5 Days in Austin, Texas
After Arizona, we drove 6 hours to El Paso to break up the long drive to Austin. We went through our first border checkpoint (even though we didn’t actually cross the border, we were just close to it) and it was simpler than we expected because they just asked if everyone in our vehicle was a U.S. citizen.
We only stayed in El Paso for the night but made the most of it because we found a line dancing bar not too far away from our Airbnb. I was admittedly intimidated at first, but once they started playing some songs that we knew the dances to, I felt more comfortable and it was fun as always. We didn’t stay the whole time since we wanted to rest before another nine hours of driving—the longest single stretch of driving we have planned for this whole trip.
Day 1: Drive to Austin
The drive from El Paso to Austin is around 9 hours so we were in for a full day of being in the car. We stayed with family in Austin and arrived at their house around 4:30pm. We were starving so we decided to go to Terry Black’s BBQ for dinner, but not before stopping by South Congress for Keon to shop for—you might have guessed it—cowboy boots!
We went to Allens Boots, where I had gotten my pair on a separate trip, and it seemed like heaven for him.
I’ll tell you what Allens is like if you haven’t been yet. You can smell leather as soon as you come within a few feet of the store. Once you step inside, you see aisles upon aisles of open inventory of cowboy boots, all organized by size. There’s also clothing, accessories, a hat shop, and a complimentary beverage station inside for those who fancy some tequila or beer while shopping.
If it’s your first time shopping for boots, working with a sales associate is the way to go. The ones here are not pushy at all and are very helpful in terms of explaining the different materials, styles, and other nuances that help inform you as you find the pair that works best for you. Keon didn’t walk out with a pair this time, but there was a pair that he loved after trying multiple on.
We went to Terry Black’s BBQ after and it was delicious. It’s a fast moving line and a somewhat chaotic ordering experience, but you’re guided along the way and the menu items are pretty straightforward. We tried the brisket, sausage, burnt ends, and a bunch of sides and all were truly great.
Day 2: Hanging Around
The nice thing about staying with family or friends is you’re naturally able to do more “normal” things like sleep in, work out, do laundry, and watch TV. That’s exactly what we did for the next couple of days, with some other activities sprinkled in.
Our first full day in Austin was filled with a bunch of random things. We tried getting BBQ at Leroy & Lewis before going to watch Keon’s cousin’s jiu-jitsu match, but the line was insanely long and not moving quickly. After waiting for about half an hour with no progress, we bailed and went to grab P. Terry’s.
We’d heard that P. Terry’s could give In-n-Out a run for its money and that stood true in our experience. The burger was just as good and it had more shake flavors, but In-n-Out’s fries are better (I only like In-n-Out fries well done/extra crispy, so regular fry to regular fry they might actually taste the same). Scarfed it all down in the car and we made it to the jiu-jitsu match just in time!
After the match we tried getting Leroy & Lewis again. This time the line was much shorter but still moving slowly. After waiting for 20 minutes or so, we heard that a bunch of items were sold out since it was later in the day. Turns out everything we planned on ordering was sold out so we left once again. Such a bummer since we were really looking forward to trying it.
Keon had been looking at cowboy boots online for the past 12+ hours and kept thinking about the boots he found at Allens Boots, so we went back to get them. The rest of the day was spent at the neighborhood pool, eating pizza from Via 313, and watching “What We Do in the Shadows”.
Day 3: Taco Tour and Barton Springs
We had an idea of doing a “taco tour” and trying one taco at multiple spots and ranking them. We mapped out a route and went to the following places:
Granny’s Tacos - this ended up being everyone’s favorite over the course of 2 days
We originally had 6 places on our list but turns out these tacos are pretty large and we could only stomach 3 places. So we called it a day and headed to Barton Springs to cool off.
Barton Springs Pool is an outdoor public pool fed with spring water and attracts both locals and tourists. Be prepared to wait in a line to enter. Once we were in, we found an empty spot fairly quickly to put down our stuff. The water was nice and cool, though the rock surface at the bottom of the pool was really slippery and took some time to get used to.
There’s a diving board that seems to be the main attraction, people getting scolded at by lifeguards, and Instagram husbands directing photoshoots. It’s fantastic people watching.
Day 4: Taco Tour (cont.), Rainey St, Dirty 6th
It felt incomplete only going to half of the taco spots on our list so we continued it today. We continued the tour with Las Trancas and Gabriela’s Downtown. Granny’s Tacos from the day before was still our favorite and I’d recommend going there for some good pastor, soft corn tortillas, and yummy salsas!
We ended the evening exploring and grabbing drinks on Rainey St and in Dirty 6th.
Day 5: Chill
Our last day in Austin was nice and relaxing. We had a slow but productive morning and had Bird Bird Biscuit for lunch, which was certainly a Top 3 Austin meal for me this trip. We did go out to watch Asteroid City at Alamo Drafthouse, but then came back to do laundry and get our stuff ready to leave the next morning.
All in all, Austin was really fun and we’re glad to have had some sense of normalcy for a few days before heading back on the road. We ate a ton of good food but also got in a workout almost every day. It was the balance that we needed.