worth the bike ride up there.Finally, it was time for the wedding. The details will be in the next blog, but we'll just leave it at the fact that it was a beautiful evening.
Sunday morning, we slept in a bit before packing up to head out. We had to drive back to Houston, but again, we had a lot of time to spare. We thought about doing brunch in Austin, but thought it was best to get on the road. We decided the one town we passed through on Friday, Bastrop, would be a good stop for brunch and found a place online that had good reviews. It was called Maxine's on Main and it was SO good!
Their griddle cakes hung over the edges of the plat, and I don't know what the batter recipe was, but it was perfect! Definitely filled out tummies for the rest of the trip.Which, since we had until nearly 6pm before we had to be at the airport, we decided to drive past Houston and explore Galveston a bit. Now, I have to be honest... we got there, and were a little disappointed. We've bother been spoiled with FL beaches, and, naturally, we went all the way to the beached because we figured that's where it was nice. It is NOT nice. The road is literally on a seawall that was built in the early 1900's and there's not much beach along the wall. The other side of the road was pretty nasty looking commercial developments. So as we turned back at the northern tip of the island, we noticed the cruise ship port, and decided to check out that side of the island.
As we cut across the island, that is when we discovered the nice part of Galveston... a lot of historic, 'Coastal Colonial' style (is that a thing??) houses, and even a little downtown shopping district. it was pretty cool. Unfortunately, at this point, we didn't have time to look around too much.So back to Houston it was, to catch our flight. It was really the first time for both of us to really explore any of Texas. And even though we only got to see a little piece of it, I can understand the appeal. Houston it that big city with everything you need. Austin is that smaller city with a cool vibe about it, making it the trendy place for the younger professionals. And if you just want land and a big truck, well, that's everywhere in between. I'd go back. But maybe when it's a little cooler.
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