Austin trip

Hey folks ,

I’m taking my daughter , her friend and my gf to Austin in Oct . Looking for recommendations for a real Texas steak house . First time there so I want to do it right lol .
F1+Sting +Eminem+ Texas Bbq = Can’t wait !!!

Any suggestions for others things to do would be appreciated . We have a couple extra days so wouldn’t mind checking out something interesting .

Cheers from the North

 

You’ll have a blast here. How old are the kiddos? That would change a lot of my recommendations lol

 

Ummmm .................... oh, never mind.

 

Anywhere in the hill country is great. Austin is just a big city. Go to the outskirts. Llano or Lockhart has great bbq. Franklin’s is good but overrated given the wait for it. Fredricksburg has great wine. Gruene Hall is awesome but a drive. Enchanted rock is fun. Of course there is hidden falls off road park in marble falls and then you can go to the famous blue Bonnet cafe for food.

 

Barton Springs. It's a TX tradition and it's damn sure hot enough to take a dip.



Probably still be hot enough in Oct...

 

October is usually 80’s but I think they close it once fall officially starts.

 

Steiner Ranch Steak House is pretty top notch. Also, check who is playing at the Austin City Limits Moody Theater. It has to be one of the greatest indoor venues in the states. Not a bad seat in the house.

 

Thanks for all the suggestions !

Daughter and her friend are 24 so not much we can’t do lol.

Liking the idea of the Steiner ranch house and a maybe a show after . I’ll check into moody theatre , thanks !

 

I'm from California and just came back from visiting my bro in Texas. Not Austin but he took us to the Stockyards in Fort Worth(among other places), that was great. We ate at a BBQ spot, I think it was called Riskys. Not sure if it's a chain. There was a BBQ spot that we hit in Aberline, that was also really good!

Also be sure to visit a Buc-ees! I was blown away at how amazing that place was. Be sure to check out the bathroom!

 

Ok , I’ll check out Buc-ees ! At my age ,, I’ll Prolly have to check out the bathroom anyway lol

 

The just opened up the biggest on in the country at Luling - 75000 square feet or something like that.

Depending on what you are into, a visit to the Hill Country, west of Austin is always pretty cool. Hamilton Pool is an awesome spot if it has good water flow.

Tell us what y'all are into and we can probably point you in the right direction. Austin City Limits is pretty damn cool though. If you end up going, the trick is to park across the street at the city hall underground garage. It's the cheapest parking in the area. You basically pay them $10, park, take an elevator up to ground level and walk across the street to ACL.

 

Holy shit ,75000 sq ft ? I had to Google it lol. That’s crazy ! We won’t be doing much shopping but that place look crazy . Might have to go for the beaver nuggets LOL


I was hoping to take them to a wild Go cart track ( track at COTA will be closed that weekend I’m guessing ) , have some real Texas BBQ , check out some history etc etc . Not a lot of time to kill between race weekend and the concerts but it will be nice to have a bucket list of things to do . Really appreciate the help !!


Montreal last year . She’s kinda fond of him and can’t wait to see him driving for Red Bull lol.

 

Our state Capitol building is pretty damn cool and it's worth a tour... The damn thing is bigger than it looks because it's underground also. Across the street from there is the Bob Bullock museum if you are into history. There's an Imax in there too.

If you have time, you should cruise down to San Antonio and check out the Alamo (it's not as big as you think but that's mostly because they developed most of it - most of Texas was awarded to the settlers and that included property that held a lot of the old Spanish forts and shit.

The world famous river walk is right across the street from it. The Menger Hotel is right across the street from the Alamo. Teddy Roosevelt formed the Rough Riders in the hotels bar (I think I have that right). It's worth a night there if you want to explore the area a bit and the hotel is supposed to be haunted as hell. If you try to book a night, ask for the "King Suite" - it was a special suite that the King Ranch guy had put in and he apparently haunts it. At the very least, ask to stay in the old part of the hotel. You can catch a ghost tour that night.

You could pretty much stay a night in San Antonio, take I-10 east to the new Buccees on your way out of there, hit the Buccees, go to Lockhart, check out the Texas Hatters (they did/do the hats for Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie Nelson, etc), have BBQ there, and then head to COTA or back to Austin.

