For a city I had no particular desire to visit, this was the best day!
We were staying about a hour and 15 fifteen minutes from Austin and decided it would be a nice place to watch the Superbowl from. So on Sunday, February 12th, 2023 we woke up, ate breakfast, packed some lunch and snacks, and headed towards the city.
Deep Eddy's Distillery
There we were, driving down the road, the city up ahead of us, when Nate calls out that we are passing the Distillery for DEEP EDDY'S. Deep Eddy's is most well known for their lemonade flavored vodka (the only vodka I like), and we had often shared this delicious drink with friends and family back home in New York over the years. With it being one of our favorites we knew we HAD to turn the car around - and turn around we did, at 11:30 in the morning to pull up to their tasting room.
We arrived to find a line of about 4-5 people already waiting for the place to open at noon. We walked around, admired the sign, discussed how serendipitous this felt, and checked out the outdoor seating areas. More and more people arrived, so that by the time the distillery opened their doors, it was a full house with most seating options inside full.
Gift Shop and Liquor Laws!
Inside there is a small gift shop with shirts, bottles of liquor, various glasses, coasters, and gift cards. The liquor came in a pack of 4 bottles of various Deep Eddy's flavors and when we went to buy one, we were told NO liquor can be sold in Texas on Sundays. We were shocked. You can buy it at a bar in an already made drink, but no bottles can be purchased at stores anywhere. We told the cashier how in New York there was no such law so we were surprised. We also said in NY you are unable to buy liquor from the grocery store as you can in Texas, only in a licensed liquor store, which the cashier was in turn surprised to hear.
Ordering
The bar was beautifully set up with the different flavors of their vodka color coordinated on their shelves for display. Across the bar was a large window that showed a huge room with more seating and the distillery part. Large gray vats could be seen, and this room appeared to be only available to those who had reserved it for a special event and a long line stretched behind us of friends waiting to be granted access.
We could order flights, cocktails, and other specialty drinks in a paper cup or souvenir glass for $12. We went with the glass cups and each ordered a cocktail, while also splitting a flight. There were 7 flavors and while we would have liked to get 2 flights and try all 7, we decided to budget our money and each get a cocktail and then just split one flight.
These images are from https://deepeddyvodka.com/tasting-room/ where you can view the whole menu.
We knew we already tried lemon, orange, and ruby red (and grapefruit but they didn't seem to have that here), so we picked the 4 we had not tried - lime, peach, cranberry, and sweet tea. We ordered at the bar, then took our drinks to the outdoor game and seating area.
Outdoor Games and Tastings
There was a giant Jenga, giant connect four, and plenty of cornhole - although the jury is still out on if those boards are regulation. We enjoyed our beverages and each sipped the 4 flavors in our flight - Nate preferred the peach, while I liked both the peach and lime best. The only one we did not like much was cranberry, it gave us a cough syrup vibe. The cocktails were delicious and we enjoyed sipping them as we played connect four and cornhole.
To Barton Springs!
When looking up free things to do in Austin, Barton Springs was at the top of the list - a natural spring in the city that is said to be a fun place to go swimming. So we headed there to check it out, even though it was in the sixties that day. We found the park no problem, parked for free, and read a little on the signs outside the entrance.
We learned this spring is home to an endangered species of salamanders who live on rocks at the bottom of the deeper part of the spring. There were signs everywhere, even in the spring, about the importance of leaving them alone while you swam. We learned that back in the 1950s, this spring was especially popular (before everyone had air conditioning) and it became a spot where the great minds of Austin would come, cool off, and discuss ideas and plans.
A Beautiful Spring
We entered through a gated area, there was no fee while we were there, and stood and admired this natural spring. It was SO LONG for starters, almost 1,000 feet long to be exact - let me put that in perspective for you by adding an Olympic sized swimming pool is 164 feet long. Now for about a third of that length, the water is so shallow, not much swimming can take place on that side. But the floor of the pool was rock, covered with some plants, and little minnows were swimming in the spring. The water was beautifully colored, and depending on the depths/floor changed from greens to blues. It was not very crowded, but people were swimming, more people were sitting on the grassy hills on either side of the spring while ducks sat or waddled around.
