TEXAS!

We spent nine full days traveling through Texas, and absolutely loved every second of the Lone Star State!!

Houston

We started our time in Houston patching up another leak in the roof. No surprise there! :) The first night we were in Houston, we stayed in a hotel because TC had a business meeting. After his meeting, we went on an adventure. We parked at a Walmart close to downtown and walked the two miles to the city. This is one of our favorite ways to get to know an area. On our walk, we stopped by Platypus Brewing for a beer. The beer was delicious and the atmosphere was so fun!

We read online about the underground tunnels in Houston. The tunnels cover seven miles and 95 city blocks. There are restaurants and shops in the tunnels. We thought this would be a great place to grab a bite to eat! We were so excited! Once we got to the tunnels, we realized they close at 6:30pm!! We had no idea. We assumed they were open into the evening. It was a bummer, but we did still get to see them. If we ever make it back to Houston, we will be sure to go explore during the day. At that point, we had to leave the tunnels to look for food. We found a cute little restaurant, Moonshiners. They apparently have the best chicken and waffles in downtown Houston. We can confirm – they are delicious! After dinner, we Ubered back to The Canoe.

The next afternoon we were scheduled to move on to the next city, but I found a museum online that I just HAD to visit. We were dying to head to Austin, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this museum. I begged T to go, and of course he said yes! There is an entire room dedicated to CONFETTI!! This is my kind of place! We had the BEST time! One of the top highlights of the road so far! The museum is a colorful, interactive art museum. Several rooms had little snacks that matched the colors in the room and each room had a photo op with a QR code system, so we were able to get professional pics. We had a lot of fun with the pictures!

The first room we stopped in explained the photo-QR system and had a colorful macaroon to start! I stuck to the plain vanilla flavor. T had the coffee flavor. I’m not sure if I have ever had a macaroon. It was delicious!

Each room in the museum also had a specifically chosen song. The music made the experience even better! One room was playing “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka which reminded me of my college days. Willy Wonka was the theme of our senior homecoming. <3 The walls and floor were all black and white striped. There were colorful circles on the floor with quotes from kids about what different colors made them feel. My personal favorite was from Tyra, age 10. She said, “Coral makes me feel like I ate breakfast in the morning.” Samez. Each colorful circle had air blowing from the middle. The yoga balls in the room would float in the air when placed in the center of the circle. This room made for some really fun pictures!

The next room was the one I was most excited about – the CONFETTI ROOM! I absolutely love confetti! There was confetti continuously falling from the ceiling (see the the rollers in the third picture below)! Nonstop-all day! What. a. DREAM! T and I spent the most time in this space. There was also some tasty local popcorn. Each color was a different flavor. Bubblegum, blueberry, lime, etc. I thought they would be a weird consistency, but they were actually really good!

Confetti Rollers

T’s favorite room was next. The giant lite brite room! We rearranged pieces and created masterpieces for a while. I've seen a giant lite brite wall before but have never gotten to use one. So fun! The next room was quite magical! It was focused around human connection. We stood in the middle of the room with each of our hands on a button. Then we held hands to complete the circuit and an amazing light show ensued. It was so cool!! The disco ball in the center of the room was an added bonus! I love a disco ball!

Following the lite brite was the “rose colored glasses” room. This room produced great conversation. On the wall there were all different things that made people happy and a drawing to represent. I really liked “Your dog’s collar jingling when they rush to greet you at the door.” I agree. That is the best sound! At the end of the room, there was an IPad available to draw your own moment of happiness. The artist chooses different drawings from the IPad submissions to update the squares on the wall. I drew a picture of me and T getting married and wrote, “Marrying your best friend.” T wrote “Driving to the airport in the early morning.” Agreed – we sure do love an early morning flight because it usually means we are going on a great adventure!

The next room was mind-blowing! It was all about smells. They captured the smells of common things such as grass, bubble gum, butter. There was a hint on the wall of what the smell was supposed to be causing us to have to guess the smell. All the smells gave me a little headache, so I didn’t stick around long, but it was a fun room!

We enjoyed the next room a lot! We were separated into two different sides where we were given prompts through headphones at the exact same time. We colored a block with the color that represented our partner. Another block with colors that we saw when looking at them. Then we drew an abstract drawing of them without looking at the picture or lifting our pencil. It was super fun! Lastly, we grabbed a card to give to them. Mine for him said “You’re my jam.” His card for me said, “Five gold stars for you.”

The last room was so, so much fun!!! It was a giant ball pit!!!! The room was all about space since we were in Houston near the NASA Space Center. I had trouble getting through the massive ball pit since my knee was still recovering from New Orleans. I should have bandaged it up before going, but I didn't so the balls were rubbing against the scrape. The art painted on the wall made me giggle. There was a spot in the corner for "personal space". This room also had ICE CREAM! It was charcoal-nitrogen ice cream. It was black, so it looked unappetizing but was actually SO delicious! And it did not melt quickly, which I appreciated! The ice cream passed the SK test. Yum!

