Explore Austin Texas

Austin, Texas is a vibrant city known for its live music scene, outdoor activities, cultural attractions, and delicious food. It is also home to the University of Texas, one of the largest schools in the USA, South by Southwest, an annual set of film, interactive media, and music festivals. Home to Formula 1 races at Circuit of the Americas.  

Austin Street Art, above “Greetings from Austin” 1720 S. First Street, Austin

Here are some popular things to do in Austin:

1. Live Music and Entertainment: Sixth Street: Known as the "Live Music Capital of the World," Sixth Street offers a variety of bars, clubs, and live music venues featuring a diverse range of genres.

ACL Live at The Moody Theater: A popular music venue that hosts concerts, performances, and tapings of the Austin City Limits TV show.

The Continental Club: A historic music venue featuring live music, including blues, rock, and country.

2. Outdoor Activities:

Boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake

Lady Bird Lake: Enjoy kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding, or simply take a stroll along the scenic hike-and-bike trail around Lady Bird Lake.

Zilker Park: A large urban park offering picnic areas, Barton Springs Pool (a natural spring-fed swimming pool), and various recreational facilities.

Mount Bonnell: Climb the stairs to the top for panoramic views of the city and Lake Austin.

3. Cultural Attractions:

Bullock Texas State History Museum: Learn about the history of Texas through interactive exhibits, artifacts, and immersive displays.

The Blanton Museum of Art: Explore a wide range of art collections from various periods and cultures.

Texas State Capitol: Take a guided tour of the state's impressive capitol building and learn about Texas history and government.

Texas State Capital

4. Food and Dining:

Food Trucks: Austin is known for its food truck scene, offering a wide range of cuisines from tacos to gourmet doughnuts

Franklin Barbecue: Famous for its mouthwatering barbecue, be prepared to wait in line for this culinary experience.

South Congress Avenue: Explore eclectic shops and dine in trendy restaurants along this bustling street.

Home Slice Pizza on Congress Ave

5. Outdoor Markets:

Austin Farmers' Market: Visit local farmers' markets to find fresh produce, artisanal goods, and handmade crafts.

Hope Outdoor Gallery: An outdoor graffiti park where artists create colorful murals and visitors can admire the artwork.

6. Natural Springs:

Barton Springs Pool: A natural spring-fed pool in Zilker Park that offers a refreshing swim year-round.

Hamilton Pool Preserve: A stunning natural pool formed by a collapsed grotto, surrounded by lush vegetation and a waterfall.

7. Nightlife and Entertainment:

Rainey Street: A trendy area with bungalow-style bars and food trucks, offering a unique nightlife experience.

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Enjoy movies, food, and drinks in a fun and interactive movie theater setting.

University of Texas Austin

Questions or Comments?

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Weekend Trip to Rockport Texas

 

Earlier this year in 2023 did a family weekend trip to Rockport Texas, a 3 and a half hour trip from Austin Texas.

Stay - Stayed at Quality Inn for $70 a night, the motel is right on the beach.

Things to do 

Fulton Mansion

Fulton Mansion - A mile down the road from my Motel, beautiful historic home,  There is a Visitors Center across from The Fulton Mansion with a small museum about the house and the family who built it. This is where you buy admission tickets Price is $7, and they also have a gift shop.

The Beach

Went for a walk along the beach, didn't swim as it was cold.

Other attractions are Texas Maritime Museum , Rockport Art Center and Goose Island State park.

Victoria Texas 

On the way back to Austin, stopped at a beautiful Town of Victoria, as the name suggests there are beautiful Victorian houses with street Signs indicating where to turn. Didn't take pictures of houses as these are actual residents where people live.

Did however take a photo of the Victoria Court house

Do comment and share this post, Thanks!

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Cadillac Ranch Amarillo Texas

In October of 2021 took a road trip from Hutto which is a suburb of Austin Texas to Albuquerque New Mexico, its a 12 hour drive and took an over night break in Amarillo Texas. With stopping for Gasoline it took about 8 hours to get to Amarillo.

