Unforgettable Gifts

Ultimate Austin gift guide: 6 awesome adventures for every personality

For many of us, the holiday season brings a frantic scramble to come up with a great gift idea for that certain person — the one who has everything or who is hard to buy for.

Instead of hitting the mall, how about giving the ultimate adventure to fit any personality type? Recent studies have shown that experiences make us happier than material things, and these six one-of-a-kind Austin gift ideas are sure to be a hit.

For the adventurous spirit
To get an in-the-air thrill of a lifetime, flying high above Austin in an old-fashioned, open-cockpit biplane is the way to go.

Austin Biplanes is relatively new to the area. Pilot Rob Whiteside purchased his gorgeous, sleek, red 2012 replica biplane in May of this year and began customer flights in July. Passengers can channel Amelia Earhart or Charles Lindbergh as they don bomber jackets and leather helmets before climbing aboard the Red Baron-style plane.

Sharp turns and rolls make for an exciting ride; and if your loved one is a real daredevil, Whiteside even offers an aerobatic flight that includes barrel rolls and full loops. Your entire experience is captured on the plane's GoPro cameras mounted on each wing, with a third GoPro in the front cockpit.

For the wine connoisseur
Hit the Hill Country wine road in style with a private limo tour. Fredericksburg Texas Wine Tours escorts oenophiles with knowledgeable drivers who are intimately familiar with the Hill Country and its wineries. A typical tour includes visits to Grape Creek Vineyards for a barrel room tasting, Compass Rose Cellars for a wine tasting and lunch on the patio, and Kuhlman Cellars for a sommelier wine pairing with gourmet bites.

It's the perfect gift for wine lovers, not only for the luxury of the private limo, but for the experience of seeing, tasting, and learning more about these vineyards and their wine-making processes. The driver/guide also helps expedite any lines and can manage purchases.

For the aspiring action hero
Millions of people dream of being in the movies, and the action hero is the definitive movie star. We ordinary folk can get a taste of the experience with the Action Hero Training package at Stunt Ranch, which lets the participant discover what it's like to free fall three stories and jump from a burning car.

This private, four-hour class with award-winning director and Hollywood special effects coordinator Steve Wolf offers a hands-on introduction to pyrotechnics, safety, rigging, rappelling, and taking bullets. Wolf and his staff can also demonstrate how mechanics, kinetics, optics, heat, computers, and safety techniques are used to create movie special effects on Stunt Ranch's 22 acres in Southwest Austin. It's the ultimate gift for any Bruce Willis or James Bond wannabe on your gift list.

For the romantic at heart
Create the perfect day of luxury and romance by starting with a seasonal couple's treatment at Hiatus Spa + Retreat. Escape together for a little holiday pampering with a 60-minute couple's retreat and side-by-side zero gravity spa pedicures. The warm, relaxing environment of Hiatus sets the mood for the rest of the day.

Afterwards, take a private sunset cruise along Lady Bird Lake in an electric, gondola-like boat from Capital Cruises. The intimate setting allows you privacy to take in the sunset and city skyline from the water, all while enjoying a catered dinner. You can bring your own special bottle of wine or drink, or arrange for Champagne on the boat ahead of time.

For the speed junkie
If your loved one is addicted to Formula 1 or NASCAR, and easily excites at the idea of racing, you can gift them the adventure of speeding along the track. Rusty Wallace, a retired NASCAR driver and former Winston Cup Champion, offers the opportunity through Race With Rusty, and one of the tracks is in Kyle, just outside Austin.

The Central Texas Speedway is a half-mile, oval-shaped asphalt racetrack. After some training from a qualified pit crew, you're on track to experience all the excitement of NASCAR racing. Packages are available that allow for three to 20 laps, and some include being fitted with a custom Rusty Wallace driver's suit made by Oakley. Your speed freak will have the thrill of a lifetime.

For the altruistic soul
Maybe the person you're searching for is the "save the world" type. For this person, there is no better gift than knowing that they have made a positive impact on the world. What better way to honor them than with a gift that provides a healthy life and future to a child in need?

Through Austin-based The Miracle Foundation, a gift donation in someone's name can provide a child living in an orphanage in India with things that will truly change their lives. You can browse the holiday Give a Miracle catalog for any number of items to choose as your donation — from medical care to schoolbooks. The Miracle Foundation will send an e-card with a description of the gift that’s been donated in his or her name. For donations of $100 or more, your charitable gift recipient will also receive a Miracle Foundation luggage tag, signifying them as a "Bona Fide Miracle Maker." Take it a step further and gift traveling to India as part of a volunteer team to visit the orphanage and meet the children.

For the adventurous type, gift a tour through Austin Biplanes.

Photo courtesy of Austin Biplane

For the adventurous type, gift a tour through Austin Biplanes.

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Cap Capital

Austin City Council and UT approve grants for I-35 cap projects

Rendering courtesy of the City of Austin via KVUE

The City Council and the University of Texas are working on similar, but separate projects.

On Thursday, December 12, the Austin City Council approved accepting a federal grant of more than $105 million to help create caps over I-35 between Cesar Chavez and Fourth streets, and approved taking out a $41 million loan for part of the project. They tabled $223 million in funding agreements with TxDOT and will discuss those in the spring.

As TxDOT's work to expand Interstate 35 through Central Austin is already underway, several entities are planning to build land plazas over the highway.

On Wednesday, the University of Texas System Board of Regents also approved $106 million for a project near campus. It involves building a series of caps over the highway between 15th Street and Dean Keeton Street to connect the campus with the other side of the interstate. UT System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife said it is 10 to 12 acres in front of the new medical complex.

"We believe this is so important because even though they won't be constructed for eight to 10 years," Eltife said, "real estate in front of the medical complex will be desperately needed in the future."

Construction on an MD Anderson Cancer Center and UT Austin Hospital at the UT Media Center is set to start in 2026.

"This gives us the opportunity to cap that area to monetize it in terms of creating revenue from future buildings and medical facilities," Eltife said.

TxDOT broke ground on the $4.5 billion I-35 Capital Express Central project in late October. Planned updates include the construction of two carpool lanes between U.S. 290 and State Highway 71, lowering the main lanes from Airport Boulevard to Lady Bird Lake to remove the interstate's upper decks, making room for the cap-and-stitch initiative that will add plazas above the interstate.

The U-T project is separate from the city project, which could create up to 30 acres of new public space in Central Austin between Holly Street and Airport Boulevard. TxDOT will build the foundation of the decks as it expands I-35, while the city will build what's on top.

In design renderings of what the caps could look like, the cap between Fourth and Seventh streets could see an elevated walkway and outdoor dining space. Another design shows a cap between Cesar Chavez and Fourth streets, and the plan includes a "street promenade" and bike path.

Brianna Frey, who is managing the project for the city, said it will bring new parks, shops and entertainment to Central Austin.

"I think the public is interested in seeing some of those benefits too as it relates to either their business districts or their neighborhoods or where they like to go hang out with their families, or potentially in the future could see themselves hanging out with their families," Frey said.

Austin City Council's plans
Thursday's city council meeting was supposed to be the deadline for council members to decide whether to spend hundreds of millions on the project. The agenda initially contained two items: one for $19 million in design funding and a second item for $265 million in funding for the roadway elements for the caps.

However, in a memo on December 5, City Manager T.C. Broadnax withdrew the items because TxDOT extended the deadline. The memo cited delays in TxDOT's pump station contract award. The deadline has been extended to March 2025, and city staff intend to bring it up at a different city council meeting this spring.

While there was no vote scheduled on those big ticket items on Thursday, the city council did vote on the $41 million state infrastructure bank loan, which Frey said will help cover TxDOT design fees. Those fees could range from $8 million to $19 million, depending on which caps move forward into design. Part of it will also go to the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant, which the city has to match.

They will also formally accept $105 million from the federal government for the section between Cedar Chavez and Fourth streets. That funding will require a $45 million match from the city. So far, that is the only cap to get funding and is the only cap scheduled for construction. Other caps can be added if the city secures financing.

The price tag for the full build of the project has ballooned to nearly $1.4 billion. It has increased by 50 percent to 80 percent due to building material costs and adjustments as crews have advanced the design and further fleshed out the elements.

"A lot of that has to do with the fact that some of these caps are going to create a tunnel-like system that needs to be supported by more voltage in electricity. There will need to be a lot more fire, life, and safety components that just weren't in the design at the schematic level," Frey said. "These are new added elements that they've priced out for us that we previously hadn't received yet."

With the cost estimates as they are, the city is evaluating plans to move forward with only some of the caps.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

i-35 construction finance city council

Unforgettable Gifts

Ultimate Austin gift guide: 6 awesome adventures for every personality

For the adventurous type, gift a tour through Austin Biplanes.

Cap Capital

Austin City Council and UT approve grants for I-35 cap projects

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