Texas Capitol, Austin Texas
Texas Capitol, Austin, Texas

They say timing is everything and we tend to agree: Being in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time) can make all the difference. It can certainly make a difference in how much we enjoy a given locale. When it came to Austin, our timing was spot on, luck was on our side, and the end result was an awesome two week visit to a fantastic city.

Lucky #13

RV parked in site #13 at McKinney Falls State Park

Our good fortunes started as soon as we drove into McKinney Falls State Park. Texas state parks allow you to reserve a campsite, but not a particular campsite. Which site you get is based on what’s available when you arrive at the park. We were concerned because we were coming in on the Saturday of a nice warm weekend. We figured the campground would be packed and we would get the leftover spot no one else wanted. But when we checked in, the ranger told us we were very fortunate to be getting site #13. She said she was actually surprised it was available because it’s always so popular. As soon as we drove up, we realized why: Our site was enormous, private, heavily treed, and at the end of a quiet loop. While we dinged the site in our review because it was very sloped, once we got set up, it was AWESOME.

Dixie sniffing around our campsite.
Dixie enjoying our enormous yard.

The park itself is worth a visit if you’re in the area.  There are numerous hiking trails, waterfalls, and access to the river.

We took the dog for long hikes, to swim, and to wade in the river…

We were in Austin while the bluebonnets and other wildflowers Texas is famous for were in full bloom. There were numerous fields of flowers throughout the park. Beautiful.

High Drama at the Capitol

The Texas Capitol building is spectacular, inside and out, and set against the bright blue Austin skies on a perfectly warm sunny day, it was gorgeous.

The State Capitol in Texas

After enjoying lunch with some of Kevin’s former colleagues (his firm has an Austin office), we wandered up to the Capitol and walked in just in time to join a free tour of the building. Later, we took photographs from all angles of the incredible rotunda…

Photo of floor of Texas Capitol rotunda
The floor of the rotunda.
Photo of first, second, and third floor balconies of the rotunda.
Looking across the rotunda on the second floor.
Photo of third and fourth levels of the rotunda
The upper levels….
The interior of the dome.
Looking straight up from below.

After the tour, we decided to pop our heads into the various legislative chambers just to see if anything was going on. Late in the afternoon on a Tuesday, we didn’t expect much, but the senate happened to be in session, so we quietly walked in and sat down to watch.

The Texas Senate in session
An apparently sleepy afternoon in the Texas Senate.

As we were monitoring the high drama of the legislature renaming various highways, we realized something else was going on. To our right sat about 10 young women wearing red capes and white bonnets. None seemed interested in the proceedings, none were talking to one other, and most were glued to their cell phones. As I looked around, I noticed there seemed to be an inordinate number of security officers and capitol staffers watching the gallery where we were sitting.

What the hell was going on??

Then, suddenly, the Senate’s presiding officer called up the next bill:

An electronic monitor showing a summary of an abortion rights bill in the Texas Senate.

And just as quickly, all of these red caped women stood up in unison, unfurled signs, and were promptly ordered to exit by all the staffers and security officers who’d been watching them.

Women wearing red capes and white bonnets with handmade signs walking out of the gallery.
The women filing out of the gallery after their protest.

It was clear the staffers knew what the women were going to do and the women knew what the staffers were going to do. It was like some prearranged act. “You’ll do this, and then I’ll do that, and then everyone goes home…”

We continued watching a short argument about the first bill, and a lengthier one about a related bill. We had apparently stumbled into a legislative session about hugely controversial abortion rights laws that ended up being a national news story the next day.

Senators in Texas debating one another in the legislature.
Two Texas Senators face off as they debate the bill (the other two standing in the middle apparently didn’t care enough to listen and were presumably chatting about the weather or something.)

In any case, it was interesting to actually see the legislature in session and debating something of real importance, and as much as I’m DYING to tell you what I think of all this, this is a travel blog where I’ve repeatedly promised to keep my political views to myself, so I’m not going to go down that road.

…Even though it’s sucking the life out of me right now to keep my mouth shut.

…Seriously. I can actually feel the life force slowly draining from within…..

Me and my stupid rules.

Sigh….

This sucks.

Anyway, after watching the Senate for a bit, we headed over to the empty House of Representatives chamber to check it out.

The House of Representatives in Texas

The House of Representatives in Texas

Things were a lot less charged over there.

Franklin Barbecue

Sign for Franklin Barbecue

If you’ve ever been to Austin, or if you know anything about Barbecue, you’ve probably heard of Franklin Barbecue. It is the most famous restaurant in the city and has been featured on shows like Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations.” Lines routinely stretch 4 to 6 hours on weekends. During the week, you’re looking at 2 to 4 hours. And the fact is, you could stand in that crazy line for hours on end only to be told they are running out of food and you’re out of luck.

Pile of lawn chairs under a set of stairs at Franklin Barbecue.
The restaurant provides lawn chairs for patrons to use while they wait around.

Before we even got to Austin, we’d both concluded that it was unlikely we’d want to deal with any of that. And as soon as we started running around this incredibly fun city, we decided we had a lot better things to do than stand in line for hours. So, we wrote it off.

But one afternoon when we tried to go to a different restaurant only to find out they were closed, Kevin suggested driving by Franklin. I figured we’d be wasting our time since it was long past the hour when they were usually sold out, but as we drove up, we were shocked to find a handful of people standing at the front door. They still had food! We parked the car, jumped in line, and in just 25 minutes, made our way to the counter.

The inside of crowded Franklin Barbecue.
It’s always a full house at Franklin.
Staff at Franklin Barbecue.
After however many hours you’ve been waiting, you finally get to meet this (incredibly personable) man who carefully prepares your plate full of happiness. He’s probably the most popular guy in Austin.
Brisket, turkey, sausages, potato salad.
Brisket, turkey, sausages, potato salad.

We sat down and ohmygodsogood… SO good.  SOOOOOOOOOOOO good.

I’ve never been a big brisket person. It’s fine. But whatever. This stuff? Imagine crack sprinkled with heroin. Ok, don’t imagine that. That’s a terrible idea. Just trust me on this: It was freaken delicious.

Within 30 minutes of us sitting down to eat, the meat had run out and we watched as Franklin staff members told disappointed would-be patrons they were out of luck for the day. By the time we finished eating, the restaurant was just about empty. As we were packing up our leftovers, and while still discussing our incredible good fortune, one of the kitchen employees randomly walked up to us and told us they had some extra sausages that they hadn’t sold and asked if we wanted to take them home. “Yeah, let me think about that for a minute. People stand in line for this nonsense for 6 hours, and you want to hand me a bunch for free? Ummmmm, yeah. That sounds good. Thanks.”

And with that, several pounds of leftovers in hand, we walked out, turned around, and saw this on the door:

Our timing, both arriving and departing, simply could not have been better.

Unsurprisingly, no one was more excited about all of this than Dixie. Of course, not one to appreciate the hours upon hours of effort put forth by a few talented souls to create such amazing food, she regarded her portion with the same appreciation she awards Walmart’s own brand of bacon.

Kevin giving Dixie some leftover meat from Franklin Barbecue.
“Franklin Barbecue…Oscar Meyer… whatevs. All the same to me!!” – Dixie

My Birthday

Our luck continued on my birthday. For days forecasters had been predicting rain and storms and general dreariness. WTH??? It had been sunny and warm for our entire visit. NOW it was gonna be crappy? On my 40th birthday??? Come on….

BUT, apparently, the weather gods got the message that this was “Kevin and Laura’s Lucky Week” and reversed course. We were greeted by bright blue skies and temperatures in the low 80’s. Perfect!

The Lyndon Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas
The LBJ Presidential Library was my 4th Library. In Dallas I visited George W’s, and I am headed to Bill Clinton’s this week.

I spent the morning at the LBJ Presidential Library and we stopped on trendy South Congress Street for cupcakes (Ok, I had two cupcakes and Kevin had none because he didn’t want any… Shut up, it was my birthday!!)

Two cupcakes in a box.
When you’re standing in front of the “Hey Cupcake” food truck and you can’t decide between traditional vanilla/chocolate and carrot cake, and it’s your birthday, you get to have both. It’s a rule.

