March Stop: Austin, TX (SPECIAL EDITION)

Yee-freaking-haw! I wish I had been able to get a cowgirl hat and some boots, but the boutique thrifting in Austin is a little too pricey for my nomadic budget at the moment.

Besides the point, March in ATX was everything we could’ve asked for and more. We got to see friends and family, have new experiences, try all kinds of things, and enjoy ATX as much as we could. We even got a chance to fit in other trips to Waco, Dallas, and California. You all know how Connor and I pack our months full, well this month was a doozy.

And you might be wondering why I put “special edition”. Well March 11 was a very special day last year, one that requires recognizing an anniversary for. I’ll explain more when we get to that point in this post’s story, in the meantime, I will let the suspense build just a little.

After unpacking, I got a lot of our friend and family plans on the calendar. My old company is headquartered in Austin, so I of course wanted to meet up with my old coworkers and superiors to catch up!

I love and miss them so much, it was amazing to get coffee together. I’m glad we could all fit the chat into our busy schedules.

Later in the month, I was able to hang out with another coworker for quality time. She had an upcoming wedding, so I’m stoked she made time for me with everything going on. Hugging them all was the best!

Going straight into the first weekend was the Waco trip to see Connor’s sister. It was a blast of course! We went to cute cafes, took a tour of Baylor University, visited her apartment, and got to go to Magnolia. Baylor was a cute university, and I had no idea they had an enclosure for live black bears on the property. It is literally next to the student union, so crazy! Magnolia and the Silos were a big deal for me because I loved watching Chip and Joanna’s home renovation show as I grew up. From when I started watching them to now, their empire has grown an insane amount which is really cool to witness. Regardless, the boutiques, mini baseball field, market, and church on their property were all delightful. It felt like a mini Magnolia world. I smiled the whole time, loving the experience.

What was even better was getting to see Connor’s sister the following day too! We didn’t stay in Waco overnight, but her and her friends came to Austin for a fun, city day.

Connor and I grabbed coffee from the iconic Cosmic cafe on Pickle while we waited for the girls to arrive. Once they made it and we settled them in, we went out to lunch at Ranch 616. The interior is a cooky, old diner with a strong Western theme, and their food was very yummy. After that, we hit South Congress for fun shopping and people watching.

South Congress is always fun when I visit Austin because there are tons of boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops, and events going on. This day was no different with tons of pop-up, vintage vendors out on the streets and tons of people out and about enjoying the sunny day.

We grabbed coffee and entered the scene. Once we had our fill of cute shops and funky live music, we drove over to Rainey Street to grab drinks and enjoy the patios. Tons of people were out for South by Southwest so the energy was buzzing. These festival events went on for a chunk of March, and even though the congestion can frustrate the locals, it is so fun to be walking around with the festival pop ups everywhere. We ate at a pretty sushi place nearby before crashing and calling it a night.

The girls and I had to be up early in the morning to drop them off at the airport. I’m glad they were able to come and stay with us though. We had a ton of fun!

Now I can let you in on March 11. For those of you who have been following this journey from the beginning, congratulations! You have been staying up to date on our travels for a full year! I cannot believe this day came honestly. I mean of course, time passes, but when we started this adventure, the year mark was nowhere in sight. We had month after month of new places and experiences ahead of us. We had Denver, Crested Butte, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Chicago, New York, Maine, Maryland, South Carolina, Boston, and Arkansas! All before we would hit our one year in Austin, TX! Do you see what I mean, can you believe it? It still blows my mind thinking back on it all. It feels like lifetimes ago when I stood on top of the Empire State building, or shredded down slopes in Colorado, or took a ferry to Vancouver Island.

The me that hopped in my car day one is not the me that hopped out of my car in Austin. I’ve changed and grown in ways I never expected, and Connor has done so right alongside me. Him and I have been becoming the best versions of ourselves this past year, and I’m excited to continue that moving forward. For those of you who are hearing about this year anniversary of our travels for the first time, no biggie! I have blog posts detailing each month of it if you scroll back through my blog page. I hope you enjoy the craziness, we definitely have!

