Relax

From all the posts about food, you would think I do nothing but eat all the time, honestly. That's okay though, because a good deal of my life does revolve around eating, and I see nothing wrong with that.

This time, however, I not only have a restaurant to recommend, but another good suggestion for a relaxing, lazy afternoon in Austin. Just head downtown, ...........Photo by: Stefan Freier
park and enjoy your day. Best
of all, the day comprises of just three easily-accessible little venues:

1. An art museum.
2. Our very own capitol building.
3. An outdoor bar and grill.

We began our afternoon by going to the Austin Museum of Art, which for the past month has housed "Extra-ordinary. Everyday Objects in American Art." This exhibit features a few artists along the likes of Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg. The nice thing about AMOA is that it is small enough to where you can peruse around and be about your day within half an hour because of its small size.

Which is just what we did.

Next, we walked to the Texas Capitol building. I shamefully admit that in my two years of living in Austin, I had yet to visit our dear state's capitol. The graceful and ornate interior halls all leading to the awe-inspiring apex center were like a sight to sore eyes after almost five years of not visiting. I strongly recommend going to walk around if you also have not been in a while.

After wandering inside, we headed out to the capitol grounds where we were greeted by the perfect seventy-two .....................Photo by: Stefan Freier.....................degree ....................................................................weather and lawn with plenty of shady, grassy spots on which to repose; it was a perfect opportunity to settle down with my copy of "Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling" by Ross King.

Sleepiness soon overcame us though, due to the overly-comfortable conditions, so we decided to abide our now-grumbling tummies.

We played it by ear and ate at the first decent-looking locale we stumbled across. The lucky recipient of our business, located on the corner of 8th and Congress, was "Hickory Street Bar & Grill.

It turned out to be way better than the rustic, run-down appearance suggested. Offering a traditionally-American array of foods such as burgers, chicken fried steak and even seafood dishes and Tex-mex. The "Avocado Veggie Burger" I had was not overly fried, on a warm wheat bun and very flavorful. I'm not even vegetarian, but I immensely enjoyed this burger as well as the home-made chips that accompanied it.

We enjoyed our meal outside on the patio tables and actually never set foot indoors. However, from what I hear half of the restaurant is underground! The pleasant afternoon dining place doubles as an upbeat sports bar at night as well.

All in all, it was a satisfyingly perfect day. Try it out sometime.