A Visit to the Capitol of Texas–Austin!!!

The drive from College Station on highway 21 over to Lockhart State Park was an enjoyable drive since the wildflowers are still displaying their spring beauty even this late into the season. When we pulled into Lockhart State Park we were told to pick out our site and let them know which one. There are really only ten sites to choose from if you want sewer and lucky us as we were able to secure the very same site we had last year. It is a beautiful site under a nice live oak tree overlooking the green fairways of the state park’s golf course. I sure wish we would have been able to get more than three days…

Our son called and said that they would not be able to come out on Friday so we had the day to ourselves.  Since we were so close to another former home town we made the 35 drive north to the city of Austin, Texas. It had been a long time since we had visited the state capitol we decided we should tour it once again. The only challenge to visiting state capitols is passing through the necessary security and of course I set off the alarm and had to be wanded. After wanding me,  the officer found nothing and we were waved into the building.

 

There were quite a few folks visiting the capitol this day and we wandered around the entire structure taking in the history, the architecture and the beautiful artwork that adorns the halls of this magnificent state capitol. Originally it was built in 1853 but  that structure burned to the ground in 1881. The current one was completed in 1888 and stands to this day topped with a zinc Goddess of Liberty statue.

Touring the capitol grounds is also enjoyable for us as there is an abundance of various species of trees as well as scattered statues depicting historically significant events in Texas. We also walked around downtown a bit noticing how much it had changed since the time we lived here in the early 1980’s. Oh and I should mention that the traffic is pretty horrible… can’t imagine driving in this all the time but for us it was merely a nuisance since we were not in any hurry to do anything or get anywhere.

At the end of our touring I made sure to visit a friend's  pub near the University of Texas called The Crown and Anchor. The Crown and Anchor is still hopping with activity and attracts a crowd of mostly older college students and University staff during the early happy hours. Luckily we were able also to meet up with my friend as he was in town… Yep enjoying a nice frosty beverage at the end of a hot  89 degree touring day was a  perfect ending to our visit in Austin, Texas…