austin roadtrip.

last saturday, my friend kyle and i decided it would be the perfect weekend to go to austin.  i had been wanting to visit my friend michael as well as my brother since the semester started, and michael had said we could crash at his apartment (which happens to be very nice), so we took him up on that and headed to capitol of texas and one of my favorite cities in the world.

we had dinner with my brother and his roommate caleb at pluckers, the famous austin-born wing bar.  i had never been there; in fact, i’m pretty sure i’d only had wings once before in my life!  we don’t really come from a wings kind of family i guess.  as i said to my brother, i really can’t picture my mom eating them, for whatever reason.  (not that she wouldn’t…it’s just hard to picture…)

in any case, i was excited to try them.  i played it safe and got some honey bbq wings and a side of cajun corn on the cob.  the wings were tasty, and the corn was great too but SUPER spicy.  as in eyes-watering, beads-of-sweat-on-your-forehead, mouth-on-fire-for-an-hour-afterward-even-though-you-chugged-five-glasses-of-water spicy!  good thing i’m a texan and can handle that!!

my brother got two kinds – buffalo medium and hallelujah.  he let me try one of his buffalo wings and it was SO good.  i’d definitely order those next time.  or the hallelujah wings – he and caleb were both raving about those.  i was so glad we went because i learned that i really like wings!

it was so nice to see my brother, even if it was just for a meal.  he’s loving austin and it’s great to see him doing so well.  i meant to get a picture of us before we left, but the slam-dunk contest was starting, so of course that took priority with the guys! :)

after dinner, it was already pretty late, so we said goodbye and headed over to michael’s.  it was fun to catch up and see his place, and then we got ready and headed to – where else? – sixth street!  always an adventure!  we went to so many awesome bars and met up with some of kyle’s friends too.  it was such a fun night.  and we definitely couldn’t leave without stopping at one of the food trucks camped out near sixth!  (there are so many!)  i had the best buffalo-meat-and-vegetable stir-fry with rice.  unfortunately i don’t remember the name of the truck…

the next morning, kyle and i got going fairly early because we knew we needed some pictures for our photography project this week.  i did much better documenting the day in photos than i had the day before:

{we ate at this amazing pizza place that my brother had told us about}

{my slice of margherita pizza was out of this world.  we sat on the curb enjoying the beautiful weather, eating our pizza off paper plates, and people-watching just like true austinites!}

{south congress ave…notice the famous lucy in disguise with diamonds costume shop.  we didn’t go in!  uncommon OBJECTS was really cool though.}

{this one area of south congress has all these food trucks parked together in a lot with tables and strings of lights.  it sort of resembles a fair ground, and you can get any kind of food you can think of!}

{i wasn’t leaving without getting a cupcake from hey cupcake!  we wanted to take them to go, so they gave us little individual plastic to-go containers for each one.  i got sweetberry – strawberry cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting – and kyle got michael jackson – chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.}

{there were vendors selling beautiful blown glass – ornaments, vases, plates, globes.  one of them saw my camera and asked if i would take some pictures and send them to him.}

{we stopped at the pennybacker bridge (or 360 bridge as it’s often called) to snap some photos.}

{lake austin}

{those rolling hills}

{kyle looking out over the lake…and no that’s not our six-pack there under the tree.  just to clarify!}

{what a view.}

{before we left, we ate our cupcakes up there on a rock overlooking the lake, the bridge, and the highway.  my sweetberry cupcake was possibly the best cupcake i’ve ever had (along with my friend laura’s coconut rum cupcakes, which can’t be beat), and the gorgeous view and company of my dear friend kyle made it that much sweeter.}

xoxo.