Taylor Hardy

Friday Night Lights Tour in Austin, Texas

Published on: December 26, 2015

Categories: Texas, Travel

Friday Night Lights was a hit TV show from 2006-11. In Austin, Texas, you can visit the filiming locations from the popular show.

Last Spring, I decided to binge watch Friday Night Lights on Netflix. I have no idea why I waited as long as I did to watch it! Friday Night Lights easily became one of my favorite shows and almost a year later I am still in love with Tim Riggins and wish that I was Lyla Garrity.

During a trip to visit my boyfriend’s Dad in West Texas, Blake took me on a quick tour around Austin to see some of Friday Night Lights’ filming locations. Even though it was really cool to see these places, I wish I had visited sooner because the properties have really gone down hill since filming finished. Nevertheless, here is my Friday Night Lights Tour around Austin, Texas.

Pflugerville

Our first stop was to Pflugerville High School to see the West Dillon football field. I was pretty excited that the high school has the same mascot, so the sign read “Fighting Panthers.” Unfortunately, the gates were locked so I could not go on to the field.

Austin

Next, we went to see the Taylor House. I was so excited that I thought about ten houses leading up to it were the one. Blake was ready to put me out of the car at this point but like a trooper, he stuck with me. I could just imagine the Taylor Family being woken up in the middle of the night and standing in their doorway due to some drama with one of Coach Taylor’s players.

Tim Riggins’ house is right down the road from the Taylor’s, which was really convenient. I wanted to get out of the car and get a picture in front of the house, but the owners were home and I thought that would be weird. I settled for a picture from the car and immediately put it on Instagram.

Pulling up to the Saracen House, I expected the tire set up to be in the yard waiting for Matt to practice. There definitely was not this much ivy growing on the house when Matt’s Grandmother lived there.

We tried to go to Ray’s BBQ but we either did not see it or it is no longer there. After leaving that area disappointed, we ended up on the Montopolis Bridge, where Landry and Tyra dump the crazy man’s body in season two. Call it a bonus filming find!

Panthers’ Locker Room

Our final stop was at the Panthers’ Locker Room. It was kind of hard to find as you turn off of a main road and into the middle of nowhere. Aside from the fact that it desperately needed some maintenance, this was my favorite spot. One side of the building was used as the East Dillon locker room while the other side was painted red for West Dillon. Pretty clever! Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of the West Dillon side because all of the gates were locked; trust me, I checked.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!

Texas Forever!

As I said before, I wish that I could have visited these filming sites closer to the end of the show. I still had a great time getting to see these locations and definitely encourage other Friday Night Lights fans to do the same if they are in the Austin area. Texas Forever!