Texas - Nov. 2017 - Days 1 & 2

November 9^th, 2017

Sister trip + Mike (we like having someone cart us around)!  This is the third year of this new tradition. The sister lived in MO during that time, but now is back in MI. Continuing with the visiting a city, with great music, we headed to Austin, TX!

We had an 8:30ish flight to San Antonio, TX. The not paying extra to pick a seat worked in our favor – all of us ended up in the exit row!! We had a smooth flight, no one had a lost bag, and the car rental line was not too bad. Luck was for sure on our side!  We also rolled the dice when booking the car (Alamo). Mike picked the “Managers Choice”. We were able to select an Impala for our trip.  The hotel was near the airport, Holiday Inn Express San Antonio - Airport. The room was okay- the bathroom was a little small and the room did not smell the best.

Lyndon B. Johnson White House

November 10^th, 2017

After a quick breakfast, at the hotel we were on the road.  Our first stop for the day was the Lyndon B. Johnson State Park (and portion of the National Park Service), which is where you can visit the ranch and his white house. It was a neat site.  It was a bit of a drive to the white house, but it provided lovely views of ranch land with wandering Herford cattle. Once arriving to the white house area, we were able to purchase tickets to enter the Texas White House with a tour guide ($3 for adults). Advice - arrive early so you will not have to wait too long for a tour. When we were getting ready to leave a bus load of people showed up and easily filled the next two tours. There were some displays and video to watch.

LBJ Ranch

LJB Boyhood Home

Leaving the state park we headed to the second LBJ NPS site, his boyhood home. There is a short hiking trail to check out the farm area. You can enter the house with a park ranger – free. The house is closed during the lunch hour, so plan accordingly.

Time for lunch!! Our first Texas BBQ selection was a cute place called Salt Lick BBQ. It was an excellent choice! The BBQ sauce (mustard based) that they use reminded my sister and I of home – it was super similar to the homemade sauce that the family uses for BBQ chicken! We also tried the Chocolate Pecan Pie – it was just okay.

VooDoo Donut

We made it to the hotel, Best Western Plus – Austin Central.  The room was decent, even a smaller bathroom than the last hotel! We chilled out at the hotel for a bit before heading out for the night.  We parked at the convention center for $10 and then checked out 6^th Street.  A friend recommended that we check out VooDoo Donuts – it was amazing!  The hardest part was picking out what type to try!  We had signed up for the Austin Live Music Tour thru Austin Detours. The $50 tour provided us with a local musician guide/driver that took us to 3 different music venues/bars. We started the night at the Elephant Room for some jazz type music, it was nice. The second stop was at a dive bar called The White Horse, where were was some honky-tonk music being played. There were lots of folks two-stepping. Of all the places, this was the busiest of the three bars we visited.  The last stop of the evening was the Skylark Lounge. It was another dive bar. The band that was supposed to play had cancelled, but the replacement band was super good. The band was called Oscar Ornelas.