Summer Vacation 2013: Day 13

Today, our plans were to spend the day in Austin, so we headed off to the Capitol to start our day. It is a beautiful, domed Capitol building made of “Sunset Red” granite, which was donated to the state for the building. We had to go through security here, something we have not had to do anywhere else on this trip. (Maybe because of the protests lately?) James set off the alarm (he said it was because of his belt), so he had to be “wanded.” We enjoyed being able to go into the floor level of the House and Senate sides of the building, since we weren’t allowed to do that at the Santa Fe Capitol. We also went upstairs to the visitor galleries. It was a little difficult to get the 3rd floor while we were there, as Senator Davis was having a “photo op” at the railing of the rotunda, so we weren’t allowed to walk near there. We had to walk down to the 2nd floor and then back up to the 3rd floor on a different staircase every time we wanted to access the other sides of the 3rd floor. I guess it is the price we pay for democracy. They have “class” pictures of each session’s representatives and senators in the various chambers, and it was interesting to see them. I was impressed to see women in some of the earlier classes. James noted that the “Republic of Texas” flag seemed to be more prominent and prolific than the United States flag, and therefore determined that they hang “The Republic of Texas flag and ‘that other flag’” which seemed to have a certain truth to it. The Capitol sits on very nicely maintained grounds with several statues and beautiful gardens and trees.
From there we headed over to St. Mary Cathedral which is undergoing major renovations and is wrapped in scaffolding. It too is pretty inside and has a beautiful dark blue ceiling with gold stars over the sanctuary. The stained glass window over the entryway had been removed because of the construction, so we were unable to see that. We drove through the campus of the University of Texas, saw the UT Austin Tower, the stadium, and much of the campus. It is a pretty campus. Next was a music store that Jan recommended and James wanted to go to. It had old albums, current CDs and a bunch of music-related memorabilia, much like the ones we visited in Nashville. He was able to find some of the music that he wanted, and he really enjoyed browsing through it.
We drove out to Travis Lake to see it and the area around it. The lake is 58 feet below full, and the residents of Austin are on water-use restrictions. Although our little rain cloud followed us here, and it has rained every day we have been here, they need so much more rain. It was rather distressing to see so much of the land around the lake exposed and islands in the middle of it. They are still in need of a lot more rain. We had some drinks and snacks at Oasis at Travis Lake, which overlooks the lake. It really was beautiful. The hills around the lake are filled with incredible mansions! Interesting to see all of that.
Back in Austin, we headed to a guitar store that was amazing, it was so big. The had both new and used guitars and some very unique ones, such as one that was made from Legos that were all glued together. James was able to find a ukelele that he has wanted for a long time, so we will now be serenaded from the back seat for the rest of the trip.
Later that evening, we headed back downtown to see the bats! We decided to view them from the bridge this time. As second timers, we knew that we didn’t want to sit under them! There are an estimated 1-3 million bats that “hang out” under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, from March to November, and then they migrate to Mexico for the winter. It is the largest urban bat colony in North America. The Mexican free-tailed bats come out from under the bridge each night at sunset to begin feeding on insects for the night. It is an amazing sight to see, as they stream out from under the bridge over the course of many minutes. Many things on this trip have left us in awe of nature and the world around us, and this was definitely another one. Many people gather each night to watch this.
Dinner at Shady Grove rounded out the day. It is an interesting restaurant with a lot of outdoor seating, and they have bands play on Saturday night. It was quite crowded on a Tuesday night, so I can’t imagine how crowded it is on Saturdays. They had a big screen up too, and were playing the movie “Night at the Museum II” on it. It was a lot of fun to sit outside, relax, enjoy the meal, and talk with Jan and the kids. Perfect ending to our Austin portion of the trip.