We stayed at great little park operated by The US Army Corp of Engineers called Jim Hogg Park in Georgetown, TX about 40 minutes from downtown Austin. The park is on the north side of Georgetown Lake.

We have been itching to get a bike ride in since it had been months since we have been in locations that really allowed for it. A bike ride through Zilker Park and around Lady Bird Lake sounded like just the thing. As a bonus we got to try out our new bike hauler on the back of the Beetle. It worked great and was much safer than bungying them to the back seat with the top down. (Yes we really did that and got many laughs from our fellow campers).

After all the exercise it was necessary to get some food. I had never eaten from a food truck and Austin is known for having some great trucks with a lot of variety. Coat and Thai was our choice for some good Thai food (and what a clever name).

Another day found us taking a car ride to Lake Travis. Lake Travis is a hydroelectric reservoir and gets its inflow of water from the Colorado River. The Lake is where many Texans head to in the summer for boating, water sports, fishing, parasailing and on and on. Real Estate here is at a premium so we wanted to see for ourselves. The best way to see anything is with food. The Oasis on Lake Travis restaurant has beautiful views of the lake. (We were fortunate to snag a table on the high deck right by the railing.) While the Oasis’ food was less than stellar the lake did not disappoint.

Another day found us back in Austin to explore the city. The HOPE Outdoor Gallery is a community paint park. It is the only paint park of its kind in the USA and was developed to provide artists and community groups the opportunity to display large scale art pieces. Some of the art here was very well done, other pieces were tagging that was pretty basic.

I felt that my time could have been better spent with artists like…..

Stevie Ray Vaughn

If you are reading this and not from Texas then you may not know what 6th Street in Austin is all about. 6th Street is a historic and entertainment 9 block area in the urban core of the city. The area is frequented by local college and university students and is popular for the many drinking establishments in the area. Scott and I were 6th Street virgins, but no more! We went on a weekday so it was not hopping, but that was ok with us. Casino El Camino is known for its Bloody Mary’s, of which I am a huge fan. They have an interesting heat scale from 1 to 8 with 6 being ghost pepper hot. I got a 4 and was very satisfied with the heat level. As you can see this drink is like a meal. This is a funky place playing B movies on the TV and mostly caters to the punk crowd.

No summer tourist trip to Austin is complete without going batty. In the summer, female Mexican free-tailed bats migrate to Austin to have their young. Their numbers swell to 1.5 million before they head south as fall and cooler temperatures approach. We went on a riverboat cruise to better view the bats who make their home under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge. If you decide to do this it is worth it, but wear a hat. There are hundreds of thousands of bats and the riverboat is directly under them… and well the bats aren’t potty trained.
It was difficult to capture the bats in photos so Scott took this short video below: