I may have to spend a week or so for work in Round Rock. I could possibly fly in a day or two early if there is anything fun to do in the area.

I’m not into sports, bars or crowds. I enjoy nature “stuff” and sightseeing. Any idea’s?

The Inner Space Caverns looks cool. Hopefully it isn’t a tourist trap like some of the caves in my area.

Looks like a tourist trap to me, but they do have a wild cave tour, which gets you away from the tourist trap part of it. I did one in California, and it was a lot of fun. Less so, if you don't like small spaces.

If you like tubing you can go down to New Braunfels (45 min south of Austin) and go down the Guadalupe river.

Funny, I did that when I lived in Houston, but living 15 minutes from there I never did it in the 3 years I lived in San Antonio . . .

I've always wanted to go to the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. Sounds like they're perfectionists about projectionists And any place with cell phone policies that strict is A-OK with me!

Given what I've heard of the city, it sounds like a place that would have a ton of stuff to do. Hell, the unofficial motto is "keep Austin weird."

Sounds good.

From the news it seems like Texas has dried up and is about to blow away. Wonder if the river is now a creek?

Sounds like my kind of place. I might not want to go home

There's plenty to do in Austin that isn't a tourist trap, and meets your nature stuff/sightseeing goals.

Round Rock is mostly a suburb of Austin now, with a small "old town" area and mostly just suburbia surrounding it. Expect a lot of chain stores and strip malls, along with the massive Dell HQ.

Matt already hit on the Alamo Drafthouse. I highly recommend this too, even if it's not in the nature/sightseeing category. Austin proper has 4 locations, and you can either go to see a normal movie or a special event. Get there 45 minute early, they run a pre show reel instead of ads, and getting there early will let you browse the menu without missing the movie. They normally ask, but if not, make sure to let the wait staff know it's your first time so they explain how everything works. Don't worry, no embarrassing situation here by telling them this. One of the regular special events I'll point out is the Master Pancake Theater. Think of this as a live version of Mystery Science Theater 3000, though a little more crass at times. http://drafthouse.com has all their schedules. Lake Creek and The Village are the ones on the north side of Austin and closer to Round Rock. Lake Creek would be easy to get to if you take the 45 toll road. Village, you will want to get to Mopac (Loop 1), and that can also be accessed off the 45 toll road. Ritz is downtown, and South Lamar is south of downtown.

Sightseeing on the nature area, Barton Creek and Zilker Gardens should be on your list. It's near downtown on the south side, and the parks offers a lot of areas to walk around, along with some kayak rental places at Zilker if you want to go sit on the lake. Even with the drought, the lakes have plenty of water in them still for boating, due to the dams. The area suffers from both drought and flood conditions, so a series of dams were built back in the early to mid 1900s to bring it more under control. You will see LCRA all over the place, that stands for Lower Colorado River Authority. The Mansfield dam near Austin has a public parking area both near the top of the dam (right turn off Loop 620 after you pass the dam, if headed southbound), and at the bottom (before you pass the dam, left turn off 620).

Also, if you enjoy driving through scenic areas, I'd recommend a complete trip down Loop 360 in Austin, to see the mix of commercial buildings and protected land. It's a nice balance, and is an amazing place to work. If computer games interest you at all, you can look for the old Origin building. It's a large white office complex one stop light right before the bridge over the lake. If you are driving northbound on 360, it's easy to see before even crossing the bridge. Southbound, you won't see it unless you turn off to do so, or unless you look in your rear view mirror after crossing the bridge.

One restaurant I'd recommend more for the scenery would be Ski Shores Cafe (2905 Pearce Road
Austin, TX 78730-4310). This is in the 360 area, and driving there will take you on some pretty fun residential roads. Richard Gariott's castle is nearby, along with some other amazing properties.

If you have time to escape town all together, I'd recommend a drive out into the hill country. For example, the route from Austin to Marble Falls along FM 1431 is pretty nice. You can even take a few detours to go look at Lake Travis along the way.

I've got plenty more to post, but this will start you off on things to look up to see if it interests you.

Wow thanks, that all sounds interesting. It's hard to dig through a Google search to find good outdoor things to do because they don't hit the top of the list since a tree or hill has no revenue.

I do like to drive and will take your advice on the mini sightseeing trips and try to hit all the other things you mentioned.

I was actually thinking of flying direct to Houston and driving to Austin but that might be a bit much.

This is one of the things I love about the Alamo Drafthouse and Cinema.

...and I haven't even been there before...

There's only a couple of interesting things on the roads from Houston to Austin, and long stretches of nothing in between.

Everyone else has the rest of things to do in Austin covered.

Ok, round two. As others have suggested, the drive from Houston to Austin is pretty uneventful. There are some scenic spots, but overall the time would be better spent around Austin instead of on a fast highway. Some indoor activities may be appealing due to the heat this time of the year.

If you want to explore some interesting places in Austin, look into the following:

- South Congress. This is an area on Congress Ave south of Town Lake (the river like lake south of the downtown area). It's been revitialized in the past few years and has a bit of a hipster presence, but also has lots of interesting and weird shops to explore. One for example is a steampunk themed candy and malt shop, selling among other things, chocolate covered bacon.

- University of Texas campus. This place is huge, and if it interests you at all, might be worth walking around. Look just north of the capitol building for any street signs that are burnt orange color. Those signal where the campus borders are.

- The capitol building. Pretty open to visitors, though they did recently add metal detectors. Being bigger then even the US capitol building, there is quite a bit to explore. Make sure to wander into the basement, and the newer underground expansion.

- 6th street. Even if you aren't into the bar scene much, it's a very interesting people watching area. Lots of live music here at night, and on Friday and Saturday, the police will close off the street to vehicles.

I think all of this should give you plenty to do in a week there. I still miss living there, and look forward to getting back one day.

Thanks much! I’ve printed off all your suggestions and will do them tomorrow! I’ve been given the word I need to head out. Sounds like we can’t have a mini meet since you don’t live there any more. Also 104 degrees, I’m going to melt!

Austin was pretty cool. While I had to work all week I flew in early Sunday morning so see as much of the sights as I could. Here’s what I was able to hit:

Capitol Build – Yep, that a big building alright. Lots of empty halls though. I kind of whish they would have had some museum trinkets around but I guess that’s OK since it really isn’t a museum.

Long horn statues – Looks like they took a clue from Chicago, or Chicago took a clue from them. On about every corner there was a painted long horn. Kind of cool.

Topless Hippie Chicks – While taking a picture of a longhorn status I looked right next to it and there was a group holding signs and protesting something. I then looked closer and the signs said stuff like ”Brest’s are for the family.” Then I noticed an older hippie chick with no top on. I guess Austin is a bit more liberal than the rest of Texas. Too bad they weren’t super models protesting. I might have stopped then.

I then went down Congress Ave. and walked around the “hip” shops. I got the kid a wizard hat from the “Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds” costume shop. Seems like a lot of them just sold high priced old farm items you could find at any country flea market. I was amazed at the prices. Must not be a recession in Austin.

Town Lake - Your right, while every river is dried up and all the grass is dead the river/lake was full. The stand up kayaks were kind of neat. Not something I would want to try unless the water was deep.

Hill country – Those are hills??? Well I guess in Texas they are. I finally saw a real Road Runner after years of watching the cartoon. It was actually on the road too. I stopped at a marina somewhere by Marble Falls and took a look at the almost gone river. One of the boat ramps was now a 60 foot drop off to the rocks below. All the floating boat storage rafts were huddled in the middle of the river. It looks like the water level was down at least 70 feet or so.

Barbeque in a gas station – My boss took me to a gas station that was also apparently famous for its barbeque. I can’t remember the name but it was good. They gave you a bole of barbeque and some bread and you made your own. I got the spicy but I was surprised that it really was not that hot. I thought Texas was known for its hot food.

Looks like I’ll probably be going back in a few months. Hopefully when it’s no longer in the 100’s during the day. It was 107 went I flew out. I have never been in that hot of weather in my life.

Thanks again for the suggestions

Glad to hear you did have some time to explore.

Austin didn't get hit nearly as hard as some other areas of the nation. I attribute this to a mix of the college population (living off loans), along with some good decisions by the city. Politically, Perry also likes to take some credit, but his direct involvement in the city is limited. About the only signs of recession there are more on the outskirts of town, where some office construction was halted. During the boom, tons of new office buildings were going up, in anticipation of the rapid growth continuing. Austin metro was the 3rd largest growth area during 2000-2006.


Indeed, not quite like the big hills elsewhere, or the mountains out west. They at least provided some variation to the generally flat Texas landscape. I chuckled a bit when I saw them the first time too, but there are some nice areas out there.


Sounds like Rudy's. Their headquarters store is in the northern part of Austin, off 183. And they have quite a few scattered around. Quick service, good quality, and decent pricing resulted in frequent visits when I lived there. I go there once every time I visit now that I've moved away.

The city hall here in Beaverton doubles as an art gallery. Some of it's good, some of it's... not to my tastes. I think it's a great idea. The space would be unused, anyway.


Probably the former. Chicago did their cows in '99, IIRC. Cincinnati did pigs in '00, and Toronto did moose in '01.

Glad you had a good trip!

Heh. I grew up in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. I always thought Saskatchewan was flat as a pancake. Then I spent 6 years in Essex County, Ontario, which (if I remember my geology correctly) is essentially a glacial plain from the last ice age. The next time I drove through southern Saskatchewan, I was shocked to discover that it was hilly. Funny how perspective works.

So I'm guessing you never got out to the Drafthouse?

Rudy's has great sauce, but I don't think the overall quality is that good.

I was thinking I could do that after work some night but the boss had other plans. Hopefully next time.

Did Rudy's on the last trip. I wanna hit Gingerman on the next one.

One thing I didn't see but heard alot about was the Stevie Ray Vaughan statue.

When I think of statues I think of dictators, war heroes or politicians. Not Blues guitar players.

And almost certainly not this.

At least Michael Jackson was a real person.

Does this qualify as a politician?

Those are great! I never realized there were so many stupid statues in the world. I guess I never really paid any attention.

If these things last as long as the Roman or Egyptian statues there are going to be some confused archeologists in 2000 years. I imagine the M. Jackson statue outside a stadium will really get them wondering. Since many are wondering why right now.

I guess they show what our culture values.

Freddy Mercury! (Two statues, one in Montreux, and one in Liverpool, not counting the one over the London theatre with the Queen musical...)