Two Down

Happy Thursday! My heart is happy after a wonderful Wednesday spent with one of my favorite people on this Earth (though sometimes he tells me I'm a horrible decision maker). And we crossed two more items off of my Summer 2014 To-Do List, so life is even sweeter. So, let's start right in on those two items, shall we?

Top Golf

I know, I know, I'm late to the Top Golf game, but I was never in Houston long enough to make the trip out there (okay, maybe I was, but Dylan and I had said we would go together, and it's just far enough away from him to probably not be worth the trip). And the one in Austin is fairly new, and it's pretty much always crowded, and it's hard to give up a few hours when you're in the middle of a busy semester. So, with only two weeks left in Austin, and a night that Dylan didn't have to work, we made our way over to the Top Golf in North Austin. We got there around 3:45pm, became Top Golf Life Members,

and were told we had about a 20-30 minute wait. We were told there was a bar where we could wait, and then we were also told there was a lounge with pool tables. Guess which one we chose? We're adults, I swear! Anyway, after one full round of pool we got a text saying our bay was ready. We found the concierge, where we were promptly asked if we would need help getting set up. Since we were first-timers, we said we probably did, and someone else was immediately brought over to show us the ropes. I have to give a shout out to Eric, who asked us if we would be needing any left-handed clubs. Obviously, I would be needing some of those (though I did learn how to play golf right-handed), and though Dylan is a true righty, he is sometimes ambidextrous, and golf just happens to be one of those times. So, we were both given a bag of left-handed clubs, and led down to Bay 124.

We were shown very quickly how it works, and because this was not only our first time at Top Golf, we both have absolutely no idea how to play golf. For Dylan, this is understandable, but I, on the other hand, have no real excuse, because both my dad and my brother are avid golfers. That being said, it was a no-brainer that we took a few practice swings before starting the real thing.

Here's how it went down: neither of our scores were very high, but that's okay because we truly had a wonderful time laughing at one another's shots, and also commenting on one another's improvement. I'll go ahead and say that my score was higher than Dylan's, but his shots were much prettier than mine. My style of golfing is more like bowling, which I felt like was cheating, but I made it into the target areas quite a few times. The luck favors the lucky, right? Dylan actually looked good while he was golfing, consistently hitting balls right on line, to the back wall, and with a nice arc, and while I'll admit that I had a few good shots (improving after texting my dad a picture, with him advising me to keep my right arm straight), my points came mainly from my bowling shots. But hey, we sure had a great time together, and the set-up was just great. Fans with misters, televisions with the Argentina/Netherlands game on, water to keep us hydrated, and though we didn't take advantage of the food and drink menu because we had plans to get dinner elsewhere, it had some very appealing items. Next time!

Hopdoddy

Next up on the list was dinner at one of Austin's finest establishments: Hopdoddy. Read any list titled "greatest burgers," and Hopdoddy will almost certainly be on that list. It is always a "must visit" place when asked for recommendations, and that is with very good reason. The beef comes from humanely-raised cows, who are never given any growth hormones or antibiotics, the meat is grinded in-house, and the buns are made from scratch. The fries are thin and crisp, hand-cut from Kennebec potatoes, and their milkshakes are to die for (so I've heard, anyway). The menu stays fairly constant, with a few rotating items, and though you are almost always guaranteed a wait, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone who says it isn't well worth it.

(Source)

(Source)

Hopdoddy, aside from being one of my favorite restaurants in Austin, also holds a special place in my heart because it is the site of Dylan's and my very first "real" date at the beginning of last summer. I realized tonight that I hadn't been back since said date, and though he very much knew of my blog, I didn't take a picture of our food for what I hope are very obvious reasons.

For our food this round, I went with the Thunderbird (sans bacon, pepper jack, and chipotle mayo), which is a recent addition to the Hopdoddy menu. It is a chicken burger topped with sliced avocado, green chiles, salsa verde, and the usual lettuce and tomatoes. I added a little bit of mustard to the top bun, and didn't leave even one crumb on my tray.

Dylan, after much deliberation, went with the Llano Poblano, and his tray looked similar to mine. We shared a regular order of fries, and Dylan just couldn't pass up the Raspberry White Chocolate Milkshake.

It looked so good that I contemplated taking a sip before I snapped back to reality and realized that might not be my best idea. My burger ended up filling me up so I didn't miss out on much by not having some of the milkshake. 

We parted ways after dinner because Dylan had a test to study for, so I went home and lounged, and once again managed to get to bed at a decent hour. It was a fabulous Wednesday afternoon, and ladies and gents, the two week countdown has officially begun. Here's to making every last day count!