I recently flew into Austin and took a road trip visiting several cities in what is known as the Texas Triangle. Technically, the Texas Triangle comprises of Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas but I skipped Dallas to instead head over to the southernmost beach in Texas, Boca Chica area, to see the SpaceX facilities. I am documenting my road trip itinerary: places to stay, things to do, and a few eclectic restaurants to try. (BTW, I have no affiliation with businesses mentioned below and I don’t receive any financial incentives from them). Hope you find this post useful to plan your Texas Triangle trip or a SpaceX – Boca Chica – Brownsville – South Padre Island trip!
Day 1: Austin downtown and vicinity: I flew into Austin from New York because flights into Austin were the most convenient and also cheapest. All the three major cities, Austin, Houston and San Antonio, are about 3 hours from each other so I was flexible in terms of my in and out city. In hindsight, Austin was a great option to spend that extra last day on the way back. This also made the rental car pickup/dropoff very convenient. I stayed in Hyatt Regency Austin which is a great clean hotel in downtown with easy access to restaurants, the bats observation area, and activities such as kayaking on the Lady Bird lake. Austin downtown has app-based scooters and bikes like Bird and Lime which makes it very convenient to move around. Rainey Street bar crawl is a fun evening activity with nearly every house on a street converted to eclectic bars, bites and food trucks.
Day 2: COTA (Circuit of the Americas), Austin. COTA hosts the US Grand Prix Formula 1 race every year so while I am not attending the race this year, I wanted to visit the race track and soak it all in. The grandstand was simply awesome and I could imagine it would be truly an awesome experience with 20 F1 cars starting on the grid and climbing that first uphill at turn 1! I raced at the Karting center at COTA and highly recommend it. Attending the F1 race is definitely on my bucket list some day. Later back in downtown, I had my first of many Austin BBQ at Cooper’s Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. Highly recommended. That evening I also visited the famous bats observation area under Congress Avenue bridge, which was a short walk from the hotel. Austin is also famous for several ‘speakeasy’ bars and one that I lucked into trying was the Firehouse Lounge. Highly recommended for the unique entrance!
Day 3: Austin city: I visited some of the scenic spots in Austin: Mount Bonnell: A great short hike with great views of the Colorado river. Mayfield Nature Preserve: Next door to Mount Bonnell so a convenient stop with peacocks walking about and a mini hike all the way down to the river. Later back in downtown Austin, I visited the Texas Capitol and it’s an impressive place. And don’t forget to wrap up the day with awesome tacos from Veracruz All Natural (Tip: Order ahead from their website as lines can be long here). And that wrapped up the Austin visit.
Day 4: Houston downtown: On the way to Houston from Austin, don’t forget to include a pit stop at Brenham for an ice cream at the Blue Bell Creamery! I spent the rest of the afternoon in downtown Houston. Several restaurants to choose from. In the evening, a good spot was Z on 23 rooftop bar with 360 degree views of the city.
Day 5: NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston: One of my main goals of visiting Houston was to visit the NASA Johnson Space Center and actually be in the “Houston, we have a problem” mission center. And this didn’t disappoint. I reached early when crowds were less, parking was easier and the trams were available easily. Some tips if you are visiting: Use the app to get in line for the two guided tram tours. Do these first so that you can beat the crowds. Skip the self-guided tour. Also I highly recommend the IMax movies (there are several theatres at the space center so be sure to locate the IMax theatre). The Saturn V rocket, the SpaceX Falcon rocket, the mission briefing tour (which according to the guide was recently re-started after undergoing restoration), and the tour of the astronaut training facilities were the highlights. Day well spent!
Day 6: San Antonio, Riverwalk: The next morning I headed to San Antonio. One highly recommended stop along the way from Houston to San Antonio is Black’s Barbecue Lockhart. Lockhart is considered the birthplace of Texas BBQ and this place didn’t disappoint. I also visited their location in Austin on the way back!) In San Antonio, I stayed at the Drury Inn and Suites, right on the Riverwalk, and that was a great choice as I could walk to several restaurants and attractions from my hotel without the need to drive. Any first trip to San Antonio would be lacking without a trip to The Alamo. So, on my first day there I planned a visit to The Alamo (Tip: Visit their website to book a slot as a limited number of visitors are allowed at one time inside the building (due to Covid)). If you arrive early, you can still walk around the building on the grounds. I would recommend the self guided voice tour to learn a lot about this historical site. Then I visited the San Fernando Cathedral. This church is still in active service and was a very peaceful place to visit. And one more spot to squeeze in on this day was the Tower of the Americas, a revolving restaurant and a visitors center at the top of this 622 feet tower. Happy hour here was a good deal with a lighter crowd and a great view. If you have time, I would also recommend a late night walking ghost tour. There are several interesting spooky stories around The Alamo, the San Fernando Cathedral, the Spanish museum, etc. all in the vicinity of the Riverwalk. And then perhaps a nightcap at the famous Esquire Tavern along the Riverwalk, which is a famous historic place in itself. It’s claim to fame is that it started selling alcohol at 12:01 am the day prohibition was lifted (and no one bothered to ask ‘where did they get their supply of the alcohol!’).
