#shiplap

Chip and Jo 2.0

Day three in Austin was by far my favorite! Our day started bright and early with a quick road trip to Waco, Texas. For those of you who haven't already concluded from the title of this post, we spent our morning at the Magnolia complex. Both being avid fans of Fixer Upper (and Chip and Jo) I'm not sure who was more excited - Andrew or me.

Pulling into Waco, we quickly realized we were not the only people with the brilliant idea of visiting Magnolia today. After finding a parking spot a few blocks away, we walked up to see a never-ending line of people snaking across the property. There was also a yard with lawn games, covered picnic tables, and food trucks lining the perimeter. After getting a drink from one of the food trucks, we took our spot in line. Thankfully it moved pretty quickly and about a half hour later we were entering into the famed Magnolia Market.

Magnolia Market

This place was filled with anything and everything you could imagine Jo putting into one of her houses. Beyond all of the cute items, Andrew and I both noticed that every employee was extremely friendly and welcoming - the overall vibe was super enjoyable, even in the sweltering 100 degree heat. We spent quite a bit of time shopping and just walking around the complex.

After Magnolia, we decided to visit downtown Waco. Unfortunately, being the day before Independence Day, most places were closed. Our walk ended pretty shortly and we decided to head to In-N-Out for lunch. I did not realize that In-N-Out was in Texas, so this was a fun surprise for lunch.

The view from Mt. Bonnell

Later in the day, after getting back to Austin, we decided to go visit Mt. Bonnell. This is a lookout over the river at the highest point in Austin. Though it wasn't much of a hike, 100 steps in the heat was definitely exhausting. In the end, the view was worth it! After a little bit of sightseeing (including checking out mega-mansions lining the river) we ended the "hike" with some snow cones to cool off.

For dinner, we finally strayed from our Tex-Mex streak and went to BBQ. Even though I don't eat red meat, I am willing to suffer the consequences for a good pulled pork sandwich, so I was really excited to be going to one of the top BBQ places in Austin. Unfortunately, when we got there they were out of both pulled pork and chicken, so I had a disappointing turkey sandwich. Thankfully, Andrew really enjoyed his brisket.

Colorado River

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. Between the long line at Magnolia and the workout at Mt. Bonnell, the sun did a number on both of us today. Besides, strolling through downtown, we decided to take it easy for the night.

We have one more (half) day in Austin tomorrow before we fly back to Chicago tomorrow evening. Both Andrew and I hope you all have a safe and happy fourth of July tomorrow!

Best,
Kenzie

With Liberty And Justice For All

Today was our second day in Austin and we had a lot planned. When we were in Denver, we decided to visit the Colorado History Center and go to Voodoo donuts. Well, we decided to replicate that trip in a sense and started our day with a trip to The Bullock Texas State History Museum. As luck would have it, the first Sunday of every month is free admission day (we got the date right in Denver too when it was free admission) and we explored the museum. Now, we like history and the museum was massive, well designed and clean, but it wasn't very interactive. We loved Colorado's history museum because it was interactive and engaging throughout. Long story short, we breezed through the museum because there was too much to read and headed to Voodoo donuts. We figured some good donuts could salvage the start to our day.

The real event planned for the day however was a kayaking trip down the Colorado River. However, Austin is kind of weird and they refer to the river as a lake. There's a cool little spot down by the river where you can rent kayaks and paddle boards so we got ourselves a double-seater kayak and set on our way. Why we decided to get a double-seater I'll never know, but we someone managed to not flip it over. Even though Kenzie didn't get the memo that I was ready to hone my kayaking skills for the next summer Olympics, we didn't end up just going in circles. We were in the water for over an hour and then decided the heat (it's been 95+ with humidity each day) was too much and headed back to shore. My craving for food may or may not have also influenced our decision to prematurely end our kayak extravaganza.

With our kayaking trip behind us, we headed back to our hotel (Hyatt Place if you need a good hotel in Austin) and escaped the heat. Per the usual, we chose another Mexican restaurant for dinner and it was yet again another great choice. Each restaurant we've visited has had superb guacamole (we're gonna pitch a TV idea to producers so we can have a guacamole tasting show).

Now, if you've ever visited Austin or researched about the city, you would know that bats make this place famous!
No joke, there's a bridge on Congress Avenue where millions (so the locals say) of bats live and then come out for feeding at sunset. Hoards of people line the top of the bridge and more fuel in along the trail beneath it. Then out of nowhere, all these bats start dropping out of the bridge and flying out over the river and buildings in unison. Unfortunately, I don't have a super fancy camera, so my iPhone quality pictures don't do this spectacle any justice (there is a pic on the left though). If you're ever in Austin, definitely go to the Congress Avenue bridge at sunset to see this!

Tomorrow is the day we are most looking forward to though! Almost daily we watch Fixer Upper on HGTV because it's our favorite TV show. If you haven't watched it, I'm sorry for you and you need to ASAP. Anyways, we are going to Chip and Joanna's property tomorrow! Check back tomorrow for some awesome pictures from their property!

-Andrew

Holy Guacamole!

We're in Austin!!! Texas' capital has been on our travel wishlist for awhile. We are finally crossing it off during our 4-day weekend.

Delicious guacamole! 

Our trip started off pretty rough Friday night when Andrew lost his wallet. Thankfully, he had is passport and we were able to board our flight bright and early Saturday morning. After a quick flight and Lyft ride to our hotel, we were ready to set out and explore. The weather was 95 degrees, but felt like 105. It was unbelievably hot and muggy.

Our hotel is right downtown, near Lady Bird Lake (aka the Colorado River). We walked around near our hotel, did some shopping and ate lunch at a tex-mex restaurant. Not being too hungry, we decided to share guac, chilaquiles and dulce de leche pudding. The guac was easily top 3 of our all-time favorite.

Andrew enjoying the scenery at lunch. 

After shopping for a while we decided to head to 6th street. The street was lined with bars, almost all of which had live music. We walked by a bar selling 'Gino's East Chicago Pizza' and stopped in another for a drink and to listen to country music.

For dinner we walked from 6th street almost an hour to another Mexican restaurant south of the river. There were quite a few things on our to-do list in this area so we wanted to check it out. Of course, we ordered guac again. This guacamole was a little different - it had sunflower seeds and smoked chipotle cream in it. I was hesitant, but yet again, it was delicious. After these two meals, I am determined that Austin should be dubbed the Guacamole capital of the world.

One of the holes at Peter Pan mini golf

After dinner, we went to the locally famous Peter Pan mini golf. This was probably the most fun mini golf course (well, there are two courses) that I've seen. Even though Andrew kicked my butt (weirdly, the rules kept changing in his favor...?!)  it was still a blast!

By the time we got home it was nearly 10 p.m. and we were going on five hours of sleep, so we decided to call it a day. Andrew will fill you in on Day 2 in Austin!

Best!
Kenzie