Road Trip: Up The Middle Of The Country

Day 3: Monday, May 06, 2024 - Austin, TX

Day's statistics:
Weather: 82°, overcast
Steps: Steve 11,775; Linda 9,853
Travel: 234 miles

Today's breakfast was a full hot buffet, again - we WERE in the same hotel, afterall.
I had some eggs and sausage on a bscuit; and Linda had a bagel with cream cheese. We both had coffee.

Back in our room, we were able to see that there was still some traffic on the highway that we needed to take to get to the capital - our first of this trip. After reviewing the route on the Google machine, we determined that we could just stay on the service road longer to bypass the traffic.

We finished packing up, checked out, and headed back into the city.

We found a parking garage for capital visitors.
We exited the garage and made our way to the capital entrance.

On the block next to the garage was this memorial from 2017 titled The Price Of Liberty. The enscription reads "This memorial is dedicated to Texas military members and their familieswho answered their country's call after September 11, 2001. They know all too well The Price of Liberty."


As we approached the capital, we noticed that there were signs pointing us to the Tourist Information building - it wasn't in a room or section within the capital itself like it usually is.
In front of capital was a large park-like area.


Then we entered the facility and made our way to the information desk - and got our first stamp of the trip.


Behind their desk was a room with another information-like desk (a knowledgable guard and a quantity of pamphlets) as well as a large model of the capital. Made out of Lego® (or is that Legos®?). It comprises of about 65,000 standard / regular / non-custom pieces, stands 50 inches high by 62 inches wide by 102 inches long, and weights 145 pounds. It is a 1/72 scale replica of the 1822 capital.


There was a model of the dome as well - not in Lego®.

After spending a brief time in the tourist info building, we headed toward the capital - which was to the northeast in relation to the entrance of the tourist building. Before going too far, we took our capital selfie.

We headed off, and due north was a sculpture / monument.




It was a bit before 10:00, and we only had or so minutes until the next tour began, so we looked around in the area near the tour office and admired some of the architecture, and the dome.



The tour guides' office was the old state treasury, that also had an old machine that used to cancel checks.



It didn't take long before our tour was ready. Our guide was Derrik.
The House AND Senate were both being worked on and we were not permitted to go onto the floors.
We otherwise heard about the building and government that included the building being 130 years old, there was a statue of Sam Houston who was the first to be the governor of two different states (the other being TN), the dome is 218 feet tall, and there are 31 senators and 150 representatives that serve from January to May.
Also, there was artwork around the capital that inckuded one of the Battle of the Alamo, and another of the Battle of San Juaquito which is known as a battle that only lasted 18 minutes.
The House chamber is the largest room in the capital, and there are four floors of the capital that are underground.
Here are the various sights - artwork (including Davey Crockett, Surrender of Santa Anna, and President Bush), statues, architecture - we saw on our relatively brief tour.




The pictures on the wall in Legislative Hall includes children that are children and grandchildren of representatives and are honorary mascots.


The Medal of Honor recipients that included two in particular that Derrik pointed out: Audie Murphy, a soldier who single handedly held off a company of German soldiers in Kohlmar, France, and then became an actor; and Milton Holland, who recruited 149 young black men that eventually became Company C - that he also led after his commanding officers were killed - of the US Infantry.



The tour ended in the northern extension, which was underground.





We headed back toward the center of the capital to find the elevator to the third floor, and passed some historic pictures.



We took the elevator up to the third floor...





Though the chambers were under renovation - the house was still open and we stepped into the gallery.




The Senate chamber was closed.

We found the Supreme Court.



And the [law] library.


We made our way back to where the tour origination - because that's where the exit was.


Near the tour office, imbedded in the marble in the floor were some markers commemorating the great battle in the state of Texas.


Our indoor tour was over.
We stepped out the front door and came across a number of markers, fountains, and memorials within the "mall" space in front of the capital.












At the end of the mall, I saw a bill - it looked like $50 on the ground - and I walked toward it and when I bent to - SQUIRREL!!

And one last look-back.

We eventually learned that the curved part of this interesting looking building was part of the building behind.

We returned to the car and headed to the next stop - Mount Bonnell Park. It turns out that was the same park Kristen brought us to yesterday. This time it wasn't cloudy, and we parked at the staircase instead of the gate at the end.
There was quite the staircase to climb and Linda wasn't up for it, but I took it on.
At the top was a pergola.



On my way up the stairs, an "older gentleman" was coming down, with walking sticks. When I started back down, he was on his way back up again. I asked about him doing laps and he said he was - it was good exercise. By the time I got to the car, got in, talked to Linda about the view, I saw the guy at the bottom of the stairs, turning around and going back up again. Good for him.

On the way back from the park we saw this sculpture that looked like it was in someone's front yard.

Lunch time!
It was recommended by Jeff and Kristen that we should visit Rudy's. We were willing, plugged it into the Google device, and proceded.

We reviewed the menu, and placed our order. It was very reasonably priced.

Linda had the smoked turkey sandwich with a side of cole slaw; I had the pulled pork sandwich with a side of potatoe salad.


In addition to the packets of sauce we got, there were bottle of it on the table.
It was very good.

After our meal, we decided to head to one of Austin's public libraries (we started visiting some libraries after we visited the Boston Public Library to kill some time because we had zero desire to hurry back to the motel room {it was that bad}).

It was a smaller library. And they had just celebrated their 20th birthday. We walked around some taking pictures of some of the set-up / items / displays / what-have-you.













The hallway at the far end led to some meeting rooms, and the community bulletin board.

We had a little over a three hour drive ahead of us, and we would have been stopping in Waco too. So after talking to the security guard briefly, we were on the road by about 2:00.
Less than an hour down the road we came across a Buc-ees®. We had heard about these a couple years ago on CBS Sunday Morning™. It is a large - really large - WaWa / Wally's / Sheetz / Pilot / rest stop. The picture doesn't really do the size of it justice.

There were various beverages - fountain and alcoholic, prepared foods, restaurants, groceries, snacks, camping and traveling equipment, souveniers, housewares, chotchkeys, and more.



And jerky. They had jerky. A wide variety of jerky.

It was suggested that, on the way to Dallas, we may want to go to the Mammoth site in Waco. It was a little too far out of the way, so we elected not to.

Not far from Dallas we came across a park with various slides.

We finally arrived at the La Quinta Inn & Suites.

The room was big enough that we were both able to sit and eat on the love seat at the table.

We got the salad, bread, and cheese at Walmart. The wine was from the three bottles we previously bought.
One thing that we needed to eat was the spork - as it has a knife edge and we needed to cut slice the cheese. But they were in the large bag that we were leaving in the trunk for two or three days. So I went out to get it.
And, of course, to drink wine - with a cork... one needs a cork screw. Guess where that was. So I made another trip to the car to get that.

We ate, relaxed, played a couple hands of pinocle before going to sleep.

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