A Day In Austin

 We fell in love with Austin. We had a sunny, warm, breezy day for exploring. We found it to be a very friendly, laid back city. Just our style! Since the dog is with us this trip, we made sure all of our stops were canine friendly. Luckily there's not a lack of pet friendly activities in this city! We began our day at the State Capital grounds.

From the Capital grounds, we went on an art mural tour in the south Congress area. It was such an eclectic neighborhood.

No trip to Austin is complete without a walk through Zilker Park. We walked along part of the Barton Greenbelt trail and Zeus got to play with sooo many dogs.

We had walked several miles at that point and everyone was "absolutely starving," despite eating a bizarre amount of protein bars. Go figure. So, we went to lunch at El Arroyo, or as I told the minis, "the place with the famous signs." The patios are dog friendly, so we sat on the cool, shaded patio and ate a wonderful lunch. This was the first time the minis ate in a restaurant since February of 2020! To say they were thrilled is an understatement! All of the servers and staff are fully masked, menus are online only, and the tables are spaced out well. We felt very comfortable on this patio. Plus, you can't really go wrong with a mid-day margarita.

My daughter requested to take friends on "this really fun bike thing" for her birthday. She's taking about the beer bike. Also, she's nine. When I explained it to her, she shrugged her shoulders and told me, "maybe they can switch it to root beer just for me."

The food was excellent! The green chili chicken chimichanga was probably the star of the show. Even the plain and simple cheese quesadilla was flavorful.

With our bellies full, we decided our next adventure should put us into swimming suits (someone didn't think that one through!). We hiked to a local swimming hole, Twin Falls, in Austin. The trail was wonderful! If it wasn't the end of our day, we could have easily hiked several miles of this trail (all part of the Barton Greenbelt). However, we spent a good amount of time swimming in the falls. It was the perfect way to cool down on a warm day. The middle mini was freezing, but I thought the water felt wonderful! 

This was one happy pup. Not only did he get to swim with his kids, but there were also other puppies there he got to swim with! Mom wasn't planning on getting soaked, but a kid and dog needed help at the falls, so in I went!

One of them wasn't happy he decided not to put his swim trunks on. The other one was ticked that mom made him get out of the water because he was tired.

There was a lot more exploring we could have done, but everyone, dog included, was ready for a rest at the Airbnb. So we packed up, hiked back, and had a night of homeschool. It really was a great day! I was surprised at the amount of traffic around Austin, but it wasn't too difficult to navigate (thanks GPS). We kept Sunday open, so we may have more adventures in Austin. The minis have already asked when we can come back to Austin to visit...and we haven't even left yet!