Texas Getaway

Chocolate Texas style at the Whole Foods flagship in Austin.

     Last weekend my husband and I went on a weekend trip to Austin, Texas. It was to give us a break from the winter and it worked!
     There was wonderful nightlife just steps from our funky motel, the Austin Motel, and music everywhere you turned. We ate dinner while sitting outside and enjoyed the reasonably warm temperatures. Anything would feel warm after the freezing weather we've been having in Chicago!

Under the suggestive sign is written, "So close yet so far out." That about sums it up.

South Congress at night.

Neon everywhere.

    

Fabulous open air music while waiting for a table at Guerro's. (It was wonderful, by the way.)

My wonderful husband with our dessert cupcakes from one of the many food trailers. They were all over Austin and we ate at three different trailers. The food was all very good.

     We rented bikes for the weekend to be able to get around more freely and these were the beach cruisers they gave us. Review? The dutch bike wins in every category I can think of. In particular, I discovered I dislike coaster brakes with a passion. What am I, seven? This bike may look cool, but if it's a drag to ride, who cares? 

Riding around Lady Bird Lake.

    

We spotted turtles everywhere.

      Then we rode over to the Whole Foods flagship.  Many years ago, when I was a young artist in training, I worked at the Whole Foods in Chicago, in the now defunct North Avenue location. I'd thought that was big, but the Austin flagship is enormous.

There were several restaurants within the store and this pulled pork and root beer were fabulous.

There was even a cake bar, although we were both too full after the pulled pork to partake.

A fully tricked out bike repair station, with tools and air, were just outside the entrance. I've never seen anything like it!

      The following day we rode our bikes on an adventurous trip to the Sundragon karate dojo, an affiliate of the Seido Karate school that we are members of. Riding on the sidewalk is legal in Austin, (except around the capitol building) and a good thing, too, because traffic was fierce.
     It was a great class and we went out for burgers afterwards with a couple of the Sundragon karate-ka. Hopefully we'll get to train together again, because they were super nice!

Senpai K.J., Laura, myself and my husband.

        When we got back to our hotel, I spent some quality time sitting by the pool, reading.

The constant turtle theme.

      We were outdoors as much as possible, as the weather was lovely. Dinner out, sitting by the pool out, and riding bikes out. The only down side is that we forgot what sun could do to you and we both came home with sunburnt faces. Ahh, but it feels good to be burnt! Now the trick is to get back into the winter lifestyle...