Austin, Texas: Bright Spot Of Insanity

Austin, state capitol of Texas, is interesting. We Ended up staying in the Hilton Gardens in downtown. It is very nice and it was cheaper than the affiliated hotel. When we went in to register, the clerk told us that all parking was valet and $24 a day. Or we could park across the street in non-affiliated parking lots for $5 to $7 a day. The difference was $24 was unlimited in and outs and in a secure garage. The lots charge for every entrance and open public access

We walked a couple blocks down the street to a recommended restaurant, Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill. The food descriptions were intriguing: Smoked steaks; Green Chili Macaroni?  And it was one of the least expensive dinners we had.

Then we walked back past the hotel a block to the SegCity Store. We had an early tour time the next day and didn't want to miss it. Segways are a great way to see a city.

Much like Chicago's water tower, this is a landmark in Austin. At one time the tallest structure, now dwarfed by almost everything around. Located on the shore of Lady bird Lake. 

This is City Hall. It was the result of a design competition won by a renowned architect. There was some controversy and is said to resemble an armadillo from the air. 

  

 There has been a lot of building in Austin. The architecture is modern and beautiful, contrasting with the old preserved structures.

 Lady Bird Lake, as our tour guide pointed out, is not really a lake. Texans think it's a lake because there is a dam on down the Colorado River; but really it only maintains the water level. The bridge is called "Bat Bridge".

It is famous for the colony of Mexican brown bats that emerge en mass every evening. The parks and river walk are often crowded with spectators. The sky will be darkened for twenty minutes or so.

Hannah, our guide is from Houston; but has become a naturalized Austinian. I asked what the philosophical climate is in Austin. Hannah replied, "Austin is this little tiny speck of blue in this great big sea of red." Austin is proud of being weird. It is very open and accepting of diverse people and ideas. Their motto is: Austin -- keep it weird.

 This building is said to look like an owl when viewed on an angle. The clock faces form the eyes. The corner structure forms the beak. The peaks seem like feathers.

 (It is seen in the picture below between my right hand and head.)

 This is the view from Butler Hill in Disch Field. There is a spiral walkway that circles the hill three times In the background is the downtown skyline. There is an ordinance that no building can be taller that the state capitol. But according to Hannah, money talks; variance after variance has been granted and the skyline now almost hides the capitol dome, which is only visible from certain angles between buildings.

This guitar is one of the many placed around the city. They were a project like the Chicago Cows of a few years ago. Various people and organizations painted them and now some are local landmarks. This particular one is about nine feet tall.

We discovered
Lambert's BBQ.

The Texas State Capitol is a beautiful building. It was made of red granite. Of course there is a story about that. Part of the design criteria was that it be one foot taller that the Capitol in Washington D. C. It seems that when they decided on the design red granite was specified. That had to be imported and transported at some expense. 

When construction began, or more specifically excavation, they had a problem. The excavator hit rock. As luck would have it of course it was red granite, which had to be blasted and hauled away.

There were several more stories that I can quite recall the details of. Some were about people, actions. We took a break here and Sally and I went inside while Hannah stayed with the segways.

Inside the building were officers and screening machines. I was a bit apprehensive since I carry two pocketknives. But I put everything I had in the basket, stepped through and the officer handed me my basket of goods without blinking. 

There were legislative offices and a museum. While I was taking a picture of the woodwork around an office door, a woman came out and was kind of taken aback. But she continued out and said to me, "You don't want to take my picture. I'm one of those evil people."

Apparently she was a vampire; because when I looked at my pictures there was no one there.

 This is the entrance to The Driskill. It is an old hotel in Austin. This is the place that LBJ proposed to Lady Bird was the Austin base of Johnson's operations.

The University Of Texas at Austin is north of our hotel. After our tour and lunch we went to see the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum.

There was a temporary exhibit on Walter Cronkite. It garnered Sally's attention as she spent considerable time looking at it. There was an exhibit on LBJ's life and times not much bigger if any. Johnson's papers (seen above the bronze wall) are not available to the public. Only vetted researchers can access the papers by appointment only.

There were only five state gifts on display. Clinton for instance had hundreds of gifts on display. The bronze wall is a type of art created by globs of bronze placed on the six feet tall sheets in various density to create an image. Very much like pointillism. 

Harry S Truman, done in bronze.

An 8/9ths scale recreation of the Johnson Oval Office. I have no idea why it was done in scale. 

Lady Bird's Office is full size. That is a television on the credenza. There were no computers back then. Well to be exact none for personal use as we know them. Only the largest of organizations and agencies had computers.

But one of the many stories told in LBJ's voice, by an animatronic.