Austin

Day 225

The weather we tried to outrun in Louisiana seemed to have found us in Texas. Today the forecast is calling for grey skies with a bone chilling wind. Of course, what do Lori and I do on cold windy days? We book a tour bus and drive around on the upper deck. Now don’t get us wrong, we are fully aware of the temperature back home, and we are very appreciative that we are here doing this, so bring on the wind! 

Prior to us booking the bus tour, we looked around for any tourist locations that peaked our interest. Unfortunately, nothing jumped out, so to the bus we went. The drive into the city was nuts! The roads here are extremely congested and if your not sure where your going (Me) it’s fairly nerve racking. Later in the tour I discovered the roadways around Austin never had the chance to expand before the city grew around them. They built double decker highways above these roads with some alleviation but as the city continues to grow, so does the problem. 

The tour was surprisingly insightful and both Lori and I came away from the tour impressed with the City of Austin. 

The overpasses are done in true Texas style here. 

Sixth Street is Austin’s bar and pub street. 

Sixth street continued. 

The building with the green tarp is the Museum of the Weird. In the 90s, Johnny Depp rented the apartment above the museum while he was filming “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” 

Downtown view as we cross the Bat Bridge where the city transformed the underside into an ideal bat cave for the Mexican free-tailed bat. Here 1.5 million bats work with the city to control the mosquito and bug population. 

Appears to be a very clean city, with lots of murals. 

These damn photo bombers again! 

The city seemed to have construction going everywhere. 

The moonlight towers in Austin, are the only known surviving towers in the world. These 165 foot towers were used in the early 1894 to light up the city at night. The towers had six carbon arc lamps that would illuminate up to a 1,500-foot-radius. The towers were put up partially in response to the actions of a serial killer called the Servant Girl Annihilator who was never caught. 

Lots of tech companies here. The tower on the far left is Google head office and they are on every floor of the tower. 

The Autonomous robot delivery system working in downtown Austin. The robot can hold about five bags of groceries or restaurant food for delivery. 

State Capital of Texas. The capital is second in size to the Washington Capital in DC. They do brag the Texas capital is slightly taller though.