Anniversary Getaway at Four Seasons in Austin Texas

My husband and I celebrated 15 years of marriage recently, and had an Anniversary Getaway at Four Seasons in Austin Texas. At our 10 year, we went to Vermont, and we kept trying to think of somewhere to travel to for this one, too. I got overwhelmed with trying to plan it, and decided I might just prefer to NOT travel, but still get away for a few days. Then came the light bulb moment to stay locally, but still escape. I honed in on The Four Season in Austin, just a hop, skip, and a jump from our home, and we made our plan to go!

{I was compensated by Four Seasons Austin, but all opinions are 100% my own}

We had so much fun, just having NO agenda at all. It was rainy and gloomy, but we really just enjoyed extended conversations without interruptions and not being rushed, which is often the case when we go on destination adventures.  Now I’ll admit, I’m one of THOSE moms that doesn’t like being away from her kids. I genuinely enjoy their company, and being around them, but I also recognize the need for my husband and I to have time for ourselves to strengthen and nourish our relationship.

We got int our room, and I was ready to par-tay!

When I booked our stay, I was asked if we were celebrating any special occasions, and I mentioned that we just hit our 15 year anniversary. To my delight, when we came in, we were greeted with this fabulous display:

The view was spectacular, looking out onto LadyBird Lake and the famous Congress Bridge in Austin.  It was January, so the foliage wasn’t out in full force.

There was a fancy bathroom….

And cozy options to vegge in the room…I actually really enjoyed the book they had of the other Four Seasons around the world, the photography was stunning.

But first, we got in our super casual clothes, and had rented a tandem bicycle for the afternoon. We knew the next day was supposed to be rainy, so had to get on it right away.

This was actually quite the adventure. My husband is an avid cyclist, and I am comfortable on a bike…I go a few miles every week. Neither of us had done a tandem before and it was TRICKY! The guy who rented it to us said it is knicknamed the divorce bike. I’ll admit, the first few minutes was a bit hairy, as we tried to figure out who had control, and learned to work together. After we got the hang of it, we enjoyed are ride along the trail, and had fun.

This was my view:

I had no control over the direction, but I did have a bell to ring! That was fun. We just found that our pedals were on the same chain, so we actually had to both be pedaling at the same time. Tricky because we both start the pedaling process different, I am sitting, with left foot on the ground, and he stands to pedal, starting with the left foot.

We got the bikes from Austin Bike Tools and rental, just out of a crate storage downtown.

Then we walked back to the hotel after dropping off our tandem, and I saw our cute reflection in the side of a building, so snapped this shot. (Fun hot pink Tex Mex restaurant behind us, too!)

We walked to a restaurant a few blocks away for our Friday night dinner.  I posted on our neighborhood facebook page for suggestions, and got a bunch, and we ended up at Second in Austin. While we waited for our table, we sat on a street bench for 15 minutes on Congress Avenue, and watched people walk by. It’s a pretty hoppin’ part of town, so there was plenty to watch. It was so relaxing to just vegge.

Once we ate, we enjoyed Great food, great atmosphere.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed this cheesecake that came straight to our room.

After a fabulous sleep in in the morning, we ordered room service for breakfast, and there is just something so heavenly about someone bringing me food, while in my jammies. The food below pretty much sums up my joy:  fresh fruit, flaky croissant, and delicious bacon.  I mean, the bacon was the most perfect texture I’ve ever tasted in bacon. I may have to take a regular trip down there just for the bacon.

After we let our morning breakfast settle, we hit the gym for our couples workout. We’ve actually been going to the gym every Saturday together in 2015, he’s been my personal trainer, giving me exercises. This day was no exception. I want badly to be more tone, and to shed a few pounds from my fall binging, so am working towards that goal these days.

It was a really nice workout facility in the hotel.

For lunch, we walked to a french creperie down the street. I had actually been before with the kids and friends last summer, but I wanted him to try it. I could tell it was owned by French people, and once inside, he felt right at home (my husband lived in France for 2 years before we met, and is fluent). He was very impressed with the authenticity of the crepes, and was picking out the accents of the waiter/owner as to what part of France they were from, and he was spot on.

I already started to dig into my crepe before I remembered to take a picture. We got one sweet and one savory, and shared.  I loved the fun and bright decorations on the walls.

I even found the largest container of Nutella I’d ever seen (and it really had the good stuff in it). I blended into the background nicely (yellow coat, yellow walls).

It was fun strolling around downtown, I don’t explore my city enough. I snapped some shots of us in the building with our umbrella.

That night, we went out on a limb, and went for some Indian food. We are kinda plain in our tastes, preferring the “American” fare, but we hit The Clay Pit, and really enjoyed it! I want to go back!  I got a coconut curry dish, my most favorite of flavors.

The day, we weren’t able to stay for the famous Sunday brunch, but I snapped some pictures on the way out.  Amazing display of beautiful food!

Of course the weather got better, just as we were headed out. I loved all the seating and lounging furniture out behind the hotel, overlooking the trail and lake.

My husband was eyeing the runners on the trail, that’s his ZEN.

We checked out the pool…

…and here I am looking all modelesque…or trying to avoid the sun in my eyes, where you can see a view of the resort area between the lake and the back of the hotel.

My hair looks on fire here, doesn’t it?

Now just one last picture of me looking out all melancholy as we are about to part from our getaway.

We then drove the 20 minutes or so back home, and this is what we were greeted by when we got there:

and this:

When we left, my daughter felt sad hearing me call it a “getaway” because she felt we needed to get away from them. In reality, we just needed this getaway for us. I highly recommend every couple do this, even just for a weekend, just down the road.