We hit a year of travel! Happy anniversary of our nomadic lifestyle, we have loved it so much. Good thing we still have five more months left! Coming up, we have Arizona, Utah, San Diego and Chico. Lots still to come so I hope you stick around for the rest of the journey! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get here.

Now, back to our Austin stay. I’m still training for my half marathon, so at least twice a week I was going on runs in the parks around our place. Lady Bird Lake trail is a major trail with tons of foot traffic on it, so that was always really enjoyable to run on. It’s full of other athletes, dogs, walking buddies and more. It’s location and accessibility makes it a huge hit as it travels along the banks of the Colorado River. Running with a view helps make it way more fun and beautiful. I only ran in one rainy day, there rest were bright and sunny. My favorite park was Pease Park. It is nowhere near as big as Zilker Park where the Lady Bird Trail loops around, but I loved the energy there. The park was filled with kids playing basketball, couples on dates, old people meeting for coffee, birthday parties, reading to school kids, people working out and more. It felt so welcoming, and like everyone wanted to be there to enjoy the pretty oak trees and safe space. There were courts, playgrounds, tables, and fields for people to use, but I ran along the tail loop that goes around the park and down the banks of Shoal Creek. Apparently, that trail actually connects to the Lady Bird trail too! I wasn’t that ambitious, but the signs said it was only about 1.5 miles away which would’ve been doable if I had been more knowledgable about the area. All in all, my runs were very pretty and full of other runners which is encouraging. It was the first month where I didn’t run in the snow at all!

ATX does not have a lack of coffee shops, that’s for sure. You could probably throw a rock and hit one from most places in the city. We tried to go to as many as we could because they are all so cute! We like to work from coffee shops on Fridays and then try to get multiple drinks from various cafes over the weekends. If only there were more gaps in the middle of our weeks to add even more places into our calendar. So, if you are a hard core coffee fan, ATX has you covered with hundreds of shops to try.

We got a super fun surprise this month when one of Connor’s best friends flew out to stay with us for a week! We absolutely loved having him, and it had been a full year since he stayed with us last in Denver. He’s a huge fan of Texas, and took us around to some of the best barbecue we’ve ever had. That included Terry Black’s of course. Their brisket was incredible, 10/10 for all of their food and sides. We found a spot that was new to all of us called Kemuri Tatsu-Ya. If you live in Austin and have not gone, this place is a must. If I lived there, it would be the place I recommended to everybody and I would be a frequent diner there. It is Japanese barbecue with a speakeasy vibe. Their shareable food and cocktails were so delicious, and the atmosphere of the place was so great. Make sure to check it out! My favorite food was the brisket there as well, but they had the best edamame I’ve ever had too. What a pleasant surprise!

Another perfect surprise was getting to see one of my best friends too! She was in town for other business, but we got to meet up for sushi at Lucky Robot. I got to meet some of her friends, and our two groups joined up to have a fun night out. Summer House on Music Lane was a laid back spot for cocktails right across a highly ranked speakeasy called the Equipment Room. I really only got to see her that one night, but I’m so happy plans worked out for us to see each other!

While Connor’s friend was in town, we made sure to do the classic Austin activities as well. We enjoyed drinks on 6th Street, saw the bats fly out from under the bridge, went thrifting, and saw comedy shows. I already mentioned Terry Black’s and Kemuri Tatsu-Ya, but some other honorable food mentions would definitely be Mattie’s for breakfast, it’s an adorable remodeled 19th-century home with tasty food and my favorite cocktail of the trip, and the other is Este, a quirky blend of seafood and Mexican food.

For those who live in Austin or have visited, they all know how massive the food and bar scene is. There were at least five places on my list that I was dying to try, but couldn’t fit into the packed schedule. I love how many options there are, and many of them are operating at very high levels. It makes for such fun exploring. Big shoutout to Austin’s food and bar scene, it rocks!

