Cities we're visiting

1. Greenville, North Carolina

One of our first stops was Greenville, South Carolina. We got to spend some time visiting our friends Scotty and Savannah. We all met in college and Scotty and I were fraternity brothers at SigEp, and Scotty and Savannah got married this past year and moved into Savannah’s grandmothers house. They are in the process of remodeling and you can follow along on their instagram. We were able to stay for a few days and had a great time in both Traveler’s Rest and Greenville.

2. Jacksonville, Florida

On our way back to Sarasota prior to heading out west, we made a quick stop in Jacksonville to visit Sam’s friends from high school, Tommy and Natalie. Tommy, Natalie and Sam rowed together for Sarasota Scullers for several years, and coincidentally also raced against Sarah and her team Atlanta Junior Rowing Association before they met in college. They live in a pretty cool spot near the St. John’s river - we had only been to Jacksonville once before so we didn’t have a great understanding of the layout of the city.

3. Austin, Texas

On our way through Texas, we stopped in Austin for a couple days to visit a few friends and get a taste of the city. When we arrived, we went straight to Austin Terrier to meet up with a couple friends from college, Eduardo and Santi. It was a nice dog-friendly spot, where Ravioli got to meet his new dog buddies Griffin and Jimothy the Corgi. After lunch, we headed to Zilker Park to have a few beers while loungin in that tExAs SuN (cue Khruangbin stuck in my head & hopefully yours).

4. Sante Fe, New Mexico

Santa Fe, NM was a stop we were pretty excited about. Our good friend Tony had moved there after graduating from Georgia Tech, and we had been wanting to visit him for a while. We got to stay with him and his girlfriend, Becca, and their two cats, Oswaldo and Penelope. Oswaldo really took a liking to Sam. The first morning we were there, Sam and I went to the OG Pantry for breakfast (there are two now), per Tony’s recommendation.

5. Bequinox - LA Regional Burning Man Event in California City

Towards the end of April, we attended Bequinox, which is the LA regional Burning Man event. At around 1,500 people, this event is tiny in comparison to the main Burning Man, which is about 80,000 people. We had never attended any of these events, so we thought this smaller scale one would be a good test as to whether or not we would like the main shindig. We joined Sam’s aunt Gale and her group of friends in California City (seemingly the middle of nowhere) on a small piece of land recently purchased by the organizers of this event.

3. Austin, Texas

On our way through Texas, we stopped in Austin for a couple days to visit a few friends and get a taste of the city. When we arrived, we went straight to Austin Terrier to meet up with a couple friends from college, Eduardo and Santi. It was a nice dog-friendly spot, where Ravioli got to meet his new dog buddies Griffin and Jimothy the Corgi.

corg

After lunch, we headed to Zilker Park to have a few beers while loungin in that tExAs SuN (cue Khruangbin stuck in my head & hopefully yours). The park was beautiful, with so much space for picnics, SO many dogs everywhere, plus beach volleyball courts :O

zilk

Then we decided to head out to The Continental Club, which seemed like a cool place with great music (apparently a favorite of matthew mcconaughey’s), but it was a cash only cover. As you guessed, none of us had cash and after we realized we hadn’t eaten dinner we wandered over to Homeslice, which was a godsend (pssst - look around, you might not be in the only line). We got a couple pepperoni slices, an onion and meatball and a white slice (drool). Refueled and ready to go, we stopped by Whisler’s and had a tasty cocktail, then went over to Liberty and had a couple Icy Boys.

Tip: get the Brussels Sprout salad from the food truck in the back, it has been said to change lives for the better. I tried a bite, and I can confirm it was amazing.

The next morning, Eduardo, Sam and I went to brunch at Cenote. Another dog-friendly place with great food. I got the OMG Breakfast, and OMG it was everything I wanted in a breakfast/brunch. The coffee was delicious too - Sam ended up buying two bags of coffee beans before we left! The Guji beans were really great as an iced aeropress.

coffee

While our trip to Austin was short we had a great time catching up with old friends. I don’t know if we’ll be moving there but we definitely want to visit again and see some live music. Maybe we’ll remember to bring cash next time :D