Stay: Got a last minute deal for a motel with 2 queen size beds for around U$D 80 on booking.com which included breakfast.

No visit to Cadillac ranch is complete without visiting the 2nd Amendment Texas Cowboy statue (Picture on left) its 5 minutes away from the Ranch.

Map below of my drive

Got to Amarillo at about 7 PM and headed straight to the Cadillac Ranch. Check the video below for details.

Next day I stopped at route 66 visitors center, after which I left for Albuquerque New Mexico to see the International Balloon Fiesta.

Do share my Video of the Cadillac Ranch on social media.

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McDonald Observatory Texas

McDonald Observatory was a Stop on my way from Austin Texas to Big Bend National Park, Stayed over night at a campground in Marfa Texas which was less than hours drive from the Observatory.

McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas. The observatory is part of the University of Texas at Austin and is located 450 miles west of the university. with infrequent cloud cover the Observatory is home to some of the darkest skies in the United States of America.

McDonald Observatory, the name has nothing to do with McDonald fast food chain. It was a different McDonald that provided the initial funding. Observatory is open to daily Tours, got there at 10:30 AM and bought my tickets for the tour which started at 11AM.

 Frank N. Bash Visitors Center at McDonald Observatory 

Was there in December, Winter is generally the best time for stargazing. Winter air is less humid, where as summers have extra moisture and can reduce the clarity of the night skies.

Davis Mountains, West Texas

Mount Fowlkes, Davis Mountains, West Texas

Harlan J. Smith Telescope

Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) is one of the world's largest optical telescopes

Star Parties are held every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evening.

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Viva la Vida 2016 Austin Texas

Viva la Vida 2016 Festival and Parade Austin Texas

Viva la Vida is a festival and parade celebrating the Day of the Dead also known as Dia de los Muertos a holiday celebrated in Mexico each year to remember family members who have died, and offer prayers their spiritual journey. Its held near Halloween in October end or beginning November. This year 2016 the Parade was on Saturday the 29th October.

Location and Route: The parade Started on 5th street between I35 Northbound Frontage Road and Waller, and traveled west on 6th street to the festival location at 4th and Congress in Downtown Austin.




I got there early to take pictures before the parade stated, camera was a Sony NEX 3

The parade was very colorful and inline with traditional, contemporary, and keeping Austin weird.

The Parade had bands and singers, Aztec and Matachine Dancers

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Big Bend National Park Texas

United States of America is beautiful, the National Parks, the river, mountains and the oceans. There are beautiful Cities with man made structures, every now and then one wants to get away from all the craziness of the cities and be in nature.

If there is one must see place in Texas, and an even greater reason for a Texas road trip, it is Big Bend National Park.

Big Bend National Park is the only park in the United States that has an entire mountain range, The Chisos Mountain

Big Bend National Park is about 6 hours west of Austin Texas, I rented a car, to my surprise the rental place upgraded me to a Jeep Compass, in the ruggedness of the mountains and going off the beaten path, the Jeep did well.


To visit the Park you will need to be driving, or have some one drive you, the park is over 800,000 acres. The park is big, then again everything is big in Texas for example Dallas Fort-worth Airport is larger than the island of Manhattan.

I visited in December 2015, not very cold, during day time, nights do get cold. Went from McDonald Observatory on highway 118 to Big Bend, it was a scenic drive, though very brown landscape as it does not rain much there.


The drives in the park are very scenic, have your camera ready.


Stay - I stayed at the Chisos Mountains Lodge, from the park entrance its about 25 miles to the lodge, there are several camp sites in the park also.

Important: drive the speed the Speed limit or lower than the Speed limit, as you never know what to expect at all the twist and turn mountain roads.







Walking Trail near the lodge, there are wild animals in the Park, harmless though.