Later, we headed to ultra popular Barley Swine for dinner where we sat at the Chef’s Counter and watched very hip men with very hip beards create a very hip tasting menu.

Chefs preparing food at Barley Swine.
Dude on the left hasn’t figured out he’s never gonna truly make it in Austin if he doesn’t grow a beard.
Tasting menu at Barley Swine
The tasting menu

We’ve been fortunate to try some incredibly good food over the years. We’ve also been to some popular places we felt were overpriced and over-hyped. Barley Swine was easily in the top tier of all of the places we’ve visited. Food, service, setting, everything… fantastic.

All in all, it was a GREAT way to start my 40th year.

I’ve got another post coming about the awesome Austin parks, food trucks, and sightseeing we got to do, along with spending more time with new and old friends. We were in Austin for two weeks, but we could have used about two months. It’s a great city with so much to offer. More on all of that soon.

In the meantime, if the kind of good luck and good timing we had in Austin holds out, we will be quite thankful.

 

14 COMMENTS

  1. Looks like you had a great time! Glad everything worked out for you. lol. I’d starve with that tasting menu 🙂 nice dress!!! ????

    • Yeah, thinking about it, I’m pretty sure the only thing you would have been able to consume would have been the wine and the cake… which probably would have been OK…. until you did a faceplant onto the floor. And thanks! I do love the dress! 🙂

  2. This is amazing. Just tried to call you at CA’s offixe and was told that no one by the name of Laura works there. I had to call Lisa and voila I found you. I am so happy for you all. We are actually flying to Texas tomorrow so if you are still around, let me know. Enjoy it all and happy happy!

    • I guess we really should do a better job of keeping in touch, huh? I left the office last June! Hard to believe… Time really does fly. Anyway, I’m glad you found me and I would love to see you, but we have moved on to Arkansas (the blog is usually a week or two behind our current location), so unless you’re up for a road trip, we’ll likely miss each other. 🙁 In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and please do keep in touch. I hope you and your family are doing well!!

  3. Happy birthday and glad you enjoyed a wonderful 2 weeks in Austin. That state park looks amazing. I’ll need to try and score a res there next year. You had me dually entertained with your non-political promise. Boy, can I relate. Hope your luck continues!

  4. We always have a blast in Austin! We’ve twice stayed in town at funky little Pecan Grove RV Park and bike everywhere (it’s next door to Zilker Park) but reservations can be tough to snag. So glad you had such an excellent time—the travel/birthday gods were definitely smiling on you! Wonderful photos of your visit—Barley Swine is now definitely on our list for the next time we’re in Austin.

    • I was actually happy to be able to get any reservation at all since we were coming in at the tail end of SXSW. When we were in Austin, we kept hearing about Pecan Park and it definitely looks like an interesting place with great access, but given the number of available transient spots, it seems like it would be awful difficult to get a space. In any case, we’ll definitely consider it next time.We’d love to stay for a whole month.

  5. No way! No way, really?? (That’s my response to everything in this awesome post). Glad you had perfect weather for your super special day, cupcake! Can’t wait to see you next month!!

  6. Great post of a wonderful time in Austin. You know we skipped Austin and you showed us what we missed. I enjoyed your adventures accompanied with great photos. I was drooling with that yummy food and desert! What a perfect timing with the high drama at the capitol, and glad your self control is in check when it comes to politics .

    • If you guys ever find yourself in the area, I would definitely stop in for a bit. It’s really a great city and I bet you guys would enjoy it!

  7. Great post per usual and I like the new look of the blog–I’m hoping to change ours up sometime soon, but I’m lazy…

    Funny coincidence, but we also stayed in site #13 at McKinney Falls SP…AND the ranger told me the same thing upon check-in?!?! Anywho, hope you guys are doing well?

    • Wow, that is a really cool coincidence… OR, that site is really terrible and they just tell people that it’s awesome so they won’t be mad??? Me and my conspiracy theories… In any case, thanks for the thumbs up on the blog redesign. We are really happy with it, but it definitely was more work than initially expected. It’s easy to go down rabbit holes….

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