Artsy Austin

Austin was a fun city!  We arrived on a Sunday and stayed for a week.  We stayed at McKinney State Park just outside of the city and once we arrived we set up camp and then took off to explore.  We had our bike rack clips on hold at REI and wanted to get a feel for the city before our work week started. It was rainy that night though, so mostly we just did some errands and spent a good few hours in a book store called Book People.  It's always great when we find a good bookstore because we leave with a new list of things to check out at the library on their nooks.  It is so cool that they can check out books through their nook just like they were at home.  Thank you Jordan!!

We did a lot in Austin and most days after we finished school work we headed into town.  Stopped by the visitors center to mix their info with the internet info and picked our top things.
We knew that Austin was known for it's music scene and while it was gonna be difficult to catch a big show the visitor's center lady said a great family friendly place to catch a show was at the central Market.  We didn't know until we arrived that Central Market is a grocery store similar to Whole Foods, but with a full cafe/restaurant area.  At the beginning of the week we went to the south Lamar location and the music was really good.

At the end of the evening at Central Market

 Later in the week we went to the north Lamar location and that was awesome because the music was very good, it was at an outside cafe area, the market was there to get any food you wanted, a kids playground, and the weather was excellent.  Very nice evening.

One afternoon we made a brief stop to a section of Lady Bird Lake, which is a large lake that has a 10 mile run/walk loop inside the city.  On an evening after work hours the trail was full with exercisers of all kinds.  The city has a fun, hip kind of feel and the music scene is apparent.  It seemed like cool place to live.





One of the places recommended to us was Amy's Ice Cream shop (more ice cream:)), so we made a stop one day and tried it out.  There were only about 8 options and several of those included alcohol the girls found a few delicious selections.



Our Philly museum membership got us into the Thinkery kids museum in Northeast Austin and the girls had a great time there.  Lots of kids to run around with outside in the play area and a great selection of science activities inside.  Any time the girls are having fun is a good thing.  I alway learn so much in those places too.
There was a nature center that we visited a different day in Austin as well, but it was rainy and the day the inside area was not that great. The lady at the front did tell me that the outside exhibits were the best.  We did find a jar of "Pensacola Beach Sand" inside so that was cool.

We had a nice dinner at Chuy's one night.  Mexican food with awesome salsa!  Fun place with nice atmosphere.





And last but not least the state park where we stayed had a great bike trail that circled the park.  It was a nice long ride that challenged the girls, but not so much that they started whining.  It was a nice place to stay.  I will say though that if we return to Austin I would like to try the RV park right in the center of town.  There was so much going in Austin it would be fun to be right in the middle of it all.