Capital of The Lonestar State – Austin

In mid-October, I went on a lengthy trip down to Austin Texas as a part of a boys trip, and it was one of the best weekends of my life. We had a fun filled 4 days doing all the best activities that this bastion of freedom in America has to offer. It was of course beautiful weather with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s, so we definitely picked a perfect time of the year to go. I am going to detail some of the highlights of the trip in this post.

First the eating scene. They say that everything is bigger in Texas and that was definitely true when it came to the culinary scene we came across. On Wednesday night, we visited a burger place in downtown Austin that calims to have the best burgers in the city, and that may be true as they were delicious. Apart from the taste, they were massive, with a 3/4 pound patty making up the bulk on the sandwich. On Friday, we went out to a nice seafood dinner with huge shrimp, clams, and other proteins in massive pasta bowls.

On Thursday, we went golfing at this very fun local public course. It was interesting because it was so dry that all of the drives went super far after landing on the rock hard fairways, and there was sparsely grass in the rough on the sides to hold errant balls in play. You certainly had to be careful about any wayward shots going too far off the planet due to the lack of greenery. I ended up playing well, as did the bachelor, so that’s all that matters at the end of the day.

We rented an Airbnb house as a group that was super fun and beautiful. It was a huge ranch house with 7 bedrooms on about 5 acres, and the backyard was full of games. There was a heated pool with a waterfall, along with a hot tub next to it, and a gazebo and massive grilling area to eat and hang out around. There was also bags, lawn darts, and bocce ball set up for guests staying at the house. Needless to say, we took full advantage of all of the outdoor activities.

The last highlight of the trip was when we went boating on Friday. We rented a boat for the day to go out on Lake Travis, which is a huge and scenic lake. It was a bit odd being out there becuase due to teh drought, the lake levels looked to be about 20 feet below the historical water line, so some of the houses were way up on the hills where the water used to go up to. Regardless, we found some other boats to tie up with and hang out, and it was a great day of telling stories and jumping into the water.

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Lake of the Ozarks – a Perfect Summer Destination

In just a few weeks, Iw ill be heading down to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri for the 4th of July holiday and celebrations. Even though it is a 7 and a half hour drive from where I live in Chicago, going down there for more than a few days always makes it worth the time. There is so much to do there, and I know the environment down there very well. I grew up going down to the Lake of the Ozarks and have gone just about every other year of my life, as my dad’s side of teh family is from Kansas City and they have always had a lake house down there. It is a place I can go to escape and relax.

I want to detail some of my favorite parts of visiting the Lake of the Ozarks. First is the weather in the summer – it is always hot, which I love. It si basically always above 90 degrees for the 4th of July, and the combination of the fairly cool water and hot air temperature is always perfect. Second, the Ozarks are pretty affordable. It is the most affordable lake in the Midwest to rent a house and rent a boat for the weekend, and it’s really not even close. Once you are down there, you are not spending an arm and a leg to have fun, which is an added benefit. Third, there are always a multitude of 4th of July fireworks celebrations that can be seen when you are down there at that time, so much so that you can see dozens going on in all directions from individual houses along the lake.

Above all, the Lake of the Ozarks is just plain fun. It is the ideal American summer getaway as everyone is there to have a good time and the feel is very “happy go lucky”. It would be hard to have a bad time down there with all of the boating, watersports, food, drink, and freedom you can have there. It is one of my happy places, and I would encourage everyone to consider a vacation there one of these next summers (but not everyone at once please!)

Washington DC – Our Nation’s Capital

I am thinking back fondly on a trip that I recently took back in December to Washington DC, flying into Reagan airport (DCA). My girlfiend and I joined some friends for one of my good friends’ 30th birthday celebration. I have visited Dc several times and I absolutely love it, as there are so many fun things to do and I always feel full of patriotism when I am there. It was my girlfriends’ first time in the Capital. I would like to talk about some of my favorite moments from that weekend.

We did extremely well in choosing the right places to eat during the weekend. We started off with lunch at Old Ebbitt Grill right across the street from the White House, which is one of the most historic places in all of Washington DC (not even just for restaurants), hosting countless presidents and diplomats in its booths. If only walls could take… Oh, and the carb artichoke dip was one of the most glorious things I’ve ever tasted in my life. Old Ebbitt was (somehow) topped the next night by this upscale Mexican place called Dlena, where we went for my friends birthday celebration. We had a prie fixe menu of adobo chicken, seafood enchiladas, and many other delicous plates. Easy one of the best meals I have had in my life.

Exploring the National Mall took up most of the rest of the time on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – and rightfully so. We walked to the White House and then onto the Washington Monument in the Mall. From there we went over to the World War II Memorial and then the Lincoln Memorial. I am always in awe at the Lincoln Memorial and the courage Lincoln had to do right and do great things for our country. The bset part of the National Mall is the Smithsonian museums, however, which are mostly all free which is neat. We stopped in the Museum of American History to see teh civil rights movement and history of money exhibits. Everyone wanted to see the National Air and Space museum so that was our other primary stop. Unfortunately over half the museum was closed for renovation so it was not as extensive as I would have hoped. We did not get to the Library of Congress which I personally love, and disappointingly we also did not have time to go see the Declaration of Independence on display at the National Archives. The museums of art and the portrait galleries are on my llaundry list as well. Needless to say, I would like to spend a whole week at the National Mall and would not get bored.

The Beautiful Asheville, North Carolina

This coming weekend, I am going on a big friends trip to Asheville, North Carolina. It was one of my friends’ ideas to go, as he said it is one of his favorite places in the world. I admittedly don’t know much about the area or ever been to the Appalachians, but after looking at all of the pictures and things to do, I must say that I am rather excited and it looks beautiful. Here are some of the activities we plan on doing while there.

When we fly in on Thursday, we plan on playiong some golf. There are some gorgeous looking, mountainous courses that I am looking forward to inevitably play some terrible golf at. The rental house we have for the weekend looks great, as it’s in the mountains with a great view of the valley below and other mountains across the way. It also has a pool table, poker table, and hot tub, so we’ll be all set for fun nights whenever we need to relax.

The highlight of the weekend for me will be the fly fishing excursion we are going on Saturday morning. We are hiring a professional outfitter to take us out to a high altitude river to fish for the day. I am not an experienced outdoorsman so I will definitely just be along for the ride, but this has always been something I have wanted to try (but don’t know what to expect out of).

The rest of the time will be spent exploring some breweries and restaurants. Looking at the map, there are some really unique breweries to go visit, and Asheville has the most breweries per capita of any US city. – In particular, the New Belgium brewing company looks like it has a pretty cool set up and I’ve been told great things about it from the friends who have been there. I am absolutely sure we won’t be starving or thirsty with all the dining options available in Asheville.