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Austin Babies
XP: Looking for advice...Possible relo from WA State to Austin
Hello Austin Bumpies!
DH and I are considering a possible relo to Austin and I'm looking for advice from the Austin Nesties/Bumpies.
I'm a mortgage loan officer for a large national builder based mortgage company which is based out of Austin and DH is has worked for the same asphalt company for 22 years as an estimator, bidding on state/county roadway work. I've been looking into job opportunities at our corporate office in Austin. DH and I have always lived in Washington State approx 2 1/2 hours southwest of Seattle in a very small town. (grew up here) Both of our families live here and this would be a huge change for us.
Our corporate office is located fairly close to The Domain (which I fell in love with by the way). I'm not sure what part of Austin that is considered since I really don't know Austin all that well but that's the area I would be working.
We have booked a personal trip to Austin mid May for 5 days to check out different areas and really look at it from a "living there" aspect. We're staying near downtown but we are open to traveling all over the city and outlying areas to explore, we plan to just get in the car and go. We want to really "experience" Austin while we're there. We are huge sports fans and I've already purchased tickets for the UT/Baylor womens fastpitch game so we will be doing that while we're there. What other things should be consider doing and seeing while we're there?
Any advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated. Would love to hear about the area and "must do/visit" suggestions while we're there.
TIA! 
This discussion has been closed.
Re: XP: Looking for advice...Possible relo from WA State to Austin
LLCG's Austin in 5 days:
Spend an evening walking up and down South Congress. Have dinner, drinks, listen to live music and have some Amy's ice cream.
Take one of your mornings/afternoons and walk around Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. Its about 3 miles and is gorgeous, fun and free.
Splurge on brunch at Fonda San Miguel. Make reservations.
Have a dinner at sunset at the Oasis. Have one of their $18 margaritas (its worth it). Take your camera-- the lake at sunset is gorgeous.
Have dinner at the Saltlick and visit the winery next door. Go to the south one in Driftwood.
If you are into baseball, try to catch a Round Rock Express game. Its good, clean fun.
Fantastic list, LLCG. However- I must disagree w/ this one:
For BBQ- hit up County Line instead of Saltlick. It'll keep you closer to town and it just plain tastes better.
You might also want to contact a realtor to have him/ her show you around Austin and the different neighborhoods. I'm sure the girls on here would be happy to give you recs if needed.
Barf. Sweet lil' MC isn't from here. She knows not of what she speaks.
Ohhh! You could hit up both and give us your opinion on which is better. OR, you could skip the dispute all together and go to Lambert's (downtown) for "fancy" BBQ. Its REALLY good. Their ribs taste like candy.
I mean, not to hijack the thread or anything...
Salt Lick tastes like you are, well, eating a salt lick.
County Line- two words (one of which is compound)- homemade bread. oh, and i'll through in a couple more words- fresh from the oven.
FACE.
Err, if I may....OP, Salt Lick and County Line are both delicious. For your purposes, the advantage of County Line is that it is in the northern half of Austin (5204 Ranch Road 2222), and conceivably in an area you might want to live. Whereas the Salt Lick is south, just outside of Austin. Both are in gorgeous areas. I had my wedding reception at the SL, so much love to SL!
Also, check out Austin360.com for some more ideas as to what is going on while you're in town.
Mid May= Texas Roller Girls, Blaggards @ Fido's Irish Pub, Los Lonely Boys @ Stubb's,
Year round= Ester's Folly's, Pedicab tour of the city, riverboat, Mt. Bonnell
I'm staying out of the BBQ debate. I will ditto LLCG on the South Congress outing. DH and I rented down there for awhile before we bought a house and omg, FUN. Try Home Slice pizza. Then go to Amy's ice cream. Mmm.
Austin is a really great city. We were only there for 4 years, but we LOVED our time there and only moved away because DH had a really great job opportunity that put us closer to my family. I can't imagine a young family not loving it there, honestly. It is very hot, and that will take some getting used to for you. I grew up in the midwest and I thought I was going to die every year from June-September (probably didn't help that I was pregnant the last two summers). But the winter months totally made up for the insane heat! There's tons to do with kids or without, fun parks, nice lakes (uh, when they have water) and soooo many nice people. I made some of the best friends of my life there - people are just very approachable and fun in Austin. Traffic can sort of suck, but that's really true of most any city. If you're pg or plan to be, you'll have your pick of many great OBs and NAMC is a really great place to have a baby (right beside the Domain).
Good luck with your decision!
(read it. you know you want to.)
anderson . september 2008
vivian . february 2010
mabel . august 2012
Ew to both. And if you're going to drink Texas wine, at least go to Duchman Winery around the corner. Salt Lick gives me a migraine. And while you're there, the Italian is *to die for*.
Best BBQ in the Austin area= Donn's. The end.
I agree with LLCG's list...including the barbecue! I think driving out to Driftwood may be a good opportunity to see more of the area outside of central Austin.
Hiking up Mt. Bonnell is something I often take out of towners to do and it is in a wonderful neighborhood, that you probably can't afford. If you are looking around at neighborhoods it would definitely be good to talk to a realtor so that you can see the places you would really be able to buy and might like, instead of just sightseeing the prettiest places in town.
Wow. Its like I don't even know you.
MC is right about the bread. County Line is an excellent bakery. For actual BBQ, though, head on over to the Saltlick. And, if I'm being honest, Rudy's is actually better than Saltlick (the MOIST brisket, obv) but, its in a gas station, and that's hard to swallow for some out of towners.
When our realtor took us on a tour of Austin Rudy's was the first BBQ I had in TX - I have to say Rudys is probably the perfect place to break in someone to TX BBQ. If I had gone to SL first I would have been scared away from BBQ!! But now I love SL - way better than CL (barf) and Donn's (double barf).
Iguana Grill is another good place to go for dinner and to experience the lake and the Lakeway area.
Southwest Austrin all the way - we are closer to the hill counrty, we have less wind, we have more trees and less hail damage.... nuff said
Thank you SO much for all the great advice! We definintley will be going to South Congress, run around the lake and trying some of the great food you recommended.
I've heard that 6th street is fun....any thoughts on that? I'm 37 and my husband is 41....is it a younger crowd down there? Also, a client of mine is from Austin and she said to check out Bee Cave. ??
The west end of 6th isn't that bad- Dogwood, Molotov, Star, etc. Standard 6th street is for college students and underage w/ fake ID. Think Bourbon Street.
4th Street has some fun places for the older crowd- We regularly go to Cedar Street Courtyard for the outdoor live music- it's near Fado's and the Gingerman Pub. Also, there's lots of great food around there. My current favorite dinner spot is Annies around the corner.
Bee Cave is a very mixed bag. There are some really neat things going on around there, including high-end building and, um, well, some not. If you have a good realtor you could really find something neat out there, if you can get a good feel for where you would want to be in that area vs what your budget will support.
ditto the 4th street rec.
Oh, but while you're downtown, you should DEFINITELY check out the Alamo Drafthouse for a movie one night. DEFINITELY. Even better if you see one of their special shows (sing-a-long, quote-a-long, etc). GET THERE EARLY. Like 30-45 minutes before the show, early. Unless it's a weeknight, then, like 20 minutes before the show. Plan to eat dinner there.