Austin, TX

Austin is a pretty quick drive from Dallas and Houston, so we were able to meet up with my parents for a long 4th of July weekend with the pup!

On our way there, we had to pick up kolaches at the Czech Stop in West, Texas.

Our first stop in Austin was lunch on the patio at Javelina's. Next, we ventured up to Mount Bonnell for some awesome views of Austin. That night, we had a birthday/mother's day/father's day dinner of PF Changs...always yummy!

Fredericksburg is a bit outside of Austin, so we made a day of touring the wine country. It was a cute area with some country charm. My favorite part is that so many of the wineries allow dogs, so we made a strategic plan to hit as many of those as possible.

Our first stop was Becker Vineyards. It was SUPER pet-friendly. They even had a tasting area set up outside. Wonderful! The wine here was also really good! It was a beautiful day to relax on the patio with the pup.

Next, we drove to Chisholm Trails Winery. Again, super dog friendly with a fenced in patio. We got lunch at their pizza kitchen, the Open Oven. Yum! Horseshoes, wine and pizza, who could ask for more? Indy even got to meet a donkey (although he wanted nothing to do with it)!

Our last stop was at William Chris Vineyards. It started off as a pretty horrible experience, which was a shame, because the server and wine were both great! It's an Aggie-run business, so we TRIED to like it, but I wouldn't ever go back. Being dog-friendly was a positive, but man, we just couldn't get over the terrible service at the beginning of our visit.

That night, we went to Maudie's for some delicious Tex-Mex! Overall, it was a great weekend with the family and Indy was SO happy to be included. He was a perfect pup, so hopefully more trips are in his future!

Next up: I'll be trying to head to Albuquerque to see my grandpa this month and we have another trip to either LA or Sedona in our near future as well.

Why I'm Blogging...

I have always had that "travel itch" and I was blessed to grow up in a family that allowed me to satisy it. I love experiencing new cultures and new food and making great memories along the way. Some of my favorite places that I've visited are: Italy, Hawaii, Sonoma, St. Lucia, Barbados and Puerto Rico.

When I met Jason, he hadn't had the opportunity to travel very much, so he didn't understand why I NEEDED to explore the world. Luckily for me, that changed when we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon. We both fell in love with the scenery (who wouldn't?) and welcoming people we met. From that point one, we both became passionate about travel.

This year, Jason was offered the opportunity to work for Southwest Airlines in the audit department. This seemed like an ideal job for many reasons, but one of the great benefits is...FREE FLIGHTS! Now, it's not as easy as it sounds, and I'm sure we will run into some hiccups along the way, but we are beyond excited to start exploring the US.

We've already had the opportunity to test out the system with a few trips. We made our way to Chicago for my cousin's wedding and we also went to Austin to visit some good friends. Both trips were pretty seamless, so I'm hoping that trend continues!

I wanted to start this blog to document all of our "Non-Rev" trips and to remember our experiences. Please stick with me as this is my first blogging experience!

I'll leave you with some great memories from those trips to Chicago and Austin.