The many months of quarantining and isolating from COVID have pushed even the most introverted students to seek diversions outside of the house in recent months.

Fortunately, Austin has a multitude of places to explore and walkable areas of town, featuring fun, food, and sweets providing endless opportunities to enjoy a day around town.

In this edition of Exploring Austin, we are checking out a stretch of South First Street between Monroe and Live Oak streets. This area has many offerings that can be explored just by walking down a few blocks of this lively neighborhood with some parts to drive to if you so please to do so.

Start your day off with some “Jo’s Coffee” in the early morning. They also have a very popular mural in town. Get a lovely picture with everyone at the “I love you so much” mural and spark joy for those around you. If that coffee wasn’t enough for you or you just don’t like it in general, that’s okay. A few blocks away on South 1st are some local “Food trucks”, one of our greatest specialties and varieties in the area. After having a wonderful breakfast, you should have tons of energy. Why not do some shopping?

Places like “Mud Studio” to find some of the finest mugs and other creative specialty items from clay, “Bloomers and Frocks”, a nice and cozy vintage store that has all sorts of clothes, jewelry, hats, accessories, and so much more. If you weren’t satisfied with shopping, there are two more murals side by side a couple of blocks from there, the “Greetings from Austin” mural and the “You belong among the wildflowers”. They are very beautiful locations, also popular by the Austin community.

If you’ve lost a bit of energy now, why not take a break and eat some lunch? There’s “Fresa’s South First ”, a nice little Mexican restaurant just on the street of the murals. Not feeling Mexican or thinking it’s not fancy enough? We got you covered buddy. Join us down at “LENOIR” a fancy American restaurant with mostly seafood options for your cravings. There’s also “Mumtaz Market by G Raj Mahal” another neat place with burgers, soups, fish, and sandwiches.

Now that you’ve had your filling lunch, what else could we do? Why don’t you drive a few miles towards a nice place to cool off after walking for a while. I hope you brought a swimsuit, so you can head over to the incredible “Barton Springs Municipal Pool”. If not, there’s a park around the area. If you have kids, you can send them on their way to enjoy it all day long. If you just want to relax, you can walk around the path with a wide opening for all people and cyclists to enjoy on. Or just enjoy the view of downtown from there, it is a pretty stunning view from where you are so this is a very special thing for you to see with your very own eyes.

Now you’re probably tired and hungry again, so you can drive over to the nearby “Salt Traders Coastal cooking”. Full of Seafood, Sandwiches, Fish sticks, and small soups. Wanna go home after a long day? I don’t think we should yet, you should get a nice dessert. Why not drive over to the “Shake Shack” You can get some nice custard dessert after a long and hot day. Now you can come back and do more another day, thanks for coming out with us. 

Click this link to see the map.