List of hikes you can do can be found at the link below

http://www.nps.gov/bibe/planyourvisit/mountain_hikes.htm

Rio Grande Village

Located on the banks of the Rio Grande River, there is Mexico on the other side of the river. There are several Camp sites and hiking trails. There is a Visitors Center with all kinds of info on walking hiking trails. I hiked in the Boquillas Canyon.



Rio Grande Village is about 30 minute drive from Chisos Lodge.




Border Crossing from Big Bend Park to Boquillas  Mexico

Yes possible and I did it, you will need your passport. 



There is a boat driver that will charge you to cross the river into Mexico, I was only there to take photos and headed back, as living in Central Texas, have visited other border towns in the past. I also saw some people crossing the river on Horses.

For more info checkout National park Services link below
http://www.nps.gov/bibe/index.htm







Questions or Comments? 

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Marfa Texas Visit

Visited Marfa Texas famous for its Mystery lights in December 2015. Marfa is about 6 hours drive from Austin Texas and was a stop on my way to McDonalds Observatory  and onward to Big Bend National Park.

When driving to West Texas, fill up petrol at every chance you get, as You could go hundred miles without a gas station

Evening in Marfa Picture on the right. Marfa does have amazing sunsets

Marfa lights - Lots of stories, the most popular of them being its Extraterrestrial and then there is the story of spirits of Apache people. There is also highway near Chinati Mountains close to where the lights are seen. I didn't see any lights and a worker at a camp site I stayed the night at told me they had lived in Marfa for 3 years and had not seen any lights. There was another person that said they had seen the lights, there are videos on youtube with people seeing the lights, my point is don't be disappointed if you go all the way to see the light and hoping to run into Extraterrestrial beings or UFO and it does not happen.

Picture above is Marfa Lights viewing center, when driving to Marfa, its about 8 miles before the city, on highway 90. There are free viewing scopes, and its basically barren land as far as the eye can see with hills in the background, its somewhere close to the hills where lights have been seen.

The landscape is beautiful, though brown, it does not looks like it had not rained in a while.


I stayed the night at a campsite El Cosmico, that already had tents, it was a cold December night and the beds in the tents had heated pads, which made all the difference and you'll be able to get a good night Sleep.

El Cosmico camp grounds, Marfa Texas, Marfa is famous for it's extraterrestrial lights #marfa #texas #extraterrestrial #camping #teepee #travel #photography

A photo posted by Arvin (@arvintravels) on Jan 12, 2017 at 9:07am PST

Picture of TP at the campsite, I stayed at a regular tent.

Next morning after a  great cup of coffee, took off to see the Prada Store, its 35 miles east of Marfa

Marfa City Hall, surprised by the beautiful building, they get a lot of tourist pass through their town



Beautiful building, they had it lit up during the night for Christmas.



Prada Marfa, it was a 70 mile round trip, as I was headed to McDonalds observatory after Marfa. With low gas prices at the time of writing this, I was okay with the drive.


More info on Prada Marfa at the link below

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prada_Marfa

The 20 minutes I was there only 2 cars passed by on highway 90, Not a busy highway, well this what Prada in Texas looks like.

The Prada exhibit, the best word that comes to the mind is exhibit, it was vandalized in the past, during my visit it looked restored back, there were some shoes and purses in there.

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Lake Travis Ballooning Austin

Central Texas Ballooning Association at their annual Lake Travis flight at sunrise, Saturday the August 8th 2015 at Mansfield Dam Park, Great little park to walk around and have a picnic, you can even swim off one of the Docks.

I got there before 7 AM, The Ballooning event was crowded and parking was an issue, still managed to get a few good Pictures.

Went for a walk along the Park to get a picture of the Sunrise.

MY camera is Sony NEX-3

The Balloon above and the picture below represents the Lone Star and Colors of the State of Texas Flag.

Below are some other Balloons ready for take off.

Check out Central Texas Balloon Associations Web Site for info on their Events
http://centraltexasballooning.org/

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