If you are staying in Austin, you can line up for BBQ at Franklins or call it in and have it waiting for you. I still haven't done it. If you want a really unique experience, you can head out to Snow's BBQ EARLY on Saturday (they serve free beer while you wait in line) and get some of their BBQ from Tootsie (I'll let you look her up).

My favorite BBQ is Micklethwaits (but I haven't had Snow's or Franklins yet). By the time you get here, they should have their store location open in East Austin. Texas Monthly one wrote, "Skip the line and Franklins and head to Micklethwaits."

 

I was in F1 Monaco with my son few weeks back. He is doing an international program in France for few months and in my way back from Europe to US I made a weekend stop to hang out with him at the F1. Love me the F1 that's for sure.

 

Barton Springs is open year-round - water temp = 57F year round

 

My friend , I think you just wrote our Itinerary !!! My GF wants to visit the Alamo almost as much as seeing Sting and Eminem lol. My daughter and I are the race fans . All around great suggestions and I have to visit that capital building . Man that looks huge !! The morning drinking sounds great but it’s gonna be a long day sat with Eminem playing that night . Hope that new Resturant is open by Oct . Sounds good , thanks !!

edit : Oh ,, and Heeellllllnooo on the haunted hotel ! Gf would sleep in the car lol

 

That’s awesome and what parenting is all about !! I love doing the trips and surprise stuff with her . I have pics of her working on cars with me since she was old enough to walk. Looking forward to this trip !!

 

Yeah keep making memories with your kids. They fly outta of nest just like that man.

 

So true ,, she bought a house a mile from me 2 years ago . Glad she’s close so we still have daddy daughter time in the cars and trucks . Her bf is a chopper pilot with a Toyota addiction . They have 4 now I believe lol. She got this one last spring

 

Check out The Driskill. It's in downtown Austin. Good steakhouse, bar and the hotel is haunted. Some neat Texas history in that building. My wife and I stay in the room off the old ballroom dance floor. IT'S HAUNTED!

 

Thanks for all the suggestions !

I’m making final hotel reservations and I noticed we can stay in Bastrop which is 30mins from track and 30mins from airport . It’s half the cost and the CDN $ ain’t worth shit right now so I’m considering staying there . What’s your opinion on that place for what we are doing ? It’s all about easy access to track and airport without spending 10k on a hotel for 5 nights . Apparently race/ concert weekend has skyrocketed hotel prices . We will spend some time in Austin for sure but can’t find anything close to venue for a reasonable price . Cheers for the help !

 

If it saves a bundle of cash - a 30 min drive on a mostly straight state hwy with just a few lights for the 1st half and the 2nd half is all freeway is a reasonable trade-off.

 

Bastrop is the next town West of us and that’s a solid plan. The historic downtown is really nice (check out the Bearded Bakery if you want some AMAZING pastries). There are only a few stoplights between Bastrop and Coda and you’ll only be about 40 minutes or less from Austin, 30 minutes from Lockhart, and an hour and a half or so from San Antonio. There’s also a Buc-cees in Bastrop. So that’s a plus.

 

We are wondering how access to city vs Bastrop will be after the concerts and race day . I think it’s a better idea to head away from traffic trying to get into Austin . My daughter is pushing for being closer to track . Kids lol

 

Traffic for COTA is kind of a shit show, at least it used to be. They've done a lot work on the roads so it's probably better now.

 

Its rough either way until you either get to state highways 183 or 71. The roads around cota were not meant for heavy cota type traffic - they are all 2 lane country roads - some have dangerous accident prone intersections so be really careful especially after dark.

 

Went once. Never going back. Traffic is horrible. Good luck and bring water

 

When my family and I were on the hunt for the perfect steakhouse, we ended up at the westgate resorts in Branson, and it exceeded all our expectations. The resort had fantastic dining options and amazing amenities. For a true Texas steakhouse experience tho, I’d recommend trying places like Salt Lick BBQ or Perry's Steakhouse in Austin. But pls go to westgate at least once in your lifetime!