Things to do in Austin: McKinney Falls State Park

The other day I met a high school senior client at McKinney Falls State Park for her session, and I was totally blown away by the location. I vowed to head back ASAP to explore, and last weekend Matthew, my mom, and I spent a morning there hiking. Matt always makes fun of me for over-using the term "heavenly," but in this case, I feel it's quite a fitting adjective. This park is just gorgeous and so much fun to explore - featuring everything from the ruins of an old homestead, to Indian Rock shelters, to 500 year old trees, and that's not to mention all the general gorgeous wildlife and, this time of year, an explosion of spring flowers. If you're in Austin, I highly recommend making a trip out there. Bring $6 per person for the park entrance fee, plenty of water, bug spray, comfortable shoes, and maybe a picnic. Lots of people swim in various places, too, so you might want to bring your suit!

Here's a few more photos from our outing...

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Spring Things To Do In Austin - Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center

I posted about the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center way back when in 2011 (incidentally, it's also very interesting to see how much my photography has changed since then! ha!), but it was worth another post this year. My dear friend Kristin was in town all week, and I knew she would love this gorgeous place. It's in full bloom right now, and I highly recommend making it over there sometime in the next month or so. The trails are really beautiful to walk too, so bring some comfy shoes, some water, and your camera, and maybe make a little morning or afternoon of it. We ate at the Wildflower Cafe there for the first time last week, too, and it was so sweet and adorable and delicious. Would love to go back during a slower day when people are at work and kids are at school, and just sit and read or write with a cup of tea or coffee. 

Happy Thursday, my friends!

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The beginnings of our garden

I still want to talk about the food revolution we experienced after watching those documentaries, but I just haven't quite had time to formulate my thoughts yet. I can say, though, that said "revolution" invoked a desire to grow our own food (or, more accurately, our stupidly high grocery bills have done the invoking), and we have now started our very first backyard garden. We don't really know what we're doing and so we're crossing our fingers we don't kill everything we've planted, but so far it's been a really fun thing to do together as a couple and we are so excited to eat food that we grew from babies and feel more of a connection to. 

This nursery in the photos is called It's About Thyme, and we've really, really enjoyed the couple of trips we've made there so far. Everyone is so helpful and the plants are actually cheaper than at places like Lowe's or Home Depot. We thought it would be the other way around. It's also a really fun place to snap some gorgeous photos.  I am falling more and more in love with plants and gardening and all things pure and given to us by the earth. We all really need to rekindle our connection with our planet, and I think for us, it's starting with reconnecting to the food we eat. So far it's been a nice journey. 

And in our own backyard.... if all goes well, we'll have tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, squash, zucchini, arugula, some kind of fancy lettuce, turnips, strawberries, basil, parsley, and mint. :)

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Dolce Neve, Austin

The other day I got to try out a new little gelato spot here in Austin, Dolce Neve, and it was to. die. for. It had all of the marks of my favorite places in town: super great aesthetics, locally owned, friendly staff, and oh so yummy. Austinites (or visitors!), I'd recommend this spot most highly! Add it to your list! :)

 

See other Austin recs here. :)

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