Things to Do in Georgetown
Recommended Things to Do by Groupon Customers
Sunset Bowling Lanes opened in 1959 with 24 solid-wood lanes and a stockpile of miniature pencils to keep track of spares and strikes. The alley has since upgraded to computerized scoring systems while also maintaining the charm of classic tenpin entertainment. In addition to its open bowling and league opportunities, Sunset Bowling Lanes hosts events such as college nights—which provide students with discounts so they can save up for books or exam mulligans—and keeps its patrons fueled for the eternal turkey hunt with burgers and drinks from the snack bar.
Featured on AustinBoredKids.com, The Dinosaur Park was sparked by the passion of two tiny dinosaur enthusiasts. One 3-year-old boy’s interest in dinosaurs evolved into a passion so strong that it also took hold of his younger sister, leading their parents to hatch the plans for what would soon become The Dinosaur Park. In an outdoor museum setting, a path leads the way through exhibits that include life-size dinosaur replications donning skin and color variations that give a better idea of how these prehistoric giants lived and survived their awkward teen years. More than 15 replicas inhabit the woods, including a 28-foot triceratops, a 6-foot velociraptor, and a 40-foot T. rex. The displays also include Texas-native dinos such as the iguanodon and the coelophysis. Other activities such as a playground, a fossil dig, and a gift store await visitors after they walk the trail.
Art can be divisive, but playtime is not. Maybe that’s why Art Alliance Austin chose red rope swings hung in surprise downtown areas to headline the 2012 Art City Austin festival. Courtesy of Austin’s The Red Swing Project, a collective dedicated to transforming neglected urban areas into welcoming play spaces, the swings are just one example of the partnerships Art Alliance Austin makes to achieve its goal of building community through local art projects. And considering Austin’s explosive growth in recent years, that mission is timelier than ever. “It all comes down to creating spaces for a common narrative, a common culture, and common experience to emerge,” explains Art Alliance Austin’s communications liaison Michu Benaim. “And we can achieve that by encouraging people to connect.”
Art Alliance Austin designs its annual festivals to be as much block parties as art shows—Michu describes Art City Austin, for example, as local, homegrown, and neighborly. Since 1956, the group has woven its philosophies into Austin's pulse during its many shows, festivals, and events, which have included Art Night Austin, Art Week Austin, and coproduction of Pecha Kucha Austin, each one helping ensure the city remains a vibrant and creative place to live.
Situated upon a 7-acre organic farm, Glass Monkey Art Studio is a creative hub where skilled flame workers craft functional pieces and artwork such as jewelry, smoking accessories, and bird feeders for clients. They also lead workshops that acquaint aspiring artists with their unique set of skills. After learning to create a set of drink stirrers during the Intro to Glassblowing class, students are free to take more advanced workshops that teach them to make beads, marbles, vases, and other iridescent artwork for wearing, displaying at home, or gifting to a particularly beautiful sunbeam.
Plummeting into a hurricane’s eye. Tunneling through San Andreas’s interior. Zipping in and out of colliding galaxies. At Mayborn Planetarium, these sorts of adventures are par for the course. Here, wonders of the natural world beam onto a 60-foot digital screen that wraps around an entire 180-seat theater, creating immersive educational experiences. Screened during weekends and weekday matinees, science-minded shows focus on diverse, family-friendly topics such as stars and tropical reefs. Its laser light shows, on the other hand, eschew education for spectacle, dazzling audiences with 3D graphics and 15,000 watts of digital sound.
Outside the dome, Mayborn continues educating visitors at its gallery, Exhibit SPACE. Amidst rotating displays on subjects such as rocks and minerals, the Vice Space station showcases Hubble photographs and shares updates from the Mars rover. The exhibit’s recent acquisitions even include tiles from actual space shuttles, as well as tiles from actual Mahjong games played by astronauts sitting in NASA waiting rooms.
Just blocks from the 72-degree waters of the Comal River, Comal Tubes provides inflatable passports to the spring-fed waters that converge in downtown New Braunfels with the Guadalupe River's choppier rapids. Toes and fingers trail in the temperate waters throughout a two-hour float, alternately slipping past tree-lined shores and whipping down faster-moving tube chutes, while others seize their aquatic destinies by the oars with kayak rentals. Comal Tubes' free parking and shuttle service grant more time for the water, and the shop outfits river riders with refreshments, ice, sunscreen, and other gear to escape the mundanity of land-based life's preoccupation with shirts and shoes.
