24 Hours in Austin

Saturday morning I drove up to Austin, and I came back yesterday afternoon. It was a quick, but amazing, 24 hours. A week or so prior I texted one of my very best friends asking if she was free this past weekend (she recently moved back to Austin and I hadn’t yet been able to visit), and she was, and so I went!

The first stop on my whirlwind trip to Austin (aside from Hruska’s while en route, of course, where I saw TONS of rust, or as it’s actually called..burnt orange. It was game day apparently!) was Upper Crust Bakery and Cafe. YUM. I’ve been on a major avocado kick (I used to not like it…what the what?!) so I had a delicious turkey sandwich with avocado, and it was just so fresh and delicious. And then Lindsay and I had to split one of their famous cinnamon rolls. And these are not your normal sticky gooey cinnamon rolls (not that I have anything wrong with those!), but it is more like a popover cinnamon roll. It was heaven. That’s all I can say.

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Followed by lunch, we went to The Austin Winery with some other girls. For some reason Lindsay and I had this idea in mind that it would be a California-esque winery full of rolling hills and endless rows of grapes growing. Not the case. Still a fun little activity with some delicious wine (my personal favorite was the white blend). They also have good size pours! Always a plus.

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Followed by wine drinking, we stopped off at a cute little area that I can’t remember the name of! I do remember one of the stores we popped into was called Adelante. Very cute things. I definitely recommend! I didn’t get anything, as I was far too lazy to try anything on (I think the wine got to me?!), but next time I’m in Austin I’m certainly going back. And they had a fun little stationery section, which I clearly LOVED, given my addiction.

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We then went to go see Lindsay’s sister and her 2 kids (the most precious little nuggets!!) at Juice Land. OMG. Vegan ice cream?! It might just be my new favorite thing. When I was told they had vegan ice cream (from Sweet Ritual), I was like, ok cool, probably not going to get that. HOWEVER, I did get it, and let me tell you, it was BEYOND scrumptious. I got chocolate with this incredible caramel sauce on top. It was fantastic. WOW. YUM YUM YUM.

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After all that wine, food, and sweets, we went back to Lindsay’s apartment to relax before the evening. Her hubby, Jason, made us appetizers and served us drinks. #husbandoftheyear. So we snacked on cheese, cheese, and more cheese, and bird’s nests (I think I ate enough food for 2 full weeks during my 24 hour trip). We then got ready for dinner and headed out.

The 3 of us went to Sway (which I’ll get to in a minute, because it was definitely one of the best meals I’ve ever had), which had a bit of a wait. So, we put our name down and did such an Austin thing (or so I thought)! The restaurant was near the South Austin Trailer Park & Eatery, so we went to one of the food trucks over there or near there that had meatballs (my favorite!!) and we got a meatball appetizer, which was DELISH. However, they didn’t sell wine (the horror!!!), so we popped into a convenient store nearby, bought some boxed wine and grabbed some cups, and drank our wine. #classy

 

The cornerstone in the South Austin Trailer Park Eatery is the legendary taco truck, Torchy's. They feature over 14 types of tacos. The Trailer Park itself has a handful of food truck options (Torchy's, Man Eat Dog, Holy Cacao) and much welcome shade trees, fans, picnic tables and lawn chairs. (Be forewarned - the parking is limited, and First St is heavily trafficked.)  "Best Road Trip Ever!" http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/best-road-trip-ever!/id374940747?mt=8

And THEN it was off to Sway. Holy crap was it good. I’m still dreaming about (and salivating over) the beef fried rice. WOW. Every single thing was more delicious than the last thing they brought out. What a meal. I HIGHLY recommend. Unfortunately, we were far too full afterwards or I would have totally gotten frozen hot chocolate, which was at a food truck down the street.

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After dinner we debated going out, and by debated I mean we considered it for about .5 seconds. However, we did scope out the scenes as Jason drove us through all the hot spots (Rainey Street, etc.). Best way to go out, am I right or am I right?! And then it was bedtime.

Sunday morning we woke up and Lindsay and I walked to brunch at Walton’s Fancy and Staple (which is Sandra Bullock’s concept). Such a neat little spot. I absolutely loved it (and the breakfast tacos were DIVINE). From there we walked back then went to South Congress Street to walk around with Lindsay’s mama! I always love South Congress. Such a cool area. We went into all the usual suspects, such as By George. We browsed and walked and browsed some more.

We then went back, I got my things together and hit the road. It was a very quick, but such a great trip. I had been to Austin multiple times before, but I tried all new things and went to many new (to me) places this time, which was so fun. I can’t wait to go back again soon. Austin is definitely one of my favorite cities. There are so many different pockets with so many unique spots. Thank you, Linds and Jason for being the best hosts ever!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

 

Images: Upper Crust via Tastemade.com, Winery via AustinFoodBloggers.org, Juice Land via EatPure.Blogspot.com, Trailer Park & Eatery via BestRoadTripEver.com, Sway via Austin360

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