Maybe I like Texas! Our weekend trip to Austin.

Life just got a little more fun. :)

So as you know, Ryan had his check ride last Wednesday. This means that the first portion of the San Antonio school is done, which also means I get my husband back! No more studying every waking hour that he's in class.

Since we set foot in Texas, we've been dreaming of taking a weekend trip to Austin. Ryan used to travel here a lot for his job at Raytheon, and has always talked about taking me there. I now see why he knew I'd love it so.

It is most definitely the most fit city I've seen! So many running trails, biking, paddle boarding, and just fun! Great food. Great music. It's my kind of city.

I could probably write about book professing my love-at-first-sight I experienced this weekend. But I'll spare "y'all", and do my best breaking it down.

Friday:

• It was Ryan's 1st half day off in a since June 14, so I didn't allow us to make any itinerary. It was all about spontaneous fun!
• We checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency. Ryan picked this one, because he knew I'd be in heaven. It was right on the Colorado River, which has proably the most popular running trail in downtown Austin! Below is a view from our room!
• We grabbed our books, some hydration (it was HOT HOT HOT outside), and headed straight to the pool for a little R and R!
• For dinner that night we hit a mix of places. First stop was Ten Oak, a Bourbon bar. Ryan is a big fan of bourbon, so this one was for him. I was not let down - our bartender urged we order the "nachos", which came loaded with Bourbon BBQ Pulled Pork. Melted in your mouth! Next stop was a sushi bar, and we just ordered 2 pieces of sashimi. I am embarrassed to say I don't remember the name of the restaurant. But it was good!
• We then we took a nice stroll back to our hotel. We made sure to stop at the bridge on Congress to check out the bats! (The bridge has hundreds of bats that fly at night. It's pretty cool!)
• This may sound a little pathetic, but we were tired and in bed by about 9:30 Friday night! But, we did have an active day planned for Saturday.

 
View from our hotel room! We didn't even close our window shades at night, we couldn't close off this view. It was awesome!
 



Bourbon BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos. Ridiculously good. Had fresh jalepenos, cilantro, roma tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. Yum.
 

 
The view from Congress Avenue (where the bats can be seen). It was really quite a majestic view!
 
 

Saturday:

 

• We kicked the day off at about 7 am with a run along the Colorado River. There is a gravel running path that follows this area. I have never seen so many runners! It was amazing. The scenery isn't bad, either! It really didn't feel too hot to run in, either, since most of it is shaded by trees!
• Next up, we showered up, and headed to Austin Java -- Ryan had breakfast tacos, and I had some granola & fresh fruit. We both enjoyed Americano's and some reading time! It was relaxing and blissful.
• We walked back to our hotel, because we needed some "water time" - the temps were starting to rise to the 100's. We rented paddleboards and spent about 2 hours paddleboarding the river. Sadly, there are more weeds than desired - but once you get past that, it is so fun. I absolutely adore paddleboarding. If we lived somewhere that had bodies of water, we'd totally invest in 2!
• After the paddleboarding, our bodies needed more R & R from all that running and rowing! So we enjoyed pina coladas by the pool.
• One of Ryan's friend's from this program was in Austin this week with this wife, so we hit up a bar for a pre-dinner cocktail. We enjoyed one of 5th Street's many "rooftop bars"
• Then Ryan and I headed to Eddie V's for dinner with Heidi and Chris, (Heidi is one of my sister Lisa's best friends). We had such a great evening with them! And the food was amazing. I had this ridiculously delicious sushi-grade Ahi Tuna. We shared Blackberry Cobbler for dessert. It was so comforting and fun to see familiar faces for a change!! :)

This was the view from the running path! I could have run for hours....

 

Happy face, enjoying a refreshing pina-colada!

Rooftop Bar photo!

 

 

Sunday:

• Sunday was time to head back to San Antonio. (So weird that SA is "home" right now)
• After I had my run, and Ryan worked out at the hotel gym we built up appetites....We hit up brunch at Annie's, a French inspired bistro that is so charming. Everything looked so good that we couldn't decide what to order. So Ryan ordered eggs benedict and I ordered an omelet - we then shared our entrees. Delicious!
• Last Stop: We then walked to the Texas State Capitol. I highly recommend people to check this out. The building is so impressive - and the landscape is beautiful!

 

Overall, it was a wonderful and much-needed weekend together! It was fun to see Ryan relaxed again! We definitely want to return to Austin maybe during the Spring or fall again when the weather is cooler. I love this city!