After dancing the night away at MBA Prom with fellow bloggers Stephanie and Ryan and the rest of my McCombs friends, I was looking forward to having a relaxing rest of the weekend. What I didn’t realize was how spontaneous (or authentically Austin) my weekend would turn out to be.

My first stop on my Austin-tastic weekend trek was Fran’s Hamburgers in South Congress. I have wanted to go there for a while, since several of my friends have been raving about it for months. Its biggest draw for me (above and beyond my utter love for all things cheeseburger) was that it is often featured in NBC’s Friday Night Lights, which is shot all around Austin (if you’re a fan of the show, you’ll know that the season finale was shot on UT’s campus!). During shooting, it’s not unusual to see Panthers signs on the window, and inside you’ll find an autographed FNL poster. Dreamy. The burgers were delicious and I was glad to check that Austin landmark off my list (I’m sure I’ll be going back soon).

I planned to go directly home (do not pass Go, do not collect $200) to do work, but I got sucked into the nice weather and decided to hang out at my friend’s pool instead. After some sun, we decided to act on our desires to have a Spontaneous Saturday, and headed to Holy Cacao – a place my Austin expert friend John has been raving about in recent weeks. I have probably passed this place 100 times since moving to Austin – a trailer on the side of the road, it’s not hard to miss when driving by. Good things come from hidden packages, though, and we were pleasantly surprised at the decadent desserts we found when we walked up. Serving six different flavors of “cake balls” (balls of cake dipped in chocolate, vanilla, etc.) and a variety of “cake shakes” (ice cream + cake = deliciousness), the stop was a great treat. Cake shake in hand, we headed back to said pool, when we were alerted to an unusual scene: tons of hot rods and old cars cruising up and down South Congress. We parked and watched, amazed by the parade of incredible cars (and some incredibly hilarious) that seemed to never end.

The day was capped off with a night at Polvo’s, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in the area. Although it took a while to get seated, it was definitely worth it, and it was a night of good food and good company as we drank margaritas and laughed our way well into the evening.

Sunday, a group of us hit up the UT favorite Dirty Martin’s, which has been in business for 82 years. Located right on the main drag, I have, again, passed this place about a thousand times never paying it a second thought. Continuing with the “Austin tradition” theme of the weekend, I was glad to try it out, and I was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was really fun and (besides being a little windy), the weather was beautiful.

A beautiful walk around the hike & bike trail at Town Lake rounded out the weekend, and as my friend and I walked past Auditorium Shores, the area that is usually occupied by a dog park had become the host site for the 2009 Austin Reggae Festival. What looked like a mini-Woodstock was taking place, and the whole scene was unexpected and eclectic. With reggae sounds still filling the air, we finished our walk and the weekend, getting ready to start our last few weeks of classes. This semester is flying, so it’s nice to have weekends like this that let me enjoy just being in Austin.