Austin, Texas

We stayed two nights at a beautiful KOA camp 20 minutes from downtown Austin. Amazing to be so close to downtown, yet you we were out in the country. In fact, there were some massive Texas Long-horn steers in the field next to the campground.

This KOA was pretty new, had full hookups, a friendly staff, and was very well maintained.

The first night we had some drinks at the Mean-eyed Cat Bar. We went there on a tip from Leonard.  We bought dinner at Metcalf BBQ, right next door.  The two establishments were joined by an adjacent hallway.  They encouraged us to bring the food from next door back to our table.  We did, and it was delicious!  I had a smoked  turkey burger with BBQ sauce and fries.  Karen had pulled-pork nachos.

And for a bonus, the Mariner game was on!  They ended up beating Houston and taking the series.

After the Cat bar, we walked down the street to Don's Depot, an old train depot converted into a bar and music venue.  We listened to a wonderful country trio called Grouchy Like Riley that featured Chip Dolan, Danny Britt and Marvin Dykhuis.

The next day we went for a 15 mile bike ride on a really nice paved trail.

Later, we discovered that Herb Alpert was playing in town.  We had never seen him before.  I was able to purchase tickets online through Vividseats.  His wife Lani Hall was also in the band.  She was a lead singer in the group Sergio Mendez and Brasil '66.  The show was very special as he played medleys of his greatest hits along with some surprises. Growing up, our parents' used to play Herb Alpert on the old Hi-Fi.  It brought back some good childhood memories.  Simpler times for sure.

We enjoyed our stay in Austin and would do it again, but maybe not during summer!