Okay, this is a long one...The first weekend in December Randy and I took a much needed long weekend and made a road trip to Austin. Some place warmer than Kansas that we had been wanting to explore. And our babymoon. It was worth every second, and we'd both highly recommend Austin as a great location for a weekend getaway!
We're Food Network junkies, so before we got on the road, we checked out the restaurants that the foodies recommended in Austin and basically planned our trip that way. Yum.
First on the list - Magnolia Cafe from Drive-in, Diners, & Dives (and no I can't say that three times fast). They're known for their pancakes, but we went at lunch and their special of the day enchiladas are yummy too.
Then it was off for an afternoon of exploring the fun, funky shops on South Congress. Everything from wierd consignment to Justin boots and Mexican folk art.
That night we ate at Shady Grove, thank you Rachel Ray. This time we did try the dish they're known for - tortilla fried queso catfish. Yum. We got lost, which proves that even a Garmin isn't
always right (thanks, Dad, for letting us test your Christmas gift before you opened it!), but the place was well worth it.And later...Opera Cake from the best Whole Foods. As much as we like good food and cake, neither of us are big eaters. So we split meals, and on vacation we find the grocery store with the best bakery selection for a treat later in the evening. Whole Foods is the best at this, especially the Austin store. I won't tell you how many times we stopped by that store in three days.
Friday morning we started out with our favorite place of the weekend - 1886 Cafe & Bakery, downtown. This is one of those places you go for breakfast or lunch if you want to save your pennies. We had the best sausage and egg croisant and Ginger Snap Pancakes. So. Good. I have got to try to recreate that recipe. The pancakes were basic fluffy pancakes with blueberries sandwiched between them, crushed ginger snaps and powdered sugar on top and a vanilla maple syrup. I'm not normally a sugar person in the morning, but these were so very good! If anyone has a recipe for vanilla maple syrup, let me know!
After breakfast we took off west of Austin and went exploring around Lake Tyler. We hiked a 
trail and drove through the hills. Austin has some awesome, HUGE agaves...we wanted to bring some home, but I think the Kansas cold would have killed it this last week.
We had a great afternoon taking the backroads through the hill country. I'm sure it's gorgeous in the spring and summer, but even in December the area is really beautiful!
We ended our adventure at the Salt Lick in Driftwood (that's a great name for a Texas town!), recommended by three different foodies on Food Network, and by far my favorite bbq! When you walk in, you see a huge open pit and huge jars of pickles and jalepenos. Their sauce is vinegar based and so good. We bought a bottle of the sauce. I wish we could have bought the pickles.
The Salt Lick was our favorite, but was rivaled by County Line BBQ back in Austin. We had dinner there Saturday night and got there just in time to enjoy the amazing view of the sunset across the hills. This was the only place we went to that wasn't from Food Network, but I just saw that Road Tasted has been there. So I guess we picked a winner.
And to finish our food tour of Austin we headed back to Whole Foods for a decadent dessert called the Truffle Bomb. Randy needs to figure out how to make this one! It's a chocolate dome filled with a thin layer of cake and velvety chocolate mousse. Oh my.
And no, our trip wasn't all about food. We also checked out plants at a nursery and explored the Zilker Botanical Gardens. We did a little baby shopping where the store owner tried to convince us we need the B.O.B stroller (not unless someone wants to buy it for us!). And we checked out the trails in Zilker park that go right by downtown Austin.
It was a very fun trip. And so good to get away and explore. We'll head back to Austin when it's warmer...and Itty Bitty's a little older. Okay, it might be awhile before we attempt a nine-hour drive, but we'll definitely head back.
trail and drove through the hills. Austin has some awesome, HUGE agaves...we wanted to bring some home, but I think the Kansas cold would have killed it this last week.We had a great afternoon taking the backroads through the hill country. I'm sure it's gorgeous in the spring and summer, but even in December the area is really beautiful!
We ended our adventure at the Salt Lick in Driftwood (that's a great name for a Texas town!), recommended by three different foodies on Food Network, and by far my favorite bbq! When you walk in, you see a huge open pit and huge jars of pickles and jalepenos. Their sauce is vinegar based and so good. We bought a bottle of the sauce. I wish we could have bought the pickles.
The Salt Lick was our favorite, but was rivaled by County Line BBQ back in Austin. We had dinner there Saturday night and got there just in time to enjoy the amazing view of the sunset across the hills. This was the only place we went to that wasn't from Food Network, but I just saw that Road Tasted has been there. So I guess we picked a winner.
And to finish our food tour of Austin we headed back to Whole Foods for a decadent dessert called the Truffle Bomb. Randy needs to figure out how to make this one! It's a chocolate dome filled with a thin layer of cake and velvety chocolate mousse. Oh my.
And no, our trip wasn't all about food. We also checked out plants at a nursery and explored the Zilker Botanical Gardens. We did a little baby shopping where the store owner tried to convince us we need the B.O.B stroller (not unless someone wants to buy it for us!). And we checked out the trails in Zilker park that go right by downtown Austin.
It was a very fun trip. And so good to get away and explore. We'll head back to Austin when it's warmer...and Itty Bitty's a little older. Okay, it might be awhile before we attempt a nine-hour drive, but we'll definitely head back.
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