We used the changing rooms, I was surprised by how open they were. Most of the women's locker space was completely outdoors, of course all walled in but open to the sky, Nate said the men's locker room was the same. We put on our swim suits and headed down towards the spring. Basically no one was at the very shallow part of the pool, so we placed our stuff down there so we could easily spot it as we swam - but lockers are available to rent if you prefer that. There were steps and ramps leading to the water, and we entered water that was about ankle deep and then began making our way towards the deeper end.
Swimming at Barton Springs
It was by no means hot out that day, and once we adjusted, the water felt warmer than the air. Walking on the rocks we had to be very careful and stay close to the walls, since the rocks were slippery with what must have been some kind of algae. Minnows swam away from us as we stepped. A beautiful white heron was sitting on the opposite side of the pool, and we swam a little closer to admire the bird. It just stared at us and didn't move and we went back to continue swimming towards the deeper parts.
The deepest parts of Barton Springs can get to 18 feet, and there are even diving boards. We swam over where the salamanders lived, admired the pool some more, than headed out to change and move on to our next adventure of the day.
Mt Bonnell - The Highest Point in Austin
We drove to Mt Bonnell, another free activity with impressive views. We drove through a neighborhood as we ascended the hill and found plenty of parking at the top, on either side of the road. From there we walked the short distance to the stairs that led up to the viewing point. These stairs were over pretty quickly, it was no hike to get up there and at the top was a structure people were using for sitting and standing on to look out from.
From this point, you can view the Colorado River, and what zillow told us where multimillion dollar homes on the banks. Even the boat houses were impressive to behold...if you're impressed by that sort of the thing I guess. There were trailheads to hikes at the top, but we choose to just sit and eat our packed lunch while we enjoyed the view.
Superbowl @ South Austin Beer Garden
The Superbowl started at 5:30 CST so we had to go secure our spots at what is generally the most watched televised event in America. We had picked a bar that was in south Austin so it would be closer to our campground and a shorter drive home, and also because of the deals! There were drink options for $3, and with the purchase of a beverage you got free wings and carrots/celery to go with them.
When we first arrived, every main table had been reserved and we could not find any seating at the bar or any of the other tables. But Nate kept doing the rounds, looking out for an opening and in no time at all, he had scored a table that was free. We sat at this table for the rest of the night, right next to the main bar and with 4 TV's to watch the Superbowl from. By the end of the night, our table was full of friends we had met, like Tommy and Chris and the rest of their buddies - locals from Austin that were excited to hear about our travels. We actually missed a lot of what was happening in the second half because we were talking so much.
We also learned on this day that sports betting is illegal in Texas, so we were unable to access our Fanduel accounts. Nevertheless, we were cheering for Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs! While some people in our area were cheering for the Eagles, we had expected being so close to Dallas we would be surrounded by people rooting against the Eagles (and thus for the Chiefs). Well, as the night went on, the crowd indeed got louder and louder for the Chiefs! A close and high scoring game, the Chiefs pulled through and got the victory! Our new friends were sad that we went to head out right away since we had over an hour drive back to camp and I have to teach in the morning. We took some pictures with them so we would never forget the fun we had and went on our way.
We Love You Austin, Texas
Overall, this day blew our minds. We felt we had budgeted well, had SO much fun, and seen some great views. Swimming, Deep Eddy's, the highest point, and the Superbowl - it was an amazing day from start to finish. In the summer, Austin is also home to the world's largest urban bat colony and in the evenings, people gather on what is called Bat Bridge to watch the colony fly out for the night. No bats were home while we were there in February, but we would love to return to Austin someday and see this, as well as revisit the Spring and distillery! Another adventure in the books!
If you have any questions, remarks, or advice, please don't hesitate to reach out!
留言