Before life on the road, I worked at a kids museum for four years. It was my absolute DREAM job! While at the Color Factory, I kept wondering about the logistics behind the museum. How many people they employed, how long it took to put in an insulation, what was the hardest/best room to reset at the end of the day. I loved museum-life and hope I end up there again one day! I was an event planner at the museum, but was fascinated with all the details of running the museum.

We had the absolute BEST time at the Color Factory-Houston! Nothing makes me happier than colors, and confetti, and ice cream! I had the warm fuzzies the entire time! I could not recommend the Color Factory enough! There is a location in NYC and Chicago as well. We are planning to go to both of those.

Since we were already behind schedule, we decided to finish out the evening with another adventure. We went searching for the “We Love Houston” sign located in downtown. While looking for the sign, we found the coolest container bar! We had to go inside for a quick drink! T buys containers at work all the time. I went to a container bar in Austin a few months ago and could not wait to take TC. I knew he would love it! I had no idea there was one in Houston. This one was much cooler! There was a Ferris Wheel and the bar was decorated with the coolest old signs and furniture. It was definitely worth the stop.

After our stop in the container bar, we kept searching for the Houston sign. It was really hard to find. We asked some officers on the street and they couldn’t tell us where it was. Ha! Eventually, we found the sign! It was worth the hunt! The sun was almost down, but we had just enough light to get some really fun pictures!

This unexpected evening had us loving Houston! We were finally on our way out of town when I realized I had too much water and needed to take a potty break! I felt bad. We were barely even out of Houston. At the exact moment I told T I needed to stop, we passed a Buc-ee’s billboard. T absolutely LOVES Buc-ee’s and will stop whenever we pass. I felt less bad about needing to potty once I realized T would be getting to go to a Buc-ee’s. After a little more driving, we made it to the Planet Fitness in Bastrop, Texas which is where we planned to stay for the night.

Austin

First off, we are obsessed with Austin!! We absolutely loved the entire weekend! I went to Austin last summer for a bachelorette party and have been talking it up since. I knew T would love it and could not wait to go back with him!!

When T and I realized we would need to postpone our wedding, I told him this gave us an excuse to have two honeymoons. We originally planned to get an AirBnB in Austin and have our second honeymoon, but had to change our plans at the last minute. The change of plans worked out in our favor because we found some pretty epic places to stay! T still took Friday off work so we could take in as much of Austin as possible!

Our first night, we stayed right beside Lady Bird Lake. We had the most perfect view of the sun setting over the river and the spot was downtown, so we were able to walk to 6th Street and Rainey Street. We went to Velvet Tacos for dinner. Delicious! While at dinner, TC’s card was flagged for fraud. He checked the most recent charges, Buc-ee’s and Velvet Tacos. No fraud! Just us-living life on the road! Haha After dinner, we ventured down 6th Street. No surprise that we found a bar playing live music and dipped right in!

One of the entertainments of the evening was watching cars being towed. The towing companies must make tons of money in Austin! We watched a hundred cars being towed. The streets were slowly closed down as each car was towed. Definitely obey the parking signs if you ever go to Austin!

We decided we could really go for some dessert! The closest place that was open was quite the hike, but I’ve been dreaming about the place since. We went to The Baked Bear. 12/10 would recommend!! Not only was the ice cream delicious, the cookies were the best I have ever tasted! AND they added sprinkles!! Sprinkles AND confetti in one week – what else did I need! Living the dream!! This was a dessert I never knew I was missing! So, so good! I ate half and carried half home. It melted a bit on the long walk home, but I put it in the freezer and ate a bite every day. I didn’t want it to end!

The next morning, we paid a little more to stay in the same parking spot by the lake. T made us a delicious breakfast with the best view! A guy saw us sitting there and ran back to talk to us. He's a huge Billy Strings fan (saw T's shirt) and was fascinated with van life. We loved getting to talk to him for a few minutes while we ate.

We had big plans for the evening, so we wanted to relax for the first half of the day. The last time I was in Austin, I went on a boat on Lake Travis and had the best time. The drive to Lake Travis is just as beautiful as the Lake. T and I decided to drive to a state park since it was a little too cold to get in the water. It was the perfect start to the day. Relaxing and a little Texas sunshine on our skin was exactly what we needed!

On our way back to Austin, we stopped by a really cool coffee truck-Radix House. The coffee was delicious! After coffee, we found a gorgeous park to park in for the night. We parked right beside the porta johns - a vanlifers dream! They were the cleanest porta johns I had ever seen, and I was thankful for them in the middle of the night!

Our evening plan was an Austin Bar Bike!!! We’ve done a trolley pub in Raleigh a few years ago and had a great time. We were excited to do one in Austin! It actually turned out to be a really great way to know the city! And a quicker way to try out bars across several blocks. On our way to the meeting location, we passed a pretty cool ATX sign at a Whole Foods.

The bike was picking us up right near Irene’s, so we went in to have a quick appetizer. Irene’s was another place I went back in August and couldn’t wait to take T. The food was delicious and it has the cutest patio! When we got to the bike, we found out the others on the bike were there for a bachelorette party! It ended up being SUPER fun being party of their party! By the end, we were all hanging out together and taking pictures. We even went to some bars with them after the bike ended. We wrapped up the evening drinking water while walking down Sixth Street. We were just people-watching by then. An angry lady on the street tried to spit on T. Once we realized it didn’t actually hit him, we laughed about it and decided that was our sign to go home!

