beautiful grounds of the Texas State
Capitol, where you can also take a free
45-
minute tour of the interior.
If you’d like to walk off some
of that lunch, a great area for a
stroll is Austin’s hip SoCo (South
Congress Avenue) neighbourhood. In
between browsing cowboy boots and
Americana galore in the thrift stores,
you can also indulge yourselves at
Food Truck Heaven across the road.
Kids will love the colourful trucks,
including Hey Cupcake and Frigid
Frog for snow cones.
Chilling in Lost Pines
Our next stop was the relaxing resort
part of our trip: a 40-minute drive
to the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines,
an expansive 405-acre property set
along the banks of the Colorado
River. Compared to slick Asian
hotels, US resorts can look a little
dated. However, what this resort does
well is activities, with kid-friendly
pools, a long Lazy River, s’mores,
late-night outdoor family movies and
an excellent kids’ club. We spent a
long weekend here recharging our
batteries, swimming, sunning and
enjoying the hotel’s beautiful grounds.
Historic San Antonio
It was an hour to our final destination,
the Texan city that was once part of
Mexico and is apparently the most-
visited city in Texas. It’s easy to see
why, with a River Walk lined with
restaurants, plus plentiful attractions
from the historic Alamo, SeaWorld and
the San Antonio Zoo. San Antonio,
along with most US cities, has a
great children’s museum and my
daughters enjoyed playing on the
many interactive exhibits, including a
pretend aeroplane and control tower.
You must also add a trip north
of downtown to Lulu’s Bakery &
Café, where you can indulge in a
big chicken-fried steak for breakfast.
Don’t forget to save room for their
three-pound cinnamon roll for dessert.
Bigger than my baby’s head, this was
the best roll I’ve ever eaten, and we
made it last three days!
Before heading to Houston
Airport, we couldn’t miss out on
one last big Texas offering: NASA’s
Johnson Space Center. Adults and
teenagers will love visiting the real
Mission Control Center and the
astronaut training areas, whilst the
kids get their own play area with
interactive exhibits.
Our two-week Texas trip was big
on adventure and lots of fun. There
are many resources to help make road
tripping with kids easier. Book suites
to allow yourselves that extra room,
Google toddler-friendly activities in all
cities you are visiting, check opening
and closing times for attractions
(
we turned up when SeaWorld was
closed!), pay extra for a GPS system
in your hire car, and don’t be afraid
to break your kids’ routine. Yes, my
usually healthy one-year-old ate
barbecue every day of the trip, but I
wouldn’t have had it any other way.
The burning question now is
where to road trip next? Guess we’ll
have to wait for more inspiration from
another episode of
Man v. Food
.
For meat lovers,
you must visit
Franklins for
the world’s best
barbecue. We
spent the afternoon
snoozing off our
gluttonous feast of
ribs, brisket and
sausage …
March 2013
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