STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

bumblebee · Dooney & Bourke

austin, texas

jah · Dooney & Bourke

Love Austin...go, go, go! Great texmex, music (tons of live music), cool boutiques...

Grace · Dooney & Bourke

I've never been to Texas but my favorite musician ever is from there...Bob Schneider. Go see him at Antone's.

kahluamilk · Dooney & Bourke

went to austin in college... 6th street night life-- never a dull moment.. go!! :)

june · Nine West

I definitely agree, which is good, since I live in Austin. Lots of great music, good restaurants, and a pretty good amount of boutique shopping. Not sure when you're considering visiting, but the summer is very hot...personally, I would visit before June or after September...but I really hate the heat. As far as travelling solo, Austin would be fine. I always feel very safe day and night. You'd pretty much have to rent a car, if that matters. Although I suppose you could stay downtown and use the free little trolley thing that goes all around downtown (the 'Dillo) or the city buses...pretty easy to use. Just would be difficult to travel anywhere outside of central Austin with either of these options.

As mentioned, 6th street is a large music and bar area...but is mostly college students. There is another, smaller, music and bar scene on 4th street that tends to attract the young professional types.

I love it here...let me know if you have any specific questions...

alb · Marc Jacobs

Austin is fun. My favorite Tex Mex restaraunt is there, Chueys. I'm originally from Fort Worth and have been there quite a few times, but I'm blanking on where to go, etc. June could probably help you out more in that area. I just wanted to add though that it is in the TX hill country, which is beautiful. The area is really hilly and green (in the spring and summer) and it is right on lake Travis, so if you are a lake person it might be fun to check that out. Also, if you like small laid back towns and you are by yourself, you might enjoy Fredericksburg, a really cute small town in the Texas hill country near Austin. I think it would be a great place to go solo, maybe after a few days in Austin. There are lots of great B&Bs there, cute little shops, good restaraunts, several nice wineries, a little herb farm (Fredericksburg Herb Farm) which has a nice little spa, etc. There is this huge volcanic rock (can't remember the name) that you can hike (takes about 30 minutes to walk up), w/ beautiful views of the countryside. F-burg is one of my favorite places in TX--such a cute little small town with a German influence that has gotten really hip of late (a couple of celebrities have houses there, Sharon Stone is one, can't recall others--actually Sharon Stone owns 2 of the really cute, high end antique stores there). Just thought I'd throw that idea out, let me know if you want more info about it.

ETA--edited to correct awful typos, sorry!

-- Edited by alb at 12:02, 2005-02-07

june · Nine West

Yep, alb's right...there are lots of cute little towns surrounding Austin that would make great day trips. Fredricksberg's one, and there is also Wimberley, New Braunfels and several others. A couple of days driving through the Hill Country visiting little towns would be really fun to do solo. The big rock is called Enchanted Rock and the views are great.

Chuy's is one of my favorite tex-mex places, also. Also love Maudy's, Guero's and Trudy's. And for high end authentic (far from tex-mex) Mexican, Fonda San Miguel.

alb · Marc Jacobs

Yes--the Enchanted Rock! Can't believe I forgot the name. I SOOO miss Chuys as I have not found decent Tex Mex since I moved to DC!

I'm glad you agree about Fredericksburg. Wimberly is nice too, I went there for a wedding once. There is an awesome B&B there that's been written up in all the mags, can't remember the name (I can find out) but it's gorgeous. New Braunfels might be fun as well, although I haven't been there. Is there anything to do/see there besides tubing/rafting down the river? I think that would be fun with a group of ppl, not sure about solo.

june · Nine West

New Braunfels has a really cute downtown with shops and restaurants...similar to Wimberley. I had a meeting there once and was really surprised by how cute it was... Actually, a lot of the Hill Country towns have interesting shops and restaurants. I think it would be fun to head out with a map and lots of CDs drive around for a few days, just staying in small little hotels along the way.

bumblebee · Dooney & Bourke

thank you so much, alb and june--great suggestions! i think i may not go to somewhere brand new all by myself this time, but i am printing out this page for when i can convince a friend to go to austin w/me. thanks again!