All the way to Austin

Austin is a pretty nice town.  A perfect spot to celebrate my birthday early before heading out into the wilds of western Texas.  We got in yesterday around lunchtime and found a hotel to settle into before heading out on foot to explore downtown.  We walked through the Capitol district and found this amazing little spot by campus with vegetarian wraps that were delicious!

Conscious Cravings.  Tiny trailer.  Big taste.

We walked back to get the truck to drive over to "SoCo", the downtown area with small, local shops.  We walked up and down South Columbus checking out the shops until we reached Magnolia Cafe--a 24 hour restaurant that serves breakfast all day.  We had a tasty dinner, but stuffed ourselves on the food and appetizers that arrived all at once.  At least we had the walk back to the truck to make ourselves feel a little better.  Here are a few shots from our stroll:

Here's a taste of some of the unique shopping opportunities :)

I went for a run this morning and happened to stumble upon a little BBQ joint within walking distance to the hotel.  Turns out it was Franklin Barbecue, voted best bbq in all of Texas with a pretty famous brisket.  You can probably guess where Curtis had lunch. . . 

We waited for about 45 minutes in a line along one wall, around the corner, and out the door (maybe this was my revenge for Twilight. . . hmm).  You can see the feast that he had while I munched on my leftovers from last night.  Texas BBQ is now officially crossed off the list.

We'd spent the morning at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar which was like walking into an Etsy store with bunches of booths with goodies from local artists.  Pretty cool.  And bonus points for Curtis for tagging along even though he had pictured an icky craft show filled with plastic canvas and doilies.  I think it was a pleasant surprise for him.  

Thanks to Tom's suggestion, we checked out Lance Armstrong's bike shop in town.  So many temptations in that store!

We ditched the truck to bike around town and on the hike/bike path that winds along Town Lake.  Unfortunately it's too late in the season to catch the evening bat flight, but we covered a fair bit of ground today anyway.  Even if it did seem like we walked and biked and drove in the same loops over and over again.  

My unofficial birthday dinner was at Matt's El Rancho Grande so we could sample the local TexMex before leaving town.  It was pretty darn tasty and we managed to get right in and served despite the overflowing parking lot.  

Without a doubt, the highlight of the day was our scrumptious little trip to Sugar Mama's Bakeshop after dinner.  If you want to drool a little, check out the website:  http://www.sugarmamasbakeshop.com/.  I chose the peanut butter cup(cake) and Curtis got the cherry limeade.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I have never had such a good cupcake.  Thankfully we bought ourselves a couple little treats for tomorrow too.  I have a mint chocolate chip bar waiting for me in the fridge and Curtis picked out a pumpkin cheesecake bar.  It's taking some real willpower to not sample (or eat the whole thing) tonight.  

We're headed out in the morning for Enchanted Rock to climb for the day, then moving on to San Antonio, Amistad, Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, and Carlsbad Caverns before arriving in Bisbee on the 12th.  I'll be celebrating the official big 3-0 camping out in Big Bend National Park.  I'll update when I can as we truck along, but it looks like it might opportunities may be a bit spotty.  Hence the bonus post this week :)