Palm Playground

Happy 4th of July! And for us surpassing 10,000 steps walking around downtown Austin today!

We kicked off our morning with a jazz brunch at Geraldine's featuring the Michael Hale Trio in the Kimpton Hotel Van Zandt.

With a great table, up front and center to the stage, the sound was just right and the jazz trio was tight. They played a set of jazz standards with finesse (with Ann giving us a quick study in jazz chord progressions too!) while we enjoyed eating our selections from the brunch menu. One standout all-around favorite were the buttermilk biscuits with maple honey butter! The music and food were a winning combination!

Leaving Geraldine's, we stopped off the elevator and headed across the lobby to Cafe 605 for coffee. Our timing was perfect since the cafe served as a nice haven to enjoy drinking our coffee and stay dry as a sudden rain shower pelted the ground for about 30 minutes!

As we left the hotel and started our walk back towards downtown, we didn't realize that we were walking towards another historic Austin district, Rainey Street.

Rainy Street is a former residential block lined with historic homes in bungalow style. Today Rainy Street is quintessential Austin with bungalows now housing funky cafes and lounges (we walked passed Clive, G'ral Mahal, Lucille, Stagger Lee, Banger's Sausage House & Beer Garden), string-lit patios, restaurants, clusters of food trucks, live music, and craft cocktails and beers.

Rainy Street was buzzing with lots of people of all ages,extremely lively, and music streaming throughout the block! Early Fourth of July celebrations were in full force! Take a stroll down this block and you will find yourself getting in a party mode, no matter the time of day or night!

Next to eating breakfast tacos, you can't leave Austin without eating barbeque. Choosing one can be daunting because you could easily spend a week in Austin and not eat at the same barbeque place twice!

Before coming to Austin, we read about and noted a number of barbeque establishments. Arriving in Austin, locals recommended several more places that we hadn't even heard of!

So, before leaving Austin, we had to have bar-b-que! Walking along Congress Avenue we stopped into Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que.

Like many barbeque restaurants in Austin, Cooper's is family-owned, and rich in generational history. The family opened its first place in 1953. I also read that in the early 2000s, President George W. Bush declared Cooper's his favorite barbecue restaurant.

I have to say that their bar-b-que reputation is spot on! You can watch the server/pitmaster grill and serve large beef brisket, beef and pork ribs, prime rib, chicken, and sausage. We each selected beef brisket along with a second meat and sides. He loaded generous cuts on a tray for weighing and wrapping at the next station. Oh, I forgot to mention that you pay by the pound per meat choice! It can get pricey!

With our takeout bags in hand we walked back to our hotel to enjoy our feast. The brisket was cooked and seasoned perfectly. And the chicken grilled just right and done through and through. The sausage was good, but may be too rich and oily for sensitive stomachs! And none of the meat needed additional sauce. It would have drown out the taste of the light and smoky mesquite flavor of the meat!

Later, Ann and Dawn watched the firework display happening near the Texas Capitol from the balcony of our hotel suite. And I watched a few fireworks from the window in my room as I packed! It was a pleasant ending to our mini-vacay as our last night in Austin drew to a close.

Happy 4th of July in Texas!Read more