I'm typing this the day we flew home from our Austin girls trip. We took early flights home which meant a 3:30 alarm so I am bleary eyed, dehydrated, and still relishing in what a great three days it was.
First off. Way to go Austin! What a cool city you are! So clean, with so many great restaurants beckoning you in with bowls of queso, artwork you want to take pictures in front of on every corner, so many shops and walking trails. The city feels healthy and vibrant and fun and easily accessible. Below is a run down on where we stayed, what we did and what we loved.
Where We Stayed
We stayed at The Line Austin hotel along the river on the outer edge of downtown on South Congress. It ended up being a perfect location. The only uber taken on our entire trip was to the airport because so many things were within walking distance. Not only was hotel gorgeous with multiple fireplaces going all hours of the day and night, it felt cool in a grownup way. Like if West Elm and Anthropologie had a baby and it was a hotel. Our beds were really comfy, our view was of the capitol downtown, they had great toiletries in the bathroom and always obliged our requests and questions. The coffee shop onsite is the real deal and happy hour at their P6 restaurant was a highlight of our trip. More on that below... We weren't too sad the famous Congress Bridge bats, right outside our doors, were away for the winter, but it sounds like it is a spectacle to see.
Our room at The Line and the seriously fabulous P6!
What We Did
First off we're crazy and like to do our girls trips during the week, so we were there Monday-Thursday in late January. The Girl's Trip Gods really smiled upon us because it had been cold and rainy, but during our trip it was upper 60s and even low 70s for highs. Coming from Idaho and Minneapolis that was a real treat!
Day 1:
My step sister picked us up from the airport (another real treat) and we didn't eff around and headed straight to Torchy's. Torchy's Tacos is an Austin staple and is known for their queso (it really was the best we had on our entire trip and we had a lot of cheese dip) and a lot of great tacos, but everyone kept telling us we had to get the fried avocado taco, which did not disappoint. Torchy's started as a beloved food truck and now is a beloved chain and was honestly one of my favorite meals of the entire trip. Sounds like you can't go wrong with anything on their menu.
Torchy's!!
After checking into our hotel, a massage and freshening up, we beelined to happy hour at our hotel. It used to be a parking garage, hence it's name, but now has been reinvented to an intimate lounge with open air dining and drinks and lovely views of Lady Bird Lake which shined extra as we sipped another glass of Sauvignon Blanc and watched the sky put on a real show stopping sunset. It really was the stuff Girl's Trip dreams are made of. You meet up with your bestie you see once a year, sit down to talk face-to-face in the most gorgeous outdoor setting with a breeze and a sunset and seemingly bottomless glasses of crisp wine. Perfect way to start out the trip. We decided we wouldn't miss happy hour there the rest of the trip (spoiler alert, we never made it back).
The evolution of the P6 happy hour.
It was obviously time for dinner to soak up some of that lovely wine. Because it was Monday night we basically had our pick of any of the well rated restaurants right there in downtown. We settled on North Italia a few blocks away in the 2nd Street District. We felt totally safe walking there and back on our own and the food was KILLER! We shared the beef carpaccio with grilled bread and their house bolognese with a big glass of red. I'm talking the type of meal you wake up still thinking about and still think about it days later. Again, great food and drink, cool atmosphere and the most fulfilling conversation. Dreamy.
The Beef Carpaccio with grilled bread at North Italia was to die for!
That is how we planned to end Day 1, but on our stroll back to The Line, we were beckoned in for one last nightcap at of all places, a BBQ restaurant. Lambert's was just so enticing from the outside and we weren't anywhere near done with our night one conversation. After a long, lingering chat we walked back to our hotel, walking by so many other restaurants and bars that we promised to go back to during our time in Austin, but unfortunately, never made it to. What we did find was a spot to pick up sparkling waters and head back to our room.
My very watered down, to my liking, Old Fashioned at Lambert's.
Day 2:
First we Hurkle Durkled a little too much (if you haven't heard of Hurkle Durkle, it's a Scottish term that means lying in bed when you should be up and about). We did all the girlie things in our robes- talking about what make-up we're using, what cream we use for this or that part of our body, how jeans fit differently in our 40s, you name it. When we finally got ourselves together we grabbed a coffee from Alfred Coffee, the in-house coffee shop at The Line, and headed across Congress Bridge to spend the day shopping and dining at South Congress.
Let's do this Day 2!!
