Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Austin Texas: Downtown 6th St, Rudy's BBQ & Hilton Garden Inn (Day 1)

For Jimmy's birthday he decided he wanted to go to Austin Texas to celebrate. I've never been to Austin before and never considered it as a destination for a celebration. Been told a lot about how fun Austin is. Cheap drinks, great BBQ and live music capital of the world. Let's see if it's true.


Our flight was around 9:30 am. Started off with some coffee and a light snack. I was looking forward to some great Texas BBQ and didn't want to ruin my appetite.

Almond croissant..... bear claw... whatever.



There wasn't a SkyMall magazine on this flight. Maybe it's only on the planes that go to Vegas? So you get the cover of Southwest The Magazine.

Austin here we come.


Had some free drink tickets, might as well use them up. It's going to be a long flight.


Ashlie had some drink tickets also... round two.




Austin we have arrived! We landed around 3 pm central time.
Austin's airport is really nice. This is the farthest east I have ever gone in the states. I need to explore more.






Car rental is conveniently located across from the airport.


Upon leaving the airport we saw this gentleman's club. Landing Strip.. clever name.



Our first stop was for BBQ. Ashlie's favorite spot when she visits Austin is Rudy's BBQ.

I was so excited to try real Texas BBQ.

I was a bit overwhelmed with all these options.





Our first meal. I have seen BBQ served on wax paper on TV and it was nice to finally get to try it out. They don't do this in California. White bread is a standard with all the BBQ served.

Jalapeno Sausage and moist Brisket.

Rack of Baby Back Ribs.

Made myself a brisket sandwich. It was really good. It beats out any BBQ I have ever had in Cali.


After our lunch checked into our hotel. Jimmy booked rooms for us in Downtown Austin at the Hilton Garden Inn

The hotel was very nice and had some treats out for the guest. They had some warm oat bars. I didn't try it, but it smelled really good.


While Jimmy was checking in. I stepped outside to snap some pics.

The creek next to the hotel had a bunch of turtles swimming around.






The view from our room.

Our hotel just happen to be located by CrossFit Central. Jimmy, Ashlie and Peter decided to drop in at CrossFit Central for a workout. Nicole and I decided to nap so we can rest up for the nightlife.

Our hotel is conveniently located on the block of 5th and 6th Street in downtown Austin. Around 8 pm we headed out the door and explored 6th Street.



We were hungry and also wanted to watch the Warriors game. We had a hard time finding a place to eat and watch the game, but eventually ended up at pizza joint.







After pizza and watching the first half of the game, it was finally time to get our drink on.

Around 10 pm they shut down several blocks of 6th Street and let people roam the streets. Tow trucks and police roll through and tow any vehicle that is left there after 10 pm. There are so many bars and each of them had their own character. They we're all dive bars. No cover, no dress code, just cheap drinks.


Our first stop was The Thirsty Nickel. Jimmy got us a round of Kamikaze. 4 drinks and it was under $15. I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

Ashlie snapped a picture of the vending machine in the ladies room.

The Thirsty Nickel had some arcades in the back so we started playing games.


They also had a live band playing covers songs. They were covering a few 80s-90s rock songs. It was awesome. After the live band was done, the DJ played a few popular rock songs. The Thirsty Nickel was my favorite bar that night.

We decided to check out the other bars. Because there are so many bars in one area, a lot of them were competing for our business. There were a lot of cheap drink special going on that night.

The Library Bar had the cheapest drinks for the night.



Well drinks were $1.25. Four Vodka Sodas came out to a total of $5. It was ridiculous.


While we were at The Library, Peter got asked to sign up for the Bud Light's are you up for whatever happens next.

He had to fill out some info, watch a video, and then they record his answer to "what would you do to get to Bud Light's are you up for whatever happens next?"


Bud Light also gave out free stuff. Ashlie got a survival bracelet.


After the Library we headed to The Blind Pig Pub, this bar had a rooftop where you can hang out. and video games downstairs.



Across the way is another bar with a rooftop. Sometimes there are lines to get in, but they move very quickly.


It was busy for a Thursday night, but it never got insanely packed.

Our next stop was The Dizzy Rooster we didn't venture too far into the bar, we just stopped by to have a drink. Nicole really enjoyed the music here. They were playing some EDM stuff. We wanted to visit as many bars as we could since Thursday was probably going to be slower than Friday and Saturday.




Drink specials all night!

Next we headed next door to The Trophy Room they had a mechanical bull, but drinks were the most expensive here. $6 well drinks. After a round of drinks here we left.


We ended up back at the The Thirsty Nickel.

Ended up drinking with the bartender Alyssa.



After that we dropped by at Old School Bar & Grill


There wasn't much going at this bar.

But there was a bachelorette party was going wild for the night.



We stopped to get some late night eats at a food cart we passed by.

I have no idea what on it, but it was drunkenly amazing. The Chupacabra Hot Dog Cart



To end the night we headed back to The Thirsty Nickel.

It was a short walk down 6th Street to our hotel.

I don't know what Nicole is pouting about.




A block away from the hotel was a Wendy's.

Our last meal for the night.

6th Street in downtown Austin was amazing. I had a blast and it was only our first night. There's more to come!

2 comments:

  1. the blonde in the hot dog cart picture..........enough said

    ReplyDelete
  2. great post, perfect for our trip research. Thanks and love how much food you guys ate haha!

    ReplyDelete