Sunday, April 19, 2009

Easter In Austin Texas

I can't beleive it's already Easter time! Terry and I both had Good Friday off of work. Since we had a 3 day weekend, we decided to drive the 4 hours south to Austin. It was a really fun weekend. It was a really pretty drive down there as all of the Bluebonnets along the freeway were in full bloom. It's interesting but Ladybird Johnson (Lyndon B Johnson's wife) did all of this work planting bluebonnetts and wildflowers along Texas's highways. It seemed what she loved doing while she lived here in Texas until she died. When the wildflowers and bluebonnets are in bloom it makes for such a pretty drive. So thank you Ladybird for that!

Well we stayed in a hotel right in downtown Austin. We could walk to everything so that made it nice, and we got some good exercise. The Texas state capitol building is right downtown Austin. We walked up to there and took a tour of the inside. Of course being Texas everything has to big and over the top, and the capitol building lives up to that. It is Huge and very pretty inside and out. It was interesting to see all the history of the building and of Texas. I found out that Texas has been part of 6 different countries in it's history: France, Spain, Mexico, Texas Republic, Confederate States, and the United States (hence the 6 flags over Texas.) That was actually pretty cool.

It also is interesting that just a few blocks away from the capitol building is the University of Texas (the Longhorns). The campus is smack in the middle of downtown Austin. We spent a little time walking around the campus. It's funny but you really wouldn't realize that you are in the middle of a city. It is a very green pretty campus with lots of huge old oak tree's as you would expect at a southern university. It definitely is a big school though. It's funny but football is king here in Texas, and the Football stadium is Massive (holds 90,000 or so people.) The people love their Longhorn football team here. I would definitely go to school there. Austin is a very pretty city, and has a far more laid back vibe than the glitz of Dallas. We just had a great time the whole weekend. We met some fun people at the clubs there and were so glad we went.

Me at the Texas state capitol building in Austin
The rotunda inside the capitolThe Senate chamber in the capitol

Me at the University of Texas Belltower

Some gorgeous old oak trees on campus

Some more of campus





2 comments:

sugarcoatedcyanide said...

Wow, thanks for the virtual tour of campus! I should have just had you interview the flute teacher too!! Looks beautiful. Sounds fun. Glad you had happy Easter. Sounds like we'll see you in UT in June!

Alyson said...

Hey wait! You guys are coming to UT? Sweet! BBQ at Grandmas!

We would love to host you in NZ! I know how you guys love to travel! :)

I wonder if anyone else in history will ever name their daughter Ladybird. Weird.