College Vist # 1 - Hook em horns, bats and sushi - Austin here we go!
 

My second trip to Austin - it is quickly becoming one of my favorite cities in the world... and yes, I have been outside of Texas :).

Who? My husband, myself and our 15 year old daughter headed south from Dallas on Thursday afternoon around 3:00 pm in hopes of missing any traffic - our main reason for the visit was to expose our 15 year old to UT. We are new to Texas - been here about 2 years this coming August from living in S. California - so our daughter has not embraced the idea of a public Texas school... I knew that UT might change her mind.

We arrived no issues after about a 4 hour drive no real traffic - waved to Baylor her sister's college on the way down :)

We were staying at the Marriott Residence Inn in Downtown - I would love to stay at the Four Seasons or the Driskell and my husband and I will try to go back at stay at the FS when it is just the two of us...but really liked the Residence Inn - it is an unusual property - as it is connected in the Lobby to the courtyard. I stayed at the Courtyard last March for SXSW - this time opted for the Residence Inn due to our daughter being with us. The RI has been updated recently - is very modern and the rooms were exceptionally nice for an RI. We had a one bedroom which we used Marriott points for - and our daughter slept on a roll away bed - which was very comfortable for her in the "kitchen/living room area.

We headed right out on a pedi-cab - as we had a river cruise for 10.00 each and to see the Bats on Congress Street - my family tends to groan and smile at me for always finding "something for us to do" my husband was a good sport - as he said "if Mom did not plan stuff we would never do anything when we go away" :) The loading area for the boats is right by the Hyatt.... I was already again loving the entire "vibe" of Austin - it is a very fit active city - with people with their dogs, running, walking, along Lady bird lake - all was going great...

The "bat tour" was PACKED to the gills - it was pretty funny - you really just cruise down Lady Bird Lake - learn something about the city - and then cruise back up to Congress street bridge to see the bats come out at night. I had seen photos online and was very excited... (might seem odd but it looked pretty cool)... well... it was not. It was sort of lame and we could have gathered on the south side of Congress street bridge or really on it - they did come out - but they did not swarm like the photos.... I guess they are stilll "pups" so that massive exodus will not really happen till mid August?... at any rate it was somethng to do and for 30.00 no big deal. We walked back across the bridge and headed to get something to eat...

There is no shortage of amazing choices in Austin. We went to Second street bar & Kitchen - it is my second (ha!) visit there - service was excellent as was the food and wine.

Headed back up to fourth street to get ready for our second day in Austin...

Trailer food, UT and sushi... does it get any better??

Looking forward to reading more! :)

Hope she's in the top 8% of her high school class.

MissyPie - she is a great student - so we shall see. Thanks so much! :)

Muscifan - I would move to Austin tomorrow if I could! Love the entire city!

As we like to say here in Austin:

Life's too short to live in Dallas. :)

Good Lord Austin - you have that right! I literally LOVED Austin.. I was there during SXSW and liked it but knew it was not a good read on the city... this time I fell in love! The active life style, the people... all of it. Perfect for me!

So morning number 1 we woke up bright and early and went for a great walk down along lady bird lake (seems more like a river to me?) - I have mentioned and will yet again, love the active life style - all the people out with their dogs, walking/running - really felt great.
We had breakfast at the Residence Inn - which was a knotch up from what a RI breaksfast usually tastes like because it is located in Champs resturant - so I think the food is just better. It was included in our stay.
We hung out a while - and for lunch headed off to S. Congress to the trailers - wow..what a treat!!!!

The "lake" seems like a river cause it is. It's a dammed up portion of the Colorado River (not that Colorado River, another one!). On the other side of the dam (near Hula Hut), the "river" is called Lake Austin. Just keeping it weird.

Oh, and it was just recently renamed LadyBird Lake (when she died). We all still call it Town Lake and I imagine LadyBird would still call it that too even though it was officially renamed.

