Day 1Dinner and Drinks in AustinFriday, January 25, 2019
*The weather is cool and dry We have 8 p.m. reservations at Fukumoto Austin, but we arrive about an hour early. We pop into the restaurant to see if they can seat us early (they can't), so we walk across the street to the cocktail bar Ah Sing Den. The bartender is kind of ignoring us at first (they look understaffed) and there's a moment when we consider walking out, but we end up waiting and eventually order our drinks. I went with a chile eggwhite cocktail (different, not my favorite, Mike liked it) and he ordered something whisky with a salt rim. The bartender felt bad for the wait, so she gave us happy hour prices. We head back to the restaurant and, whoops, we're still a little early, so we stand in the back near the bar and order another round of drinks (beer for Mike, white wine for me). The wine is tasty. I'm definitely buzzed now and feeling good. On to dinner! It's Japanese tapas, so we order a bunch of different things: cornodgs (like little hushpuppies with toppings, really good), tempura mushrooms (too breaded), wagu beef nagiri (seared beef over rice, the best thing but also like $15 a bite), a sushi roll (delicious with a tasty creamy sauce), fried curry mashed potatoes (there's a real name for this that I'm blanking on) and yakatori (grilled chicken tail on a stick, spicy and good). Overall the food is tasty and the atmosphere is great. After dinner, it's time to head to the cabin. Wimberley is about 50 minutes outside of Austin, and Mike's driving. We make it almost all the way when we come to a road covered with a river of water. There's a moment of fear. How deep is this water, exactly? Will we make it across? I'm confident, but Mike is afraid for his car. We go for it aaannnnd....success. We drive a little farther. It's mostly winding back roads. We're looking for the cabin but...it's dark. I end up calling the Airbnb owner, though it's 10 p.m. and I'm not even sure if she'll pick up. She does and helps direct us. We finally (finally) find the place. It's cute and warm and perfect. |
Day 2
Getting Swindled + Museums + A Relaxing AfternoonSaturday, January 26, 2019
*The weather is lovely today, clear and not too chilly, though clouds do move in later at night We start out the day with brunch at Trace. I did a thing this morning and I'm really starting to feel it as we're sitting there. I was starving, but my appetite's kind of gone now. That's okay though, because the food is all really good and I eat it anyway. We order perogies (very good), a grilled kale salad with strained yogurt (my favorite thing), an omelette (also good), and a breakfast kolache (the bread could have been better, but also tasty). We also order coffee that comes in these dainty little coffee cups that I like a lot. After brunch, we head to the first art museum, Austin Contemporary. We pay the $10 per person and walk inside and kind of look at each other. There's hardly anything here. The art that is here is stupid - just trash kind of arranged in an "artsy" way. Maybe the second floor will be better? We walk up the stairs and...nope. It's the same crap: empty and just thrown together. There's a final rooftop that we're holding out hope for, but again, we make it up there and it's literally empty. "This is a scam," Mike says, baffled. "I hope we run into someone on the way out so we can tell them not to waste their money." Alright, let's try the next museum! We start walking. I'm kind of out of it and following Mike, not really paying attention to where we're going. Suddenly, we're in a not-so-nice area of the city. We come across a blind homeless man who asks us to point him toward the Austin Center for the Blind, then asks if we could spare $8 for a taxi to get him there. I only have a $20 and (with reluctance, and some prodding from Mike) hand it over. We keep walking and when I think about it, I'm sure we've just been swindled. That guy has no intention of going to the center for the blind. Now Mike feels bad. He feels even worse when he realizes that he's been leading us in the wrong direction and we didn't even have to come this way. I don't even care, I just want to get out of this area. Plus, my shoes are giving me blisters (clearly, we weren't planning on walking this far). Overall, I'm feeling tired and kind of done. I almost call it quits (can we just go back to our cabin now?) but decide to push through. I'm glad we do. We make it back out of the homeless area and find the real art museum, The Blanton Museum of Art, which is really nice. The paintings are all fun to look at. We spend some time here just admiring. After we leave, Mike drives us to the grocery for snacks, then we head back to the cabin to relax. We spend the afternoon on the porch swing, exploring the nearby "woods," soaking in the hot tub and drinking fresh squeezed orange juice. We were expecting rain all day, but it doesn't actually start raining until after dark. Overall, it's a great trip. |
Our Favorite Memories
For me, it was sitting on the porch swing or in the hot tub just relaxing with the hubs :)