Austin.

my mom and i headed to austin, left pips with my cousin (thank you AMY!).
we got a duck tour which was a land & water adventure.
we got all the tips and facts about the live music capitol of the world.

okay so opinion of this city:
it had a portland vibe + nashville music touch
it had hills (unlike our pancake city)
it was cooler and less humid
it had endless local restaurants (they aren't into chains)
it had hipster cool shops
....livable not touristy

 ^^ the original whole foods and the store's headquarters is in austin.
it was HUGE.
oh and fyi:
A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin including Advanced Micro Devices,Apple Inc., eBay, Google, IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, 3M, and Whole Foods Market.^[10] Dell's worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock, a suburb of Austin.

so our tour included a little drop into lake austin.
the lake is man-made. in TX you got to take matters into you own hands and make yourself a body of water! the locals are super proud of their lake.

BTW: 
In recent years, some Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan "Keep Austin Weird".^[15] This interpretation of the classic, "Texas-style" sense of independence refers to: the traditional and proudly eclectic, liberal lifestyles of many Austin residents; a desire to protect small, unique, local businesses from being overrun by large corporations; and as a reaction to the perceived rise of conservative influences within the community.

 denis quaid's house ^^ is right on the lake....along with lots of other rich peeps.
it was had a landing spot for his helicopter.
wouldn't that be nice?

sooooo i wasn't kidding when i said there was a TON of amazing foodie spots.
one place that has been getting a lot of reviews on yelp was hopdoddy.
a burger joint. holy toledo was this place amaz.
i'm not a huge burger-girl BUT this place converted me.

we are hoping to make in the instagram wall of fame haha.

nutella chocolate pretzel shake anyone?
mom was reluctant BUT after a few sips i know she secretly thought it was good.
she says she's not a nutella fan...um okayyyy crazzzzzy.

we split a bomb salad and a burger and holy delish truffle parmesan fries.

best quote of austin:
"The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten"

a little pet adobtion truck.
everything is by truck in austin.
loads of food trucks.
who needs LA when you got austin..? (um me actually, i need LA. but austin will do)

lol this photo cracks me up because i didn't realize these people were ALLLL bombing my photo. or was i bombing their meal?  

Conclusion of Austin:
i would gain 20 pounds in a month if i lived here. i have never wanted to eat at so many places since my trip to NYC. i loved that it was smaller and less overwhelming than houston, but i still felt there was tons to do. oh and the University of Texas campus & the capitol were beautiful.
i love college towns maybe because i grew up in one. who knows. i just think they're always unique.

austin is defiantly a cool place.
thanks mom for wanting to be adventurous.