Our first day in Austin was a doozy. My husband and I hit up 5 bars, 2 food trucks and had a run in with a very ambitious squirrel before getting back to our hotel around 1am. I was pretty impressed with us considering we had left our house in Portland at 4 am to catch our first flight.
We like to start our vacations with a bang!
We decided to hit up the Rainey Street district, a fairly small but bustling street (think bar after bar after bar). Our first stop was a place I have been dying to go since I first heard about it: Craft Pride. A bar that has 54 beers on tap (most of them local), a big patio and one of the best food trucks in the area, Via 313, makers of Detroit-style pizza.
While many of the options sounded great, we ordered the Rocket. Lots of sopressata, very cheesy and topped with spicy arugula. It was fantastic. Like crazy good. Half of this pie was enough to fill me up.
Rocket pizza, Via 313.
I immediately ordered an IPA from one of Austin’s most well-known breweries, 512. It was delicious. I followed that with a tasting tray, figuring it was the easiest way to try many things at once.
I love that there’s a beer called “Lotion in the basket,” a Silence of the Lambs reference.
Here’s the funny thing too — we had been in the city for, oh, an hour or two and we happen to run into someone from Portland who my husband used to work with. She was in town visiting friends and was just as shocked as us to see someone from home. We chatted with her and her friends for a bit, and they put together a great list of places for us to check out.
While eating and drinking at Craft Pride, we also met “Pat,” a very rambunctious squirrel. I’m not sure if our server was just messing with us when he said Pat was a regular, but he sure acted like he hung out there often. Absolutely fearless.
Pat, stop staring at my pizza!
After our new (and old) friends headed off to dinner, we headed down the street a bit to a place called Banger’s Sausage House. I wasn’t really hungry but their 100-plus beer list made me very excited!
What can I say — I really, really love beer.
I love the logo — a cowboy boot made of a sausage and a beer. If you want this as a tattoo, the bar will pay for it. Don’t worry — I didn’t do it!
My snack: Spicy creamed corn with fried onions
My husband’s meal: wild boar sausage and potato salad
A few beers later, we traveled on to Blackheart. The only evidence I have of this stop is a slightly intoxicated “artistic” picture of the iron fence. I like stars a lot too.
I also really love my 50mm lens because it needs no light to still get a decent picture.
Then we went to Clive Bar — a pretty cool joint where we ended up chatting to a guy from Seattle for a while. Can’t escape the PNW!
After a few cocktails, we meandered to a place called Container Bar, a kind of crazy, pretty cool bar made up of 7 shipping container stacked on top of each other. This means that there are lots of different areas and different nooks to enjoy — balconies overlooking the street, dark corners with cozy couches, or large bar tables made for big groups. It’s really a place where there’s something for everyone.
But after a single beer, we were ready to grab a late-night treat and headed back to the hotel. We stopped at a food cart called Bomb Tacos and then stumbled home. A successful first night of vacation!
Late night eats from Bomb Tacos — greasy but sooo good!
That is what I would call a highly successful first day. We used to have a squirrel at my mom’s house that we called “Ballsy,” a double-entendre because he was fearless and well endowed. He would come in the house looking for food and we wouldn’t be able to get him out. One time he crawled up my leg when I fell asleep outside. And another he leapt from the tree and landed on my back.
Ha! Ballsy — that’s awesome! My ex-stepmom lives in Boise and has several squirrels in her yard that she takes care of like outdoor pets, they eat right from her hand and everything. This guy was totally fearless. And fat — I’m sure he does pretty well for himself when people get drunk enough not to pay attention to their pizza.
That does sound like an awesome way to start the vacation. Even if things tanked after that (which of course they didn’t), you’d always have that first day 🙂 Amazing food and drink and running into folks you know. How perfect was all of it! Thanks for sharing your trip with those of us who aren’t getting out 😉
It was a great start for sure — though the next day started out much more slowly than we had originally intended. Had to sleep off all that booze! But it set a good tone for the trip — plenty more beer and good food followed! =)
This looks like just about a perfect day! Your photos capture it all so well–you made me hungry, thirsty, and a little nervous about a close encounter with a squirrel! Well done!
Ha! Thanks! Pat was really entertaining — very determined to steal pizza from someone. Luckily we inhaled ours so we had nothing to worry about!
So how was the lotion in the basket? I’ve been too creeped out to try it.
I really enjoyed it! Super creepy name for sure but the beer is crisp and refreshing. Out of my tasting it was my favorite. I had the bartender choose the beers for me and he went heavy on IPAs. I am a big IPA girl but it was so hot out that I was craving lighter, less bitter beers.
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