A few months ago I connected with one of my other travel buddies, Chris, to see where he might want to escape to for a quick trip. We both picked Austin since we had never been and I wanted good food; he wanted warmth.

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I attended a conference in Orlando for the beginning of this week so it worked out to buy a cheap flight to Austin and take an extended weekend.

Not always that easy.

This week has been a bit of a roller coaster for me. \240My work conference turned out to be more stressful than expected because surprise: I had bed bugs (not in a Hilton hotel thank god). Sadly I did not know this until after three days of sleeping there, so I am covered head to toe with bites. I had checked the bed when I arrived, but those little suckers must have been hiding. I had thought I had been bitten by a spider or it was an \240allergic reaction of some kind. I do have a high sensitivity to bug bites (remind me to tell you of adventures with Lyme disease), so it wouldn’t have been unheard of. All the weird shit seems to find me.

I finally went to a walk in clinic, got a shot, got a prescription and took a big fat nap yesterday - the nap calmed me down.

Luckily I was able to launder all my clothes and shoes yesterday. It’s likely I could have saved my suitcase, but because I am not heading home, I didn’t want to risk carrying anything with. Sadness since I just bought that suitcase last week.

But just so everyone knows it wasn’t all tragic: a special shout out to all the peeps who made life more bearable this week. Kept me in good spirits (literally).

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But - Stay tuned for adventures in Tex-mex and BBQ ❤️🐷🌮

Checked into my hotel - the Doubletree Austin situated within a few blocks of the Texas State Capitol.

First priority was lunch so I could take my meds - I went to check out the restaurant in house.

Quesadilla with mushrooms, spinach & chihuahua cheese. Sorry for the carnage pre photo.

Tums at the ready (this medication is giving me bad acid reflux), I made my way to the Texas Chili Parlor, right across the street from the hotel.

Mornings should always begin with a version of Wake Up Doublestree breakfast, which included cheese blintzes, blueberry pancakes and dill tomato scrambled eggs.

We escaped work and went to take a tour of the Capitol Building.

The rotunda below with the Lone Star.

Every morning should begin with breakfast tacos from Torchys.

Tacos include heaps of egg, bacon, cheese, salsa, guacamole & crispy poblano peppers.

Next stop: beer o’clock at the Austin Beer Garden Brewing Company. We each did our own flights. My favorite was the Big Mama Red, an imperial red ale.

On my list for this trip was this place for Donuts. There are two locations; one is solely a donut shop and then there is this place, which serves everything from cocktails to donut entrees to dessert donuts.

The. Big. Fat. Donut.

Dinner at Loro. Likely one of the best meals I’ve had. It’s an Asian Fusion BBQ joint. We did family style and I paired with a local ipa.

Sweet Corn Fritters sriracha aioli, cilantro

Took myself out for a run this morning.

It’s already 62 degrees and a little muggy. I love the little park that surrounds the Capitol

Today was an unexpected foray into Texas wine country. I say unexpected because it is not exactly located within walking distance from downtown, so I wasn’t counting on seeing it.

Luckily, Chris’s friend Molly was willing to drive us around this weekend and so adventure was planned. Our first stop was Duchman Family Winery, located about 30-45 \240minutes outside of Austin. They grow their grapes in the high plains of Texas and they are 100% Texas wines (which once again, pleasantly surprised). I was not expecting as many Italian grape varietals - as well as some Northern Rhône.

Best BBQ of my life right here.

Here is the pit.

After BBQ, more wine tasting. This time we just purchased a bottle of Grenache rose and sat on the patio enjoying the nice weather.

After catching the last of a very lackluster Super Bowl, Chris & I had our last drink in Austin at Prohibition era - Roosevelt Room.

Some of the loveliest put together cocktails I’ve ever experienced. While they have a section dedicated to creations from their staff, they also put together the menu by the era, so it’s easy to find all your favorites. If you are feeling overwhelmed by the size of the menu, the bartenders will steer you in the right direction

Cocktail menu

The last morning in Austin found us back on Congress Street. Chris had an earlier flight, so i met up with Yvonne, Tim & Nicole for one last day together. We started out with a lovely breakfast followed by a walk and photo shoot with the street art.

Along the walk, we stopped by the Hotel Saint Cecilia in the hopes they would give us a small tour of this boutique hotel. We were lucky and the front desk was able to show us one of their rooms.

Photo: by the poolside

Much later entry than I had intended, but I felt this deserved some attention.

Friday night of our trip, we met up with the Lees, the Somers, and Molly for a tasting menu at Barley & Swine. This was definitely a nice splurge, one I don’t participate in often, but 100% worth it.

Rather than doing the wine pairings, we just decided to order 3-4 bottles of wine for the table.

Naturally we started with sparkling rose and ended with a dessert wine.