Eating Our Way Through Austin

Hello all and welcome back! We have now been in Austin for almost 3 weeks with 3 more weeks to go.  When we first arrived, the weather was quite warm and humid.  Our first weekend here was in the 70’s and beautiful.  Unfortunately, that did not last but a couple of days.  We had another heat wave that lasted until just this past Wednesday.  We were warned that this is not unusual.  Of course, I was not happy at all that I was in shorts and flip flops in Oct. For those of you who have known me for a long time, know that I LOVE Fall and everything about it.  This has been a tough time for me.  Yes, I’m complaining about the weather, AGAIN.  It seems the heat has followed us for the last 4 months.  We have been on the road 4 months, today, as you are reading this!  Finally, the weather has broken!  It is in the 70’s and just beautiful.  We have learned to keep a better eye out to try and follow that 70 degree beautiful weather next year.  I know, good luck with that!  Next year our plans are to be in New England from the middle of August to Oct 15^th, so we’ll be able to see the New England fall.  Yes… I am starting to set our 2022 schedule NOW.

Anyway, back to our time here in Texas! We have had the best time in Austin, regardless of the weather.  Katie is a fantastic tour guide!  With so much to do and see here, it’s hard to pick where to start. That said, let’s begin with the restaurants!  I love food from different cultures.  If you have been following me for a long time on FB, then you know when my mom was alive, every week when we went to lunch it was sushi, Chinese, Thai or Vietnamese with some Mexican thrown in on occasion.  The second day we arrived in Austin; we went to Katie’s favorite Vietnamese place to have Pho.  I was in heaven! On top of that, she has also introduced us to her favorite taco places.  Queso is a HUGE thing here.  Who Knew?  Yes, we had to try it and, of course, it’s delicious.  Thank goodness I have been walking every day and biking.  The last few days I have been cooking as this is beyond overwhelming with all the great restaurants. 

Our nephew, Mikey and his friend Sean, were in town this past weekend for the Formula 1 race.  How fun that we were able to spend time with them!  Having both my niece and nephew near us at the same time was beyond awesome.  We met them for BBQ this past Monday at Terry Blacks BBQ. To say this was one of the best BBQ we have had is an understatement.  Another fun fact about ourselves;  Jerry and I are official KCBS (Kansas City BBQ Society) judges.  We are certified and have judged in a few competitions before COVID hit.  (We are excited to start judging again in 2022!) Needless to say, we know a thing or two about BBQ, and this was off the charts! 

Terry Blacks is a definite MUST if you visit Austin.  The line is around the corner and then some.  But, it goes fast and it is so worth it.  We arrived 20 min after they opened (10:30 am) and the line was not too bad.  When we left I was shocked how long it was!  It was a blast being there with Mikey and Sean!  We ate so much that neither of us ate again until Tuesday late morning.  It was that good! 

Eating is not all we have done (though I doubt you’ll believe us).  We have visited some very cool areas in between our amazing meals!  The Domain, South of Congress, and the Bee Cave, where we just happened to arrive in time for a free concert by Mickey and the Motor Cars.  The concert was put on by Austin City Lights Radio Station.  They were awesome!  Live music is a big part of Austin.  We have a list of the different “Honky Tonks” that is a must while we are here.  We also hit the Broken Spoke for two stepping lessons!  More about that in our next VLOG so make sure you’re subscribed to our YouTube Channel!

Katie and some of her friends came to the campground to get a tour of the RV and to spend last Sunday carving pumpkins and just hanging out.  It was a fun and relaxing day.  It was so fun giving the tour of the RV to her friends and seeing their faces when they entered our “home”. Seeing the jaws drop is something I don’t think will ever get old!

While you are reading this, we are visiting Jerry’s relatives in Hallettsville, TX.  It’s a 2-hour drive from Austin.  We left our RV at the campground and are staying until Monday.   Lot’s more about that adventure as well in next week’s blog.  Just a hint…we will have attended a REAL FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS HIGHSCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME.  They take their football very seriously here. 

That’s the fun part of this lifestyle.  We are able to visit friends and family we have not seen in years.  Jerry is so excited to be able to see his family that he hasn’t seen in over 20 – 40 years.  Jerry was born in Edna, TX.  Both of his parents had 10 – 11 siblings.  Many have passed on which makes it so important to him to be able to see the family that is left while we are here.  We probably would not have been able to if we were not living this lifestyle.    

We have much more to do while in Texas.  Now that the weather has changed, we will be doing much more touristy things.  Can’t wait to share them with you.

Hope you all have a wonderful Halloween

Just One More….restaurant (too many to count and not enough time ha ha)