The next day we went to brunch at the famous Magnolia Cafe followed by a tour of Austin murals. There are so many beautiful murals in Austin! There were several located within walking distance of the restaurant, then we headed to South Congress street to find some others. We enjoyed walking up and down South Congress while we waited for our Airbnb to be ready. At the last minute, we decided it would be fun to book one night at an Airbnb. We found the cutest little studio in a great location! The perfect vibes and there were even bunnies in a cage under the studio! We were thankful for a driveway large enough to fit the van as well. I took parking for granted when I just had to whip a jeep into the parking spot or parking garage. Parking is quite the challenge when living in a van! Once we got to the studio, we rested in the air conditioning for a while before going to dinner.

I was still dreaming about the coffee from Radix House, the coffee truck from the day before. I really wanted some coffee before we went out for the evening. I looked at the map and Radix House had a location just a few blocks from our Airbnb! The walk was great. It was a fun area and I was so glad that it ended with coffee!

That evening was the huge Carolina v. Duke game. We went back and forth on whether we wanted to go to a sports bar to watch the game, or to a steak dinner. We decided on the steak dinner at ALC steaks. No worries though - we had the game updating on our phones! Dinner was delicious! Although, Texas steak isn’t my style. While at dinner, we realized there was a sports bar in the same parking lot as the steak restaurant. The game was close, so we hurried through dinner to watch the second half. The sports bar was PACKED - mostly with Carolina fans. Yuck! :) The electricity in the bar was WILD! We honestly felt like we were in NC with how interested everyone was. Although Duke and Carolina aren’t our team, (GO PACK!) we still had SO much fun watching the game!

Once the game was over, we headed back to sixth street and then on to Rainey Street. The container bar I mentioned earlier, it was closed the night before and I really wanted T to experience the bar. The bar was still closed - on a Saturday night! After some google searching, we realized the bar had permanently closed the week before!!! We were one week late! I was bummed, but also very glad we took the time to stop in the container bar in Houston since T LOVES containers! We did some really great people watching and then hopped on a pedicab for a ride back to the Airbnb.

T’s one big request for Austin was going to Terry Black’s Barbecue, so we stopped in on our way out of town. It was delicious! I was a little overwhelmed with the process of ordering and moving through the line, but once seated, I enjoyed the food! T loved it!

We are counting down the days until we are back in Austin! We loved every second!

Waco - Dallas - Paris

We didn’t spend much time in Waco. When we arrived, it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon. We found a park by the river to sit and relax in the sun. We went to the famous Waco Suspension Bridge, but it was under construction so we were not able to walk across. We spent the night in Waco before heading on to Dallas.

The big fun in Dallas for us was comparing Whataburger and In-N-Out Burger. T and I went to In-N-Out Burger together when we were in California a couple years ago. I went to Whataburger the last time I was in Texas. I loved Whataburger and wanted T to experience it as well, so we decided to compare and see which was better! We split a burger and fries at both locations. (We also split some onion rings at Whataburger, because they’re amazing! ;) ) In my opinion, the burger at In-N-Out was better, but the fries at Whataburger were better. I am all about good sides, so I am Team Whataburger all the way! T is Team In-N-Out Burger.

We originally planned to stay in Dallas that evening, but decided to get a jump on the next location. While driving out of town, we realized bad weather was on its way! We looked at the forecast and realized a tornado was heading in our direction - Yikes! We looked around for a 24 hour Walmart or Planet Fitness and could not find one, and we were running out of time, so we decided to bite the bullet and stop at the first hotel that had availability. Thankfully we found one not too far away. This gave us the opportunity to watch the NCAA championship game which was fun. When it started storming, we realized the window in the hotel room was leaking. It made us laugh so hard. Everywhere we go, we are dealing with a leak! Thankfully, this leak did not interfere with our evening and was someone else's problem to fix! Right at the end of the game when the score was very close, the satellite went out. Seconds later, someone banged on the door and said there was a tornado and we needed to get in the bathroom. So there we were, hanging out in the bathroom with the bed comforter (so I didn’t get cold!) watching the last seconds of a nail-biting basketball game, avoiding 65 mph winds, hail, and a tornado. Life on the road is wild and unpredictable and so much fun! Thankfully, no damage was done to the van and we did not notice a leak!

The bad weather did cause us to miss a Buc-ee’s outside of Dallas. Looks like we will have to make a stop back in Dallas one day, so T can go to the Buc-ee’s!

Our last stop before leaving Texas was in Paris! T’s cousin lived in Paris for a couple years and told us about the Eiffel Tower with a red cowboy hat on top. We thought it would be fun to stop and see! I was expecting it to be in a park, but it was just beside a civic center. We took a couple pictures and moved on. It was a great ending to our time in Texas!

Texas - We made so many memories and had the absolute best time! We look forward to making it back one day soon!