The comedy shows we went to were awesome. Connor and I went to one on our own at Aviator Nation, and we laughed through the whole show. The clothing store had a super cool stage set up in the back for bands and performers. I have never gone to a comedy show in the back of a retail store, but what a fun, unique experience!

The other comedy show we went to was at the Comedy Mothership which was exciting because it is a famous comedy club in Austin. I can’t believe we all got to go, and our seats were perfect! We saw some amazing comics that night, and I would definitely recommend going for any comedy lovers out there.

As for my journalism work this month, I was busy busy. I know it seems like all I do is get up to all these fun things, but it’s all balanced with work and health as well. I went to the Texas farmers market at Bell on one of our Sundays to do some investigating.

I had been hitting some walls with my online research, so I wanted to go to the farmers market to feel inspired and get ideas about the local agriculture. I found two awesome article ideas right away.

One was a mushroom farm right in the heart of Austin! Hi-Fi Mycology grows hundreds of mushrooms for the food scene out of a warehouse. I hear the cooling bill can get quite high. I loved visiting their facility and learning more about mycology.

I also came across a gluten-free bakery at the market that sources local agriculture products.

I was quite intrigued as a gluten-free person to learn more about the baker’s practices and passions when it came to their business and local ingredients.

Hopefully both of the articles can be printed this year! As always, all of my pending articles are in the Project section of this website if you are curious.

I’m super lucky that I got to see two of my other best friends while I was in Texas, as well as the rest of the loved ones I’ve mentioned in this post.

One of my besties lives in Austin, and she made time to see me in between her busy schedule! We went out to coffee to catch up and then brunch a week later to hang out.

It was so fun getting to see each other, I really miss seeing her all the time in Tucson.

She is so amazing. The brunch spot, Paper Boy, that she showed me was fire too.

My other bestie lives in Dallas, so I took a weekend to travel to her. We had classic slumber party fun! We literally just sat and caught up for hours.

I miss her so much, getting to be with her in person was so awesome. The homemade breakfast tacos were the bomb.

With such a full month, how could we fit in any more? Well, what about squeezing in a NorCal wedding over the course of 24 hours?

It was crazy, but worth every second. One of my close friends got married to the love of her life on March 28, and I’m over the moon that I got to be there for such a special event.

The couple was so happy, and I loved getting to give them as many hugs as I could and dancing all night long. Getting time with her family was a huge bonus too.

I love her, and like I said, I’m so happy and excited for their future life together. The wedding was just an amazing piece of it.

Side quest, but in that short 24 hours we flew to NorCal for, Connor and I got to see my god-family! Seeing my god-parents and god-sister lit up my world. I love them so much, and even the quick visits were worth the special hugs.

And if you thought that airline travel was crazy, wait until you hear this. So, we left Austin at 4am on Friday to go to Norcal for the wedding that evening. We flew back to Austin Saturday morning, and arrived home at 10pm. Then we packed until 1am, woke up on Sunday at 6am, and started our drive from Austin to Tucson.

The kicker?

The drive was 14 hours long. So all that to say, we were exhausted and completely tanked by the time we made it to Tucson Sunday night.

Regardless, we made it! And March in Austin was filled with special people and memories.

Happy one year of travel, keep following along for more!

Princess Update:

Unfortunately, Princess still struggled with her health this month. It’s tricky because the vets aren’t exactly sure what’s going on so we are still dong ongoing tests to see what will help. The 14-hour drive was also tough on her, causing a scary panic attack. I know how hard it is on her, so I’m never upset with her behavior on these long drives. Yes, we do try to drug her to make it easier for her, but I haven’t found anything that has worked yet. Even medically prescribed drugs haven’t worked, so please know we aren’t purposely making her suffer more. Other than that though, during the months she is still a very happy, active kitty who absolutely loves her sun bathing.