After a year of staying home during the height of the pandemic... we finally broke out to go somewhere outside of Kansas and farther away than my parents lake house in Missouri. 

One positive the last year brought us was my college best friend and her family relocated from California to Texas. Specifically Austin. So a road trip over Spring Break was in order. 

We left Wednesday morning and made the trip in 11 hours. Traveling with young children is less than ideal but we were pleasantly surprised at how our kids handled it. The key to any successful road trip is flexibility. Stop when you need to. Don’t have a hard timeline. And for kids? Stock up at the dollar store on both snacks, special treats and small trinket toys. The girls were pumped for all the fun things they picked out to take on the road with us (silly putty, coloring sets, sticker sets, mermaid barbies and travel bingo). Plus it saved the hassle of stopping to get snacks every time someone decided they were hungry. 

Our trip was mainly spent getting to see my friend and her family. So we attended softball games for her oldest daughter, the girls spent lots of time playing with her youngest daughter in her room, movie nights, playing at local parks and getting muddy in the backyard. It was a huge hit for all the littler kids. 

But we did manage to squeeze in a few tourist activities as well. 

One afternoon the girls and I met my high school best friend, who is now a permanent RVer with her husband, to tour the Texas State Capitol. We were super lucky that our trips overlapped and we took our routine day trips (my friend is my go to for all the random day trip activities here local. She’s always up to hang with the girls and I!) to another state. Currently the capitol is not doing guided tours. But the building is open for self guided tours and most areas are open for viewing. I realized about half way through this was really the first opportunity I’ve had to take my kids to something historically touristy majorly out of state. Grace was super into it and took her camera (a Christmas gift from grandparents) with her to document ALL the things. The weather was gorgeous and we definitely enjoyed walking around both in and out. Also the Texas Capitol Police are very helpful, informative and friendly.  

Later that day we met the friend we were staying with and her kids to do a mural tour. Austin is a larger version of Lawrence with all sorts of fun outdoor murals. We ended up following this tour and visiting 5 of the murals. Quite a few on the route are located near University of Texas Austin, which makes them harder to get to. But a bunch of them are easy to access with a parking lot nearby. The Love from Austin mural is on the side of the cutest little gift shop. We purchased our trip ornament and our locket here because...

We wrapped up the night meeting all the husbands for dinner at The Oasis which overlooks Lake Travis. The food is Texmex and so so. But the views are amazing. After dinner we hung two lockets on the rail overlooking the water. A permanent mark to document our adventure. We ended up coming back the next day to see the views during the day and do a bit more shopping plus grab some ice cream. It’s a unique area with a fun assortment of things to see and do. 

A few days before we left for Texas... the Texas governor lifted the mask mandate. Despite this, we felt safe during all of our outings. We are very fortunate that Rob has already been fully vaccinated. But the girls and I really had no reason to worry as we wore masks and all the places we went to also required a mask be worn by all patrons.

Getting away for spring break was just what we needed though.  Seeing friends we hadn’t seen in a couple of years was the best way to spend our time. We already can’t wait for the next adventure!