This past weekend we met up with some close friends in Austin. We all left our children with grandparents and spent 3 days / 2 nights hanging out and relaxing by the pool and eating delicious food for dinner.

Each time C and I do an overnight trip without the kids (we have done 7 nights total since becoming parents – a pandemic + nursing + parents/childcare far away has made this an infrequent occurrence) I’m reminded how good it is for us. Just to step away, get a quick refresh, and then dive back into parenting. I’m grateful to my parents who generously stepped in to help us get some time away!

While we do head down to Austin quite a bit to see my parents, rarely do we spend a lot of time downtown. This trip was quick, but we really squeezed a lot in during our little getaway.

Where We Stayed

We booked our rooms at The Line – Austin. There are a few of these hotels around the country. It was in a very central location which was great. The pool was nice and the rooms were fine. The hotel itself was a lot bigger than I anticipated, and I wish the rooms were not so simple and minimal (more hooks and a dresser would have been nice). Overall the hotel had a cool vibe and it was nice to be close to a lot of things. Next time I hope to stay on South Congress and stay either here or here.

What We Ate

The first night we had pre-dinner drinks at The Garage. It was a phenomenal cocktail bar quite literally in a parking garage. The entire ambiance and vibe was so well done and the drinks were amazing.

Dinner was at Suerte. All of the food they serve is farm to table and made in-house. If you want an elevated traditional Mexican food experience, this is the place. I was so full when we left! It was delicious. The entire meal was a 10/10.

Saturday morning C and I ventured down South Congress and ended up grabbing coffee from Two Hands. We always go to Jo’s, but wanted to try something different. We loved this place so much, we went back for the full breakfast experience the next day! The indoor and the patio are both beautiful and the food is so, so good. I’m coming back here as often as I can when I’m back in Austin. The coffee is fantastic too — and that’s coming from a Portlander!

On Saturday night we scootered over to Rainey Street. The entire street has changed a lot (check out Emmer and Rye if you’re looking for dinner over there) and is much more of a club scene than a cute little street with small bars. It was fun to see, but not really the vibe we were looking for. We headed over to Odd Duck (finally!!! I’ve been wanting to eat here since 2015). The food was very good. C and I both agreed that this restaurant has had so much success that it didn’t feel like they tried as hard. It was definitely excellent, but dining there once was enough and I don’t think we’d go back. I could definitely see us returning to Suerte though.

It’s wild how much Austin has changed in my (almost) 10 years of consistently visiting. The north end of South Congress has so many cute shops and stores, and the south end is still giving the traditional Austin feel (which I love).