Adios Austin

Austin was a blast. I honestly can’t recall what we did to fill up our days, but they seemed to fly by. As mentioned in my last blog, the Pecan Grove RV Park was in a great, walkable area of South Austin – we were just steps away from restaurants, parks and walking paths. Our first morning we slept in and had a lazy start. As we were taking Sadie for a morning walk, we met a friendly, interesting couple from Michigan who have lived at the park for 11-years. Both he and his wife work from home – mostly in the back of their trailer (weather permitting). The RV park has quite a few long-time residents who have formed an eclectic community that was fun to enjoy during our stay. With no real destination in mind, we walked down Barton Springs Road and found the Biscuits and Groovy food truck that our waiter told us about the night before. Fester ordered the “Aretha” which included buttermilk biscuits, gravy, sausage, bacon, Colby cheese, pepper, chives and jalapenos. I enjoyed a biscuit with their homemade bourbon peach jam, and ended up helping Fester finish his meal because there was so much food. Fester bought a jar of their carrot cake jam. I have a feeling we’re going to eat our way thru Austin.

Right next door to Biscuits and Groovy is the Great Outdogs Store, which was like an REI for pets. We enjoyed walking around the store, looking at all the stuff you could spend money on. We had been talking about getting Sadie some boots for the desert – to protect her feet from the hot sand, as well as burs and cactus. She’s slowly getting used to boots on her front feet – but seems a bit embarrassed by the whole ordeal.

From behind our campground, we have access to the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike trail, via a park and dog park (Austin loves their dogs). This 10-mile, all purpose trail runs along Lady Bird Lake and circles Austin. Even in December there are a number of people on the lake kayaking or paddle boarding. The trail is well used and a lot of fun seeing people out enjoying life. While we never walked the entire 10-miles, we have gotten on and off the trail at various locations throughout Austin.

We enjoyed watching early morning lap swimmers at Barton Springs Pool , part of the 358 acres that are Zilker Park. The pool is amazing and measures about three acres in size and is fed from underground springs. With the average temperature of 68-70 degrees, brave souls can swim all year round.

Austin is known for its music and sadly, we never took the opportunity to enjoy a live performance (probably because we go to bed before the action starts). We have parked and walked throughout downtown Austin, admiring street art and contemporary architecture (buildings are going up all over the place). We enjoyed the funky shops on Rainey Street and the action on Congress Street, and we admired the homes on the Bremond Block Historic District, which is a collection of eleven historic homes in downtown Austin, constructed from the 1850s to 1910. We enjoyed our Austin visit and may come back this way this winter.