This was such an awesome day spent popping in and out of all kinds of shops, clothing, home goods, southern and western, art shops, you name it! We weren't crazy about our lunch at Guero's Taco Bar, where we had a disappointing first Texas margarita, but that was the only disappointing thing about our day. It was almost seven when we put a stop to our shopping and decided it was time to give that margarita another try at the highly recommended from multiple people, Joann's Fine Foods. It is Tex-Mex and craft cocktails in a lively diner atmosphere. We weren't sure what we wanted, but found out happy hour was still rocking for 30 minutes, so when the waiter mentioned $5 margaritas and something called "Hash Brown Nachos", decisions were made quickly. The nachos hit the spot, but were big enough we didn't want to order a full meal after that, but none of the other appetizers were drawing us in, so you know what we did? Ordered up another plate of Hash Brown Nachos and another round of margs and that was dinner! We loved it!
Mid-afternoon Shiner stop and Hash Brown Nachos and Margs at Joann's
We walked back across the Congress Bridge that is famous for its bats (again, kind of thankful they were currently migrating) toward the downtown city lights and our hotel. We surprised ourselves by opting for a night gabbing in our jams in our hotel room over checking out the honky tonks, but I guess that is what 44 looks like. Wouldn't have changed a thing.
Day 3:
We were up and at 'em, not hungover and ready to hit the ground running for our last day. First stop was another Austin staple just a couple of blocks away at Jo's for coffees and to split a delicious breakfast sandwich. It was a perfect place to chat an hour away while the morning chill passed.
We then hit a few shops along the 2nd Street District the highlight being United Apparel Liquidators. This shop sells discount designer clothing and accessories and was a blast just to look through all the racks, but we had fun trying on and buying some unexpected winners. We continued down 2nd Street until we hopped over to the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail along Lady Bird Lake (a dammed section of the Colorado River).
We strolled a couple of miles, peeling layers off as we went, until we made it to Barton Springs. We had been hoping to reward ourselves for all of our very adult behavior with an outdoor wine oasis at Barton Springs, but instead found an awesome place to go for a swim or lounge a sunny day away. We sat on the riverbed and chatted until we knew we had to go in search of what else...more Tex Mex.
Barton Springs!
We walked a short distance to Chuy's on Barton Springs Road. We had heard you absolutely must order the Fried Chuychanga with Boom Boom Sauce, but per usual, we're drawn into starting with some chips and dips. The chips and salsa alone had our hearts, as did the bartender who we nicknamed the "Redeemer" after he finally built us the margarita we'd flown to Texas to have. The "Redeemer" also brought us some Boom Boom sauce to have with our chips which was wonderful (although this Midwest girl did prefer their regular queso because Boom Boom was a little spicy) but no question the show stealer was the Jalapeno Ranch. It was that awesome runny restaurant ranch with just enough jalapeno flavor and kick to keep it interesting. I ate my weight in chips and dips, again, not ordering any real food, just margaritas and chips and dips. A thing of girl trip beauty. As we left, "The Redeemer", along with the rest of the bar, told us that if we really were in search of the best margarita in Austin then we had to go to El Alma down the street. Enough said.
Chuy's with the redeeming margarita and beloved jalapeno ranch!!
We headed in search of El Alma, but made a pit stop along the way at Barton Springs Saloon. It was so nice out and clinking a couple Shiner Bocks on that patio on a Wednesday afternoon was a definite highlight of our trip.
Yes- it was fun.
We continued our impromptu bar hop down Barton Springs Road finding El Alma and can now concur, that is a real deal margarita and their rooftop patio was lovely!
El Alma for rooftop margs!
Final stop was at III Forks for their oyster happy hour and a crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
III Forks happy hour was legit.
At this point we knew we needed some real food. Surprisingly it was tough to find a restaurant that we could get into on a Wednesday night downtown. We got on a few waitlists and let fate decide and we actually ended up back at North Italia, which neither of us were sad about. We basically shared the same meal, switching up the pasta and sans wine since we had early flights in the morning.
View from our room at The Line
(Do you see the Capitol?)
We were back in our hotel and getting bags packed and alarms set (for 3:30am) by 9pm that night. Sad it was already over, but so happy that it happened.
One other thing really worth mentioning. The main souvenir I kept meaning to buy and somehow flew home without was Palo Santo Sticks. These things are EVERYWHERE in Austin! Not just in candle shops and spas but in every clothing or art shop, you name it. They even had it in our hotel room and when I called to ask them about it they sent up matches and encouraged us to light it. Let me say that again, our hotel sent up matches and told us to light things in our room. How weird is that?! They smell like an amazing spa or yoga studio and the palo santo wood is believed to release purifying properties when burned and clear negative energy from your space. We did burn one in our room and at first thought the scent wasn't very strong, until we left the room and came back in and loved the way our room smelled! That's when I decided I for sure wanted to bring some home and then somehow never saw them again after that to purchase. Boo. Next trip.
Update! My local Austin friend shared with me her favorite Palo Santo sticks on Amazon. I've ordered them and them and you can too! Have your home smelling like a serene yoga studio or spa!