Day 7: San Antonio city and vicinity: The next morning was more to explore the rest of the city. I visited the Natural Bridge Caverns in the northern outskirts of San Antonio. If you are up for a bit of a steep climb on somewhat slippery stairs, then this is a great addition to the day. Back at the Riverwalk, another fun attraction was the narrated Riverwalk boat cruise. You can’t miss this as they have nearly 20 boats in the river and is a fun and information filled tour. Plus BBQ at Pinkerton’s!
Day 8: Corpus Christi: The travel time from San Antonio to South Padre Island or Boca Chica is nearly 6 hours so I decided to break my trip into two legs. I stayed at Corpus Christi overnight. There are two main attractions IMO in Corpus Christi. The USS Lexington and the beaches. The USS Lexington was a great addition to my trip. I would highly recommend it for adults and kids alike. It’s a huge ship (aircraft carrier to be more precise!) and a wealth of naval information. I planned to spend only ~2 hours there and ended up spending more than 5 hours! There is a lot to discover on each of the aircraft carrier’s 5 levels. Also, don’t miss the IMAX movie which is shown at the top of the hour throughout the day. In the evening, I enjoyed the beach, and restaurants along the beach. Several good seafood choices with great ambiance! Shoutout to Water Street Oyster Bar for a great dinner.
Day 9: SpaceX, Boca Chica! The next day was the ‘big day’ visit to SpaceX :-). I didn’t know what I would be able to see at or near the SpaceX facilities in Boca Chica. I drove straight towards the Boca Chica beach (per Google maps) knowing that both the SpaceX facilities, the production site and the launch site, are along the way. I was very lucky to not have any road closures etc. along the way. I took the obligatory selfie at the Starbase site, and got lucky to drive all the way up to the two Starships (SN 15 and SN 16) sitting on the test pad at the production facility. They are huge and it’s difficult to explain the goosebumps from standing so close to these awesome space machines.
I had read that the SpaceX guards take trespassing very seriously so I was cautious to obey all signs. From the production site, I drove to the launch site where just the day before they had the SN 20 and Booster 4 stacked together to make the world’s tallest rocket. By the time I reached there, they had transported SN 20 back to the production site and left the booster at the launch site. I got to see both the boosters (3 & 4) at that site. I saw a few of the video cameras on tripods along the way and am thankful to them for the continued coverage they have provided since my return to NY. (Special thanks to Boca Chica Gal!). Overall, I spent about an hour in that vicinity and it was well worth it.
From there I headed to South Padre Island to grab dinner and spend the night there. South Padre Island is a bit expensive in my opinion however I can see that it’s a unique stretch of land, and with the SpaceX launches in future, this small piece of land will get even more valuable! The launch facility and the boosters were visible from the southernmost tip of South Padre Island and I can imagine that a future SpaceX Starship launch would be clearly visible from here. However, I am tempted to say that the entrance to the Starbase facility from near the Port of Brownsville along Hwy 4 might be an even better place. This is speculation as I don’t know which roads would be open during a real launch and visibility etc. Your mileage may vary. Either way, we live in exciting times and I would definitely try to be there for a future SpaceX launch. Thanks Elon!
Day 10: Back home: I headed back to Austin for my final day there before the flight back home the next day (and yes it took about 6 hours). It was interesting to note several checkpoints along the way as this is one of the few roads from the border back into Austin. The last evening in Austin was essentially more BBQ (this time at Terry Black’s Barbecue), a stroll along the Lady Bird Lake and IMO no visit to Austin would be complete without a purchase at the first flagship Yeti store! A perfect place to buy some gifts for your loved adventurous ones.
Moon to Mars!
Abhi Khune
Abhiram Ganesh Khune
Musings by Abhi Khune 