Just a few minutes outside of Austin, nestled between a bustling city and beautiful hill country is Round Rock, Texas. My friends embarked on the almost two hour drive with the sole intention of patronizing Round Rock Donuts, which is home to a jumbo donut that is the equivalent of 12 regular sized donuts, but in the end we found plenty to do in the relatively small town. 

Of course, we stopped at Buc-cees on our journey, can you blame us? My friends indulged me and we all bought matching t-shirts —  I LOVE t-shirts. After lunch we headed to Round Rock Donuts, which was just off the main street in downtown.

The inside of the shop was closed, so customers order from the drive-thru style opening at the front of the store. Of course, we had to order the main event, the Texas Sized Donut, and took it to a nearby park for a small picnic. When you first look at the donut you will notice that it is abnormally orange. The shop attributes it to fresh eggs used in the batter, but I have a theory it’s from copious amounts of butter. This was the biggest disappointment of the trip: the donut wasn’t that good. It wasn’t a bad donut by any means — the dough was soft, moist, all the qualities of a satisfying donut, but it isn’t sweet enough for me. The only sweetness came from the glaze on top of the flaky dough, but other than that I found it to be really bland. The best comparison I can give would be to Shipley’s Do-nuts: not that extraordinary, but not that disgusting either. I am not sure I would drive two hours to enjoy these specific donuts, but the rest of the trip was worth the drive.

After our small picnic, we ventured to Chisholm Trail Crossing Park to visit the infamous round rock to which the town is named after. Another disappointment, albeit not shocking, was the rock isn’t actually round. Due to decades of weathering, the rock is nowhere near as circular as it was when it was first founded in 1848. The park itself is really beautiful, there is a small waterfall and a few trails with tall trees and stunning wildflowers. While visiting the round rock, I decided that it would be a good idea to climb it, the reason for this still eludes me. My friend and I waded through the surprisingly clear water, climbed over the mossy rocks, past the fish, which made me squirm, to climb the rock. That was a great story to tell and another reason that I will remember that trip fondly. 

My biggest takeaways from the intensely joyful and memorable trip were: stop at Buc-ee’s, always; save the money and get a regular sized donut instead of the Texas sized one; pack a change of clothes because you never know where the day is going to go; and make time for naps, always.