Hi Everyone,
My husband and I have been married 7 months and are relocating to Austin. We are really looking forward to the move. We visited the city and loved it. We are from Seattle so we are excited about the weather, eventhough everyone has warned us about how hot it gets. I just want to see if anyone has some good advice for us. We found a place in the 78704 zipcode we are across the street from Zilker park, is this a good area, is it easy to go play? What are some good grocery stores? Places to see live music? Yummy restaurants? Any farmers markets in the area? I look forward to some advice.
Thanks!
Re: Starting Anew
Seattle! That's one of the places on my summer vacation option list!
My high school boyfriend very close to Zilker, and he/his family loved the area.
If I were you, I'd check out austin360 and Austin Yelp to start. The Austin yelp even has an option to look at stuff by area code, so you could poke around in there for restaurants and shops that would be in your area. There's also a website for Austin Farmers Markets that you might find helpful.
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For starters, try every restaurant on Barton Springs Rd. You cannot go wrong.
jealous of your fancy zip code!
the whole foods HQ is downtown, definitely worth a visit (although you'll spend your entire paycheck on all of 5 items); central market is along the same lines. HEB is the big grocery chain in TX, they are just about everywhere; sprouts is also a recent addition to austin, I don't know if they're in seattle, I know they have some in CA. newflower market is a few miles south of you, it's relatively new as well.
[yes, I have an obsession with grocery stores. I love to cook and I miss trader joe's like CRAZY so I'm always trying to find something comperable. I'm still looking...;(]
I live in the Barton Springs area now, near Zilker and I like it. I am relocating to up by campus though!
It is pretty walkable...In nice weather, you can go to South Congress which has some great restaurants and shops. There are a ton of restaurants and a few coffee places on Barton Springs that are fun.
There are a few tiny grocery stores (Tom's, Farm to Market, Sprouts) and you are pretty close to the big Whole Foods.
The only time that I want to scream due to living here is during any festival, like ACL. The city blocks off Barton Springs Road and I cannot get home!
If you like Farmer's Markets you'll probably like the grocery stores like Sprouts, Whole Foods & Central Market (of course) - all of which have stores not too far from you. Newflower in South Austin is one of my favorites but I live south.
As the PP wrote, www.austin360.com shows all of the live music happenings. So does do512.com or something like that. Restaurants - tons of great ones. Depends on your tastes. Some of my favorites in that area are Shady Grove and Chuy's. Shady Grove has free live music in the summer but it gets pretty busy so you have to get there early and I recommend bringing a picnic blanket and sunglasses.
There's a downtown Farmer's Market and one at Barton Creek Mall parking lot - both of which are easily accessible from where you are. I also have heard great things about Boggy Creek Farm - a local farm you can buy fresh produce from but can be a little pricey.
Good luck on the move and be sure to sign up from some of the get-togethers we have here.