Austin Day Trip With Kids

Austin Day Trip with Kids

On this recent thanksgiving break my husband and I wanted to get out of town for a day and explore Austin.  We visit the capital of Texas frequently since it’s only an hour from San Antonio, but we wanted to find somewhere new that we haven’t visited before. We visited the State Capital, then ate dinner at Home Slice pizza. For dessert, the biggest donut I’ve ever seen in my life from around Rock Donuts.  In this blog I’ll highlight some details about our day trip to Austin with our 4 kids.

Our first stop is The Texas State Capitol Building.  The northern edge of the capitol grounds is four blocks south of the University of Texas.  This building The Texas State Capitol is open daily and free tours are offered every day.  Tours meet inside the South Foyer, outside of the tour guides office inside the capitol building. The tours leave every 30 to 45 minutes and last approximately 30 minutes.  The exterior is gorgeous with its red granite covering the building, the inside is beautiful where the central portion forms an open rotunda beneath the dome.  Fun Fact- the rotunda is a whispering gallery.  which whispers can be heard clearly in other parts of the gallery.

Even though they offered free tours, we walked around at our own pace. The rooms for the Texas Senators and the Texas House of Representatives are on the second floor. There’s artwork and archives on the Thursday floor.  Overall, we had a great time learning about Texas History and exploring the Capitol.

Our next stop is the best New York Style Pizzeria in Texas, Home Slice Pizza.   Located on 1415 S. Congress Ave.  Our kids love this place!  Just so you know, there is always a wait when we go, but if you don’t want to wait you can go next door and order your pizza for takeout.  I’ve had my fair share of New York style pizza, and this pizzeria never disappoints.  The vibe, staff, and of course the pies are 10 out of 10.  I love that if you have smaller kids, the waitstaff brings out a portion of dough so that the kids can have something to do while waiting for the pizza to get done.  It’s the little touches like this that keeps us returning.   Make sure you visit this iconic Austin landmark.

Last but not least, it’s time for dessert.  We drove to Round Rock to pick up some donuts from around Round Rock Donuts/ Lone Star Bakery.  It took us less than 20 minutes from S. Congress to get to this bakery located on 106 W. Liberty ave. The most famous donut is the 14 inch glaze.  It’s definitely a shareable size.  For $6.99, that’s a great deal for the 6 of us to eat dessert. We picked up a few cinnamon twists for breakfast in the morning, also.  It’s true what they say: Everything is bigger in Texas.

We had a wonderful day exploring and eating in Austin, Texas.  I love it when we take day trips and get to spend time as a family.  I hope this blog has inspired you to visit the Capitol Building of Texas, order a pizza pie from Home Slice and a Texas-sized donut at around Rock Donuts.  Have you ever been to any one of the above places?  Leave a comment below.