A few weekends back we decided to take a day and chose a few of the neighborhoods from the map below to explore. We chose to drove through Allandale (2), Rosedale (4), and Barton Hills (15) based on the info from the map as well as some blogs that we follow. We currently live about five minutes south of where the map ends and know that we want to move a bit closer to the city and some of our favorite outdoor activities (Zilker Park, Barton Creek, kayking, etc.).
With our notebook and adventurous spirit in hand, we took to the streets and began our journey. The first neighborhood we decided to tour was Barton Hills. Since this neighborhood is within walking distance to some of our favorite eateries and parks we knew that this might be a perfect place to get some "city life" while remaining in an area where we could get a backyard for our little Stewie (poor guy- he deserves some open green!). We were more than impressed at what we found. The whole time we were driving we got the feeling of being two kiddos in an awesome tree house. We also loved the twisty-windy roads along with their variety of the houses. They were mostly ranches or bungalows-types with an overall "cool lived-in feeling" you don't get with every neighborhood. Some of the homes were complete re-do's but with the mature trees you could tell that this place had a history.
Although the houses in this post are by no means the favs of the day, we were psyched with the finds and couldn't believe that we could possibly be walking distance to this oasis- Barton Springs. A naturally spring-fed 68 degree pool is a popular place to beat the Texas heat.
After a few more oohhs and ahhs. We decided to give the other neighborhoods a go and see if we might be able to find another cool prospective neighborhood on our list.
Needless to say.
NOPE. Not even close.
It's not that the other spots on the list didn't have a fair chance (they sounded like good potentials on the blogs we read up on). The other neighborhoods (Allandale and Rosedale) just didn't even compare. Did they have some of the things on our checklist, ya. But "the feeling" (you know, THAT feeling) and other aspects of a neighborhood just weren't there. We also didn't like how much farther the parks were and the fact that we wouldn't be able to walk or take a few minutes drive to SOCO or S. Lamar areas. So for now, our next move (Jess LOVES to pre-plan remember?) looks like it's heading in the direction of Barton Hills.
