My friend Gatlin and I are from Nashville, TN and we both love to travel to new cities. I’m a photographer and Gatlin is a musician, so it’s the perfect travel duo. When we both made a list of the cities we were dying to visit, Austin was at the top of both of our lists. So Gatlin booked a house show in Austin the next week, and before we knew it we were on our way to Texas—the land of Tex-Mex and ten-gallon hats. We spent from Thursday to Sunday in the city, and packed in a bunch of adventures (and also plenty of food).
We got into Austin at 10 in the morning, and we were HUNGRY. So we grabbed Meaghan’s Land Rover Range Rover Sport, and then headed straight to a cafe that heard was a must. Magnolia Cafe did not disappoint. Our first stop gave us a pretty accurate feel of the city. The people were friendly, very authentic and original. We chowed down on some enchiladas and then decided to shop around on South Congress Street.
We were quite impressed by the wide variety of shops in the South Congress Street area. There was everything from street vendors and vintage shops to high-end stores. From there we drove around downtown and stopped at a few coffee shops to keep ourselves adequately caffeinated.
Next we decided to try something new and turn off our GPS and take roads and turns as we pleased. This led us into the Barton Spring area of Austin, where we were happily surprised by the amount of adorable food trucks and restaurants lining the street.
To end off our day we headed to Waterloo Records because we had heard it was great place for live music in the evening, and it did not disappoint. It was filled with more records than I have ever seen. It was started in the 80s and I am sure that some of the records may have been from that time as well. It was one of Buzzfeed’s best record stores in the world so as record enthusiasts we were in heaven.
The next morning we headed to some parks because the weather was nice and warm for November. We heard that Zilker park was a must-see so we started there. Since Gatlin had a show that evening she practiced while we were at the park. We only got a few strange looks from other park-goers ;)
After our escapades at the park it was time to fuel up again and tacos seemed like the perfect lunch. Austin is known for tacos and we were told by many of our friends that Torchy’s tacos was the BEST. Also, even the apartments in Austin seemed to have a special sort of character!
Next on our list of must-see’s was the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin. Museums aren’t always at the top of my list, but they had an exhibit I was dying to see on photography. The entryway of this museum was absolutely stunning with mostly white design, and popping orange and blue accents.
Saturday morning we ended up back at South Congress Street because we loved the atmosphere there. We ate breakfast at Cafe No Se, and it was my favorite of the restaurants we visited. Although, the Cupcake food truck was also very adorable. Our afternoon was spent on Rainy Street where they have so many adorable bars and restaurants.
To end out our trip we ate at Jacoby’s. We got there before it opened because we heard it fills up with reservations. In the back of the restaurant we found an adorable outdoor setup with chairs and couches made of sticks. The uniqueness and originality of the space felt authentic to Austin and the creativity that is alive there. The back setup overlooked the river, so a we ate our BBQ as the sun set.
