Last Updated on December 5, 2024 by Lauren Belzer
Austin, Texas was one of the five destinations that I had listed on my U.S. travel bucket list back in 2020. Well, we did it! We packed our bags & headed to Texas for about a week. We visited Dallas, Frisco, Fort Worth, Waco & Austin – and oh man, Texas is HOT in May! A little spoiler alert, our favorite cities were by far Forth Worth & Austin.
Compared to Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth is huge. I truly don’t think even a week is long enough to explore all the different pockets, and we were there for about 4 days (which included checking out Fort Worth).
Here’s what we did, ate & drank, and where we stayed:
Frisco, TX
We started our trip in the Dallas area, but we stayed in the suburbs in Frisco, TX. The reason we did this is that it was a little cheaper and because we wanted to explore more of the suburbs to see if there was a possibility that we might want to move to the area.
We stayed at the Hotel Indigo Frisco. Nothing fancy by any means, but it was a pretty cost-effective hotel & an easy location to get around Frisco, and Plano & even get down closer to the city quickly. It was right by a little man-made lake and about 4-5 minutes from The Star, where the Dallas Cowboys headquarters is & some good restaurants that are a part of The Star District.
On our first night, we ended up meeting up with my high school best friend, Jade, at Lombardi Cucina Italiana which is at The Star! We also got to see their first house in Frisco!
Dallas, TX
We did get to make it down closer to the city two different times – once for dinner in Uptown & another time for dinner after our tour de Fort Worth in the Bishop Arts district.
Uptown was where Max & I actually had a belated anniversary dinner, as we celebrated 6 years together during the beginning of our trip. We went to a restaurant called Haywire after we walked around the area for a little bit. It was delicious! I got a Shiner Bock to quench my thirst, we shared the lump crab dip (yum!) and I got possibly one of the best steaks ever … the 6 oz. charbroiled Angus filet with smoked chile butter!
After a day trip out to Fort Worth, we headed back to Dallas to have a drink & dinner in the Bishop Arts District. We got a drink at Casablanca and another at Mermaid before having a delicious Italian dinner at Paradiso. Our waitress at Paradiso had actually just moved out to Dallas from the Portland area & happened to know a guy that I went to high school with…what a small world!
All three spots we stopped at in Bishop Arts are very aesthetically pleasing & also have a similar vibe. This is because they are all owned by the same restaurant group! They also own a spot called Botanist & another called Tejas that are all right in the same area, too. Botanist was actually where we were going to go for our pre-dinner drink, but they were closed for a private event, so we were directed across the street to Casablanca. Casablanca even has karaoke rooms that you can rent out!
And later that night after our dinner & on the way back to our hotel, we decided to spend our last night in Dallas with a drink & some live music! We ended up stopping at The Rustic in Uptown – recommended by Jade – because she would go there all the time when she lived down that way!
Fort Worth, TX
When I say that visiting the Fort Worth Stockyards was my favorite part of the entire trip, I am not kidding! The historical aspects of the Stockyards & all the animals, walking around the area…the whole thing was just so much fun. We got to see where they have rodeos, even got to see some true Texas longhorns (I brought home a stuffy for our cat, Todd), and shopped in some really cool stores!
Oh, I also can’t forget that we ended up stopping by Texas Christian University (TCU) for a little peek. It was one of the schools that I applied to back when it was time for college. I got in but never ended up visiting – and thank God – because I would have fallen in love. It was amazing!
Waco, TX
After our four or so days in the DFW area, we drove down to Austin. But, we had to stop in Waco at the Magnolia Silos on the way! It was super, super cute. Had all the Magnolia Home shopping you could want plus cute little food carts and a bakery with a really long line!
Austin, TX
We finished out our Texas trip in Austin! We had so much fun but it was soooooo hot! We stayed at the Tommie Austin which is downtown, close-ish to the river & even closer to the bars on 6th. When we arrived, they had sparkling waiting for us with a note!
For our first meal, we had an early-ish dinner at the infamous Terry Black’s BBQ and my oh my way it good! We also ran into my friend Nicole from Orange County! The brisket was to die for.
We spent our short trip to Austin walking around South Congress & even headed out to see Lake Austin.
The shops along South Congress were super cute! Our last night included dinner at Fresas (so good) & and a relatively early night. Our flight home ended up getting canceled right as we arrived in Austin, so the only thing we could rebook was an early Monday morning flight. It was no longer direct and our trip was also cut half a day short, but at least we were able to get home!
We were really happy to be home from our travels, but most definitely enjoyed our time exploring Texas – a part of the U.S. neither of us had explored before. We ultimately decided that Texas wasn’t going to be the right move for us at this stage in our lives, but we can’t wait to come back & visit in the future!