Austin, Texas

June 2022 - I jumped at the opportunity to meet up with old friends in Austin this month. It has been on my list of cities to visit since the rising popularity of SXSW. From my perspective, Austin is a city for the young. Bars, clubs, late nights, parties on the water. Even in our mid-forties, we were there for it. Outside of the all day all night party atmosphere, Austin has unlimited character. We wandered through East Chavez for a couple hours and found unlimited visual satisfaction.

Another must-do is barbeque. We found there is an ongoing debate about barbeque amongst the locals. Franklins was deemed the best, but not worth the 2-4 hour wait at 6-8 AM. For some, Terry Blacks was a solid runner up. Others said don't go to Terry Blacks, and instead go to Original Blacks. Any way you slice it, you'll be online depending on what time of day you visit. We chose another option call "La Barbeque" and left with zero disappointment. We waited on line at La Barbeque as well, but in the process had some drinks and met some super-cool people. The line added to our experience, there was a disco ball in the bathroom, and the barbeque was the best I've ever had.

Additional highlights consisted of:

• Barton Springs and/or Barking Springs - the former being the paid area and the latter a free-for-all
• Simply walking the city - I did a 6-mile loop one morning and saw a good deal of the surrounding area
• Craft beer - If you like breweries, Austin has an unlimited selection
• Tacos - Eat your weight in tacos
• Talk to the locals - We met people from all over the US who had mostly relocated to Austin very recently and everyone had a great tip or opinion

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