Asutin that is really funny and makes more sense (about it being the Colorado River and even funnier that it is not *that Colorado River - I am a california girl so I was confused that it was the colorado river! Ha!

Day one continues -
We went off to So. Congress to check out the eats at the trailers - was a GREAT choice. We ended up eating at Nomad Dosa which was Indian food and a great choice.
We wandered down to get a yummy cupcake - our daughter got the redvelet and I went for the vegan one of the day - which was very good.

We then headed over to the UT side of town for the college visit with a stop first at the store to pick up some UT gear. Nice store!
Our campus visit was informative and good - well run, the campus is beauitful. All of us were struck by the beauty of the buildings. My husband was most interested in the football staduim.
We saw a residence hall as well and walked the campus for a while. All in all very impressed.

We were not done till almost 4:30 or so and had an early dinner reservation at Uchi http://www.uchiaustin.com/uchi for sushi - which an old Jr. High friend who lives in Austin recommended - and it did not dissapoint. We loved every morsel!
Back to the hotel and we walked around a little more - really enjoying the evening!
No live music for us this trip - our daughter is just 15 and so we will save that for a couples trip.

up early again on Sat. morning - another great walk by the "lake' :) - we really enjoyed those morning walks. breakfast again at the RI -
We packed up and were going to head over to Barton Springs - but heard about a cool farmers market on 4th and W. Guadalupe http://www.sfcfarmersmarket.org/inde...id=100&lang=en
Made me love Austin even more! I am a HUGE lover of organic food, and again, just the entire feel of the city was just "right" for me.
We decided as it was now around noon or so to head back north - not to go to Barton Springs - will have to save that for another trip.
I am 100% in love with Austin. I could see us retiring there.

The bats this year are not coming out as strongly or as early as they used to. Much due to the march rains so they don't need to go far for their food. I've heard/read that they come our after dark.

As someone else said, if she is in the top 8?10? % of her class she can automatically go to UT. It's tough to get in. Otherwise she needs great grades and interests or sports.

Actually, Lady Bird Lake IS a reservoir of THAT Colorado River.

About 5 years ago I watched the Carlsbad Caverns Bats. Totally awesome-200,000+ bats. Last year there were only about 1,500. A real let down. I'm not sure how they are doing there this year. Last year it was all because it was so dry.

"The" Colorado River runs from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado to the Gulf of California - never getting anywhere close to Austin Texas. The Colorado river in Texas starts and ends in Texas.

I'm enjoying your trip report more because you have a college visit included. We just went to look at some colleges while on vacation.

I feel better that you are starting now with your daughter as a sophomore this fall(I presume?). My son will be a junior this fall. Some people have been surprised we are looking so "early." For us, the colleges he looked at were very competitive to get in, but the process also gave him some goals. Also he was able to find out which classes they cared most about for the majors he was interested.

Yes - she is just going into the 10th grade - she will likely graduate early and go to jc here in Dallas til she is 18 -
We sure know how tough it is to get in - a friends dd did not get in and has a great resume - another friends dd did get in and did not have as good of grades as the other gal - but applied to a different school at UT
The main purpose was to get her thinking about college here in state - we will start visiting others as well
Love Austin!

I knew UT was a great school but didn't realize it was so hard for those of you in state.

We visited four colleges on our trip, and I have to say, it kept crossing my mind with a couple of them, "I'd so want to visit here." And then I'd remember that this isn't about me:)

College visits are so much fun! You brought back fond memories of the time we visited Austin. DH had a conference during Riverfest, so we tagged along. My boys were young then and we just had a blast.

It was a ton of fun! We are going to the University of Arkansas next - they give in state tuition to Texas Residents... Road trip! :)

I don't know much about University of Arkansas itself, but one of my close friends from college has lived in Fayetteville for 10 years. She loves it! She says it's a vibrant community with people from all over the world living there. There is a great performing arts center and lots to do for a city that size. She wants me to come visit some day --hasn't happened yet but one of these days.