Texas Tuesday

On Texas Tuesday we decided to head for Austin after our lovely leisurely breakfast. We had a big Explore Texas book which we consulted before heading out. We decided on the Zilker Botanical Gardens and the Texas State Capitol. Gardens in the morning, capitol in the afternoon when it gets hot! hot! hot!



I can hear blogland now going Botanical Gardens?! You’re in Austin! There’s music! Yup. Botanical gardens. We like checking out the botanical gardens wherever we go - each one is uniquely different. This one was...okay. Its main attraction seemed to be the Japanese garden. What we noticed was that on one end of the complex they were adding new display’s and attractions (such as the Dinosaur garden), but on the other end of the gardens, in the establish displays, they were showing neglect. Seemed to me they should have done less new gardens and focused on weeding and maintaining the older gardens. Still, worth a visit.




Lunch was at a great place called Shady Grove. This was right on the main road between the capitol and the gardens and well worth a visit. Despite the temps hitting 100*, the large outside shady patio was busy! We shared a veggie sandwich and a southwestern Caesar salad with a couple of brews. I’m bummed I didn’t get a pic as this was a neat place.

Off to the State Capitol - wow! Such an interesting history and building. We decided not to do a tour but just wandered around reading plaques and contemplating Texas history. Since I had just recently toured the Colorado State Capitol, I was surprised by the lack of security. No scanners, x-ray machines or DHS personnel. Just one State Trooper on the main floor.

View of main floor of rotunda

We still had some time afterwards to wander down Congress Street to the Congress St. “Bat Bridge”. During the height of summer, something like 5 species of bats and 1 million or more of the little guys roost under the bridge during the day. I still don’t know if this was intentional when the bridge was constructed or a positive side affect. Anyway, we walked underneath on their riverwalk and could hear the little guys chirruping. That was cool. Then it was a leisurely mosey back down Congress to our car. When it’s 105* there is only a leisurely mosey...

Guitar art on Congress St.

Dinner on Tuesday night was at Dave’s BBQ House back Georgetown. OMG - talk about Texas BBQ! I’m not a big meat eater, but this place had ME drooling! We shared dinner: BBQ brisket, BBQ pork tenderloin and BBQ turkey. YUM-MEE! A couple of sides and dessert was warm peach cobbler. We figured we’re in the south, we need to eat peaches!

Wednesday - more spelunking at Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown.