Brake Lights & Bug Bites

Capital of Texas with the largest state capitol in the U.S.

Fastest growing metro in the United States for the last 8 years.

Live Music Capital of the world.

Home to the largest bat colony in the North America, numbered at 1.5 million.

The most populous city in the country without a professional sports team until 2021.

A pioneer in the food truck scene, now with over 2,000 food trucks.

Nicknamed Silcon Hills becuase of the many tech firms that have moved here.

Home to the only Formula One track in the nation, Circuit of the Americas.

Experiences nearly 300 days of sunshine a year.

What’s not to love about Austin, Texas?

We truly fell in love with the city of Austin! I have tried to type out the reasons why, but I can’t seem to put it into words. It’s interesting. Before we arrived, we heard from several people that Austin is a great city. I spent some time trying to research things to do in Austin and my search kept coming back empty. I was rather perplexed by this claim to the greatness of Austin.

That is until we started exploring the city for ourselves. Austin has such an outdoor vibe. I am sure they are out there, but my search did not turn up many museums or “places” to visit. What I did come across was parks, playgrounds, outdoor activities, and the fair/rodeo. So, that is exactly what we have spent our week doing-being outside! We visited several amazing playgrounds and parks. We walked along the river. We explored downtown. We went to the Austin fair/carnival (unfortunately the rodeo was already sold out). We went for walks. We played outside. Did school outside. Sat outside. We just spent a lot of time outdoors and it was so refreshing! I was surprised at how green Austin and the surrounding areas were. We had been in the desert for so long, I was not expecting to all of a sudden see green grass and lush trees. I think the best way to capture our time in Austin, is to just share photos from our week. It was truly a refreshing week and we cannot wait for another chance to visit Austin again!

A quick detour on our travel day to visit LBJ’s Ranch

Downtown Austin-The University of Texas Stadium, original Chuys, and ice cream!

Austin Fair and Carnival

The Ice Cream Truck came to our campground!

We found the most amazing playgrounds all around Austin!

Free Ice Cream Cone Day at DQ!

Kayaking on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin

From March-early fall, Mexican free-tailed bats fly out from underneath the Congress Ave. Bridge. By the end of the season, there are roughly 1.5 million bats flying out from under the bridge. People start lining up an hour before sunset to get a good viewing spot of this spectacular sight. So, when in Austin….we had to see the bats fly! Unfortunately, it was still early in the season so there weren’t as many bats as usual. And because it happened so fast, we missed capturing a picture of the bats coming out! (check out a cool picture online that someone else took! Ha!)

Side note from the Charlie, Grant and Miles-our campground was near Tesla Gigafactory Texas which is the the corporate headquarters as well as the second-largest factory in the United States. This massive factory is also the main factory for cyber trucks! Grant and Miles kept a running tally of the number of cyber trucks we spotted, including a fire station cyber truck! Football Stadiums and Cyber Trucks….I must be a mom of boys! 😉

Next stop, a place that has been at the top of my bucket list for a LONG time!