Austin 2/11-2/13/12

Chicken & Waffles at Moonshine

Downtown sits peacefully just 15 minutes from AUS airport. Brian picked me up from Houston after my flight and we decided on Moonshine for lunch. It's the second oldest building in downtown and a comfortable place to dine. I recommend the indoors table by the window . The restaurant is quiet enough to have a conversation without shouting, even when at full capacity. Good sound absorption walls, I guess. I had the chicken and waffle appetizer, a filling delicious meal at just $9! I had to sit there for a while to finish my entire plate but those were the best waffles I've ever had- fluffy and moist without growing stale or rubbery. The cornbread was also impressively well made. We parked at the convention center ($5) and it's just a 1.5-block walk to Moonshine.

We checked into the Super 8 North of the University where we got a $59/night rate. After resting for a bit, our friend Erin picked us up for dinner at Trudy's. This restaurant is a Tex-Mex with a clientele of mostly undergrads. It's loud, lively and probably a good place to get you hammered if you like Margaritas. They serve a drink called the Mexican Margarita that's supposed to be incredibly potent. It was probably the coldest nights of the year while we were in Austin. Being out in 38-degree weather limited our options while we were visiting, but we did end up going to Spider with Erin after dinner.

Spider is a coffee house that serves beer. Austin has many establishments like this. You go in and decide then and there whether you will have coffee or beer that night and you can count on it tasting good. We got ourselves a few craft beers and chatted the night away. The decorum of Spider is welcoming. It has the same brick-and-woods-interior as Moonshine. Very relaxing.

Austin Day 2

Barton Springs Pool - panorama

Started the day with a visit to Barton Springs Pool. It's an impressive 1,000ft pool fed by springs and the water is always at an average of 68 degrees year-round. There were a couple of people swimming and Brian would have too if it wasn't so cold outside. In fact, snowflakes started falling during our pool visit! This cold weather means hot soup is in order. What better place to get it at other than the first ever Whole Foods grocery store. The flagship Whole Foods in Austin on Lombard was the place where I came to notice how nice the people of Austin are!

The Hilton Garden Inn hotel is located conveniently near 6th Street, which is where the nightlife happens in downtown Austin. It was too cold to partake in being outside at night, but the outdoors jacuzzi was perfectly hot paired with the chipper air. I was able to get a great rate for the hotel via Priceline ($75 for a Sunday night). Here's a tip if you are able to get metered parking in front of the hotel : street parking is free on the weekend and if you are parking overnight onto Monday, you can put in money (via credit card) the night before and it will automatically start counting at 8am Monday morning. I was not fortunate enough to see this and made a 7:50am trip to the meter on Monday morning.