Austin, Texas with Baby

My maternity leave has been awesome as I mentioned in a previous post. It had been three months since we last travelled and I was itching to step outside of Canada for a bit.  Since we had done Europe and India when the little monkey was two months old and then NewFoundland when she was four months, we decided to introduce  an 8th city to her. So off we went to Austin, Texas. Luckily for us we had friends in the city who not only offered us a baby friendly apartment but also showed us around the city.

The Little Monkey has flown quite a bit for a newborn (8 flights by the time she was 4 months) but this time around she was going to be a crawling 7 month old and I was a bit anxious on what it would  be like on the plane. Surprisingly for us, she was a  trooper! While she did not sleep for the entire  ride, she continued to stick to her nap schedule and when she was awake she was quite content playing with her toys or munching away on teething biscuits. As I mentioned in this article, the diaper bag is well stocked for all emergencies. This time around I had to ADD food and toys to the list. I have a feeling that the list is going to be quite long by the time we hit  the one year mark!  We were allowed to fly with a small ice cooler for her food and milk. 

For us Austin was foodie heaven. All we did was eat and drink and no… not one touristy thing did we do.  No museums, no parks, no concerts… we shall have to save those for a future visit. We found Austin to be quite baby friendly,  nearly every place we went to (bars included) had high chairs  and car seat stands along with friendly servers. We were quite impressed by that.

Here’s a list of places we highly recommend you trying out if you ever visit Austin…whether you have a baby in tow or not!

Oasis : Best place to catch the sunset on Lake Travis while sitting on a patio with a Margarita in hand. We heard the food wasn’t so great here so we had dinner prior to heading over. Based on the dessert we had, I’d say it was a smart choice!

Baby A’s (Acapulco) : Best happy hour with deadly drinks (two Margarita maximum!) and the appetizers were quite good too. The Little Monkey took a good snooze while we enjoyed our happy hour with a large group of new friends.

Hopdoddy : Best burger bar ever!  You get to grab your drink prior to ordering your meal… sure helps pass the time whilst standing in line. This is a happening spot and can be quite busy but definitely worth a visit. I  had the best Ahi Tuna Burger ever! The lamb and beef burgers were also good from the wolfing down I witnessed at my table.  These guys are very baby friendly. We decided to test out  a summer infant tiny dinner mat we received as a gift and it worked like a charm for us! The Little Monkey was quite content having a snack at 10 p.m (well past her bedtime!) while we enjoyed our burgers and adult milkshakes!

Gueros taco bar : We LOVE LOVE LOVE authentic Mexican food and so for us Austin was amazing because of the vast selection on offer. That said Gueros by far was our favourite discovery (thank you lovely hostess!). Even the Little  Monkey enjoyed some of the guacamole. If you’re ever in the south Congress area, hop over for a meal. Thank me later!

Z Tejas : The setting at the Arboretum location is fabulous! We lunched on the terrace (margarita and all) and it was a divine way to spend a leisurely afternoon overlooking the hills.

La Tapatia : This is a hole in the wall. Which is why I’m going to tell you that it sits at 13450 North Highway 183 in Austin. Go here for the best breakfast tacos,l hands down. No joke, four of us were stuffed for $14 in TOTAL.  If you’re looking for cactus tacos this is one place to try it. My favourite was the chorizo ones. I  love me my  chorizo.

Alamo  Draft House : This is the one place that was not baby friendly. Since  it’s a movie theatre they only allow kids aged 7  and up. I left the Little Monkey with the hubs one morning and went for a quick Pecan Porter Milkshake (yup..  beer milkshake. Drooooooooool).  If you have the time definitely catch a movie here. Not only do they deliver the booze and food to your seat, but everything is made fresh and delivered in real vessels. I’m talking freshly popped corn in a metal bowl … no paper bags. Pizza on a pan…not a box.

House Bars : On Rainey street you can go bar hopping, yes with a baby. No one gave us the stink eye either! There’s a couple houses which have been converted to casual bars. We chose a lazy Sunday afternoon to hop along a few  of them, exploring hand crafted cocktails and some fine tequila. I will admit that a Friday or Saturday night would be crazy fun, but definitely not baby friendly.

P.S – If you’re wondering why there’s no mention of BBQ on this list… we didn’t like the non saucy dried BBQ that’s on offer in Austin.  We were driven two hours in pursuit of the best  BBQ  and it still left us unsatisfied. I suppose our BBQ palates aren’t as refined …we like ’em lathered and bathed in sauce!