We all really needed a break, a quick, easy getaway. After some back-and-forth, the decision was unanimous: a weekend in Austin! There is so much buzz about this place – incredible food, live music, the great outdoors.

We wanted to be close to all the action but not too close. We found The Wayback, an adorable boutique hotel, just a few miles outside the city. It had exactly what we wanted: a private cottage for each couple, a pool to cool our toes and a café where we could grab breakfast, a drink or an amazing farm to table dinner if we chose to stay in.

Dinner at The Wayback will have to wait until our next trip because the list of must-eats in Austin is so long. After arm wrestling between BBQ, sushi, or tacos, we settled on Uchi – the OG for sushi in Austin. That was our first night. For the second, we snagged a table at Canje. One of the top 50 spots according to the NY Times. It’s a mash up between Caribbean and Guyanese. Whaaat???

But before that, we set out to explore the “spirited” side of Hill Country. A car and driver picked us up for a day of tasting wine, beer and booze. Too many places to mention in this post but my favorites were a Mourvèdre from William Chris, Sotol (an agave distillate) from Desert Door, Ruby Red vodka from Deep Eddy, and Eezy Peel, an ale fermented with mangos from Jester King Brewery. And at Heath, there tasting of all Texas made sparkling was so informative! All that and we barely scratched the surface of what’s on offer here.  And oh my, the Texas bluebonnets are in season and were glorious!

For lunch we stopped at the Salk Lick BBQ, a local and tourist favorite since 1967. Pro Tip: they cryovac and ship their brisket, ribs and whatnot to the lower 48. I can’t wait for Uchi tonight after a dip in the Wayback pool to catch my second wind.

After dinner we are hitting another Austin institution, The Continental Club, the grandaddy of local music venues. Everybody who’s anybody plays there. Country, rock, blues, swing, rockabilly – their calendar is packed with top acts.

Tomorrow we are combining exercise and sight seeing by kayaking on Lady Bird Lake, then walking around the UT campus. My oldest wants to go there so doing a little recon for him. The east side of Austin is full of bars and restaurants, but there’s one honky-tonk that has our name on it: the White Horse Tavern. After dinner we will watch the locals square dance and try not to make fools of ourselves.

Two days and nights is not enough to do Austin justice. We’ll be back. And soon, y’all!