Day 31 Cross Country Bike Trip – REST DAY!!
Tobey, Marcia, and I took an UBER to downtown Austin to do some sightseeing and left Phil behind to rest since he is still not feeling 100%. It was cool and overcast so we bundled up.
Our first stop was the on the south shore of Town Lake, along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail. Tobey enjoys his music. Texas-born blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan died at 35 when his post-concert rock star helicopter crashed in Wisconsin enroute to Chicago August 26, 1990.
We continued across the pedestrian bridge over Town Lake which is part of the Colorado River on our way to the capitol building.
Some of the architecture was a bit unusual. The building on the left reminded us of the game, Jenga!
I don’t think I would want to buy a condo in this building. I would be worried about the stability with those columns holding up the top part!
We stopped at the Driskill Hotel which was built in 1886 as the showplace of a cattle baron. It was beautiful and they have an interesting timeline of its history on their website. https://driskillhotel.com/about/timeline/
Continuing on, we made a stop at the Saint Mary’s Cathedