Austin

The Texas Capital is about a two hour drive from our RV Park. Too far to go in one day to tour and return so we went up one day and spent a night then returned the next day. We left the trailer at Castroville and stayed in a Super 8 for the night.

If you don't care for traffic, don't go to Austin.......simple as that. If you can manage to get to the City the downtown area is actually pretty easy to navigate and not too busy.

Beautiful architecture on this Methodist Church.

Austin has been the State Capital since 1839. Prior to that there were 14 different cities that flew the capital flag. Even though Austin was chosen as the capital of Texas there have been four different buildings that served as the center of government here until the present structure was completed in 1882.

The exterior of the Capitol building is built from Sunset Red Granite that was quarried not far away. The top of the building is 302 feet high which exceeds the Capitol Building in Washington, DC by 14 feet. (Everything is bigger in Texas!)

Lots of school groups visit the Capitol. They are posing for pictures with the Capitol Building in the background.

Texas has immigrants from many parts of the world.

Metal stairs inside the Visitor Center. Solid as the day they were made......1882.

Copy of one of the pretty blue glass windows along the roofline of the Capitol Building

The Goddess of Liberty statue that tops the building is just over 15 feet tall. The original zinc statue was replaced by an aluminum one in 1986.

From the front doors looking out on the grounds

The front entrance.

The old Treasury office is now the tour office in the Capitol.

The floor of the rotunda.

The ceiling of the rotunda.

High School Jazz Band entertained in the rotunda. Pretty loud. Not great acoustics.

Nice banister. 

Nicely carved

Inside the Resource Library

Statues in the front entrance.

David Crockett

The back entrance 

Looks like a greenhouse but is a skylight for the underground office extension. A major renovation was completed in 1993 which increased the extension annex to 650,000 square feet including the underground portion and the surrounding above ground buildings. Almost all State business is conducted form this Capitol Complex.

Open rotunda looking down into the Extension building that is underground.

Layout of the grounds.

We gave the Capitol Building a good look-over then headed into the downtown.

We parked and took a stroll down Austin's famous or is it infamous 6th Avenue. Some very weird stores, lots of bars, and some of Austin's less fortunate walking the streets.

This bar, The Blind Pig, had a shooting on the weekend before we were here. Nope, we didn't go inside!

Some of Austin's high rent area. Not far off 6th Ave.

The famous Driskill Hotel. Established in 1886 by cattleman Jessie Driskill as a meeting place for the rich and powerful Texans. It's like a living museum inside.

This is an awesome bronze sculpture. It's called the 'Widow Maker'. The rider has fallen off the front horse with his boot caught in the stirrups. His friend riding behind is trying to shoot the front horse so the first rider won't be killed by the runaway horse. Chilling!

Cowhide under glass top on the table. Leather chairs.

Leather sofa in the lounge.

The front entrance foyer.

The vault in the hallway near the checkin desk. For guest valuables.

Beautiful leaded glass doors.

We continued our walk up and down 6th Ave.

Willie Nelson star in the sidewalk.

This is VooDoo Doughnuts. We kept seeing people walking the streets carrying these pink boxes. We tracked them down to this location, and we went inside......

Doughnut tree.

Samples of their various creations.

So we walked out with a pink box under our arm. Yes, they were VERY good.

We stopped for a late lunch at Iron Works barbecue joint. They had great brisket, ribs and smoked turkey.

Later we went back downtown about dusk. The Congress Ave Bridge (shown below) hosts up to 1.5 million Mexican bats. They stream out from under the bridge at dusk then head out to feed on insects. They return in the morning. At this point (end of March) there are only pregnant females here. The males will join them shortly.

People lined up waiting on the bats.

See the black spots? Bats!

Great sunset under the bridge

Next morning we headed over to the Northwest corner of Austin. We needed a Trader Joe's fix! Then it was time to head back down the road toward San Antonio.

Nice drive through the hills around Austin.

Ever been to a Buc-ee's? They are only in East Texas and now one in Louisiana. These stores are HUGE! Mostly a gas stop (this one has 60 pumps!) the 68,000 square foot store is wall to wall with souvenirs, food, drink, meat counter, bakery, on and on. There are 83 toilets that are meticulously clean. In fact this store was voted the cleanest restrooms in America in 2012. This isn't a gas stop, it's a destination. Insider tip: You gotta try the Brisket sandwich!! For more, click here.

So after lunch at Buc-ee's, we headed a short way off I35 to the small town of Gruene. (pronounced 'green'). It's historic district is famous for it's dance hall and famous country music. There were two groups playing in outdoor venues the afternoon we were there. many country music got their starts playing in places like Gruene, Luckenbach and other small towns.

The famous Gruene Hall. Is that music I hear inside?

The main stage inside the Gruene Hall. Not used on this afternoon......

.......but there was a decent crowd at the other end of the hall listening to an up and coming young man sing. This is quite the dance floor. Hard to tell in the picture but it's like old barn boards. Uneven and nails popping out. Lots of dance miles on those old floor boards!

Bed n Breakfast. Very nice.

Lots of junk....I mean  Antique Shops!

Cool wrought iron fence

So we stopped for a cold bear under the trees and enjoyed the peace and quiet before we headed back onto the freeway to do battle. We though we had missed rush hour, but nope. It was another two hours before we made it home to Castroville.

........and that was Our View From Here!