Trip Report Austin day 3: Franklin's BBQ, COTA Karting rematch, Blazer Tag, Taverna

Headed out to Franklin Barbecue in the morning to pick up Barbecue that Ruben pre-ordered. This was the line when we arrived. If you know you're going to be in Austin, I'd recommend doing a pre-order. I believe you can order it a month in advance. Otherwise you're looking at a 3 hr wait.

Pre-orders are to go only and are picked up in the back.


Franklin Barbecue Brisket in all it's glory.


Sausage

Ribs

Smoked Turkey.


My second time having Franklin Barbecue, still amazing.

They also have fully cooked brisket sealed to bring back home.

It was pouring rain in the afternoon. We thought that our Karting reservation would have been cancelled, but they ended up calling Ruben to let him know that it was still on.

So off to COTA Karting for a rematch. This time we did two races.
The first time around the track was extremely wet.
This time I brought my action cam to capture some racing footage. Most of it is of me spinning out at every corner.

Here are the resulting lap times:

1-Philip 80.712
2-Riki 81.958
3-Eden 82.124
4-Reuben 85.144
5-Howie 86.973
6-Brandon 89.165
7-Alex 90.370
8-Jordan 91.032
9-Paul 91.597
10-Jeff 91.789
11-Dave 92.392
12-Kevin 96.419
13-Ben 97.318
14-Olatunde 105.160
15-Matt 107.092

The second time around the track was drying up from all the racers.

Results race #2:

1-Eden 66.386
2-Riki 66.460
3-Howie 66.571
4-Paul 69.346
5-Reuben 70.809
6-Brandon 73.517
7-Philip 79.013
8-Ben 81.664

After we finished karting, there were people doing the Audi Driving Experience at COTA so we went to watch.


We played shuffle board at the lounge. Nobody was there.

We tried doing some Axe throwing at Urban Axes but they were booked out for the entire day. So we went to Blazer Tag.

It doesn't look like much from the outside and I wasn't expecting much, but once we got into the briefing room we realized it was more than that.

This was the map. It was huge, it went as high as 16 feet. Tri-level. We played with a group of 41 people and it could accommodate more than that. Plus there are power ups & land mines through out the arena. To get power ups you had to trade in your kills for power ups. Power up could be rapid fire, lives, ammo, etc..

The whole entire trip Brandon had been getting his butt kicked in all the competitive events, but when it came to Blazer Tag he took 2nd overall, but 1st in our group.
After Blazer Tag headed back to the house to rest up before dinner.

Been having so much barbecue the few days, we decided to change it up and opted for Italian at Taverna


Charred Octopus: fingerling potatoes, chorizo, calabrian olive oil and salsa verde.

Bruschetta

Creme Brulee

Salted Caramel spumoni.

I forgot to take pics of our entrees.

More than have our group was leaving before 8 am the next morning to head home.
That's it for day 3.

Where to next? We're off to the Bahamas. Can't wait.

Trip Report: Austin TX day 2: COTA Karting & Top Golf

Woke up and breakfast and some left over BBQ courtesy of Howie maybe others? I don't know I was asleep.

Headed off to COTA Karting for our reservation.


It was $28 for a 10 min race and you're ranked by your best lap time.

1-Robert 61.100
2-Eden 61.126
3-Paul 61.734
4-Randy 61.969
5-Philip 62.246
6-Jeff 62.374
7-Brandon 62.430
8-Reuben 62.881
9-Son 64.400
10-Howie 64.806
11-Riki 67.220
12-Christine 70.431
13-Ben 78.455

Brandon wanted a rematch, but the next available race wasn't for another 2 hours. So we made reservations for two races for tomorrow.

After karting, headed back to the house to change and headed to Top Golf



Chicken and Waffle Sliders

Char-Grilled Steak Flatbread: marinated steak, grilled red onions, five-cheese blend, chimichurri, fresh jalapeno, piquillo peppers.

Quesadillas


After the golf we headed down to the bar to watch the NBA finals.

While at the bar we got a list for our scavenger hunt. The first team to finished 10 of the 15 things on the list wins. #10 have a girl give you her brassiere. Impressively Son knocked out one of the hardest items off the list in minutes. As a bonus he switched shirts with her also.

We left Top Golf and headed back to Rainey Street.


Ended up back Lustre Pearl to play some more corn hole.

Over at the food truck area grabbed at snack at The Happy Lobster Truck originally just got two junior lobster rolls. The bun was so soft and grilled and packed with huge pieces of lobster that I ended up getting two more.


Brandon enjoying his frozen banana from Bananarchy

Made our way back to sixth street. It was busier than the night before, but normally the streets are packed with people. Not sure where everyone is.


Test your might.




Late night grub from Gryo Express

It was delicious and very greasy.

That ends day 2. Tomorrow it's a Brandon's chance to redeem himself at Karting.

Trip Report: Austin TX Day 1: LA Barbecue, Rainey Street, & Dirty Sixth Street

I was the first to arrive in Austin for the bachelor party. Waited at the airport for a few others to land and headed off to the vacation rental.

The owner said that the yard was still under construction. Looks almost complete to me.




Half of the group headed to the market to pick up some supplies why the other half headed to la Barbecue to pick up our BBQ pre-order.




Half of the shop is a convenience store and the other half is la Barbecue.


Place was pretty empty when we arrived.

Smoked brisket in all it's glory. If you haven't had real Texas BBQ you're missing out.

Smoked Sausage.

Red meat requires some red wine.


After dinner we started our evening at The Alibi at Rainey Street

Surprisingly this drink was not for Ruben, who normally likes pink drinks.




Our next stop was Lustre Pearl

Located behind the bar is an area with some activities to keep you busy during the night.


ici tout est bon = here everything is good










Hung out at Lustre for a bit then went to check out Container Bar most of the other bars were a bit slow, but there seemed to be an event going on at Container Bar and it was quite busy.



If you continue down Rainey St a bit further, you'll run into the food truck area.





Capone-classic Chicago dog.

It was almost midnight. So we decided to check out 6th street. I was here about 2 years ago and there were no scooters. Now they were everywhere. We all grabbed one and headed to 6th street.


The squad, minus two who haven't arrived yet.





For some reason a Dos Equis quote seems appropriate right now.






I like that they close off a few blocks on 6th street so that people can roam around. Drinking isn't allowed on the streets, but there's plenty of bars around for that.





Brandon can get pretty competitive. Especially racing.







That ends our first night. Tomorrow it's time for some Karting.