Cool in Austin

A cold front came through when we left San Antonio, so when we got to Austin, it was grey, overcast and cool. First we went to lunch at the Magnolia Cafe per Brenda’s recommendation. I had portabella fajitas, which were very good. Afterwards we went to the State Capitol, which isn’t as lavish and ornate as the one in Baton Rouge but still huge and impressive. We went on a tour and then wandered around inside and outside. 

Next we drove to the Texas state cemetery where Stephen Austin and other important Texans are buried, including many soldiers from the civil war. There is a comprehensive museum about the cemetery and its inhabitants. 
Our final stop for the day was Whole Foods. It’s much bigger than the ones in NC and has more prepared foods. Also, there are several little bars throughout for people to sit, eat and drink, but we got our food and left.

The next day was cool, misty and foggy with a good chance of rain, not good for biking. So we decided to go to Lyndon B Johnson ranch in Stonewall, about an hour away. It’s a pretty drive through Texas Hill country. By the time you see everything in the visitor’s center, watch the 25-minute movie, walk through the Sauer Beckman (1800’s) living history  farm and drive around the ranch, stopping at all 7 stops and taking a tour of the house, it’s an entire day. They have a very nice system. They give you an audio CD (for free) to listen to while you drive around and then you drop it into a mailbox on your way out. The whole experience is quite interesting and illuminating. 

We had only a few minutes to visit the Johnson City settlement on our way back to Austin, but I got to see a couple longhorns real close. 

If you don’t have time to visit all the historic sights and museums in Texas and want to learn everything about Texas in a few hours, go to the Bob Bullock Texas State History museum. It covers the history of Texas from prehistoric Indians to modern day with clear, well-written exhibits, dioramas, artifacts and videos. It’s great, but it’s not cheap. You can stop by the visitor’s center and get a 2-for-1 coupon, so that helps. We didn’t allow nearly enough time to see everything, but we had already learned a lot in San Antonio. There was also a special exhibit about Mexican cowboys that was very good. 

Then we picnicked in the massive Zilker Metropolitan Park along the river. After lunch, we went to look at Barton Springs, a huge, natural pool fed by water from an aquifer. It looked cold, but people were swimming. We parked near the Nature Center, got out our bikes and started along the Town Lake Hike & Bike Trail. The trail is mostly hard-packed dirt. 

It undulates up and down with some steep hills, easy for David, challenging but doable for me. I figured David could go around twice while I did it once. It’s very pretty along the river with lush vegetation and trees and a few pedestrian bridges to get across the river. David went on ahead but then waited for me because he was confused by the trail. So we stayed together the rest of the time.  We saw only two maps along the way. Once away from the popular pretty section, it gets confusing. We found ourselves riding on sidewalks next to a busy road. This can’t be right, we thought. We saw a young woman with red hair jogging ahead of us. When we caught up with her, I asked her if this was the trail. She assured me it was and said it was the “ugly section.” 

Then she pointed out where we would turn back to the river. In fact, she ended up helping us several times because we would take a wrong turn or stop to try to figure out where to go, and she would catch up. At one point you must go across a dam and then take a sharp right, go by a power plant and around a baseball field. I stopped to take photos and she caught up with us again. If she hadn’t been there to direct us, we probably would have gotten lost. 

There were almost no directional signs, and the few there were weren’t much help or even misleading. There were even a few trail detours around construction. Eventually we got back on the popular and green part of the trail where a lot of people were walking, jogging or bicycling. So, after 2 hours and over 10 miles, we made it back. It was 4:30. David said it was enough. He put up the bikes, and we walked over to the Nature Center but had only 10 minutes to take a quick look before they closed. 

Our final stop was the Zilker Botanical Gardens, which stays open later. We walked around about an hour, encountering surprises and treats at every turn--a dinosaur statue, a waterfall, a Japanese lantern, paving-stone paths with stepping stones over little streams, a rose-covered arbor, butterfly chairs, some historic buildings.... 
It was delightful, one of the best botanical gardens I’ve seen. Oh, and some flowers were blooming! We left around 6:00 to find a place to park to watch a million or so Mexican free-tail bats fly out en masse from under Congress Street bridge, but the few free parking spots were taken, and we didn’t want to pay $5 to park.

 I had seen them many years ago and pointed out the bridge when we rode under it. It was still early for them to appear, and David was content to see them on YouTube. Our quick tour of Austin was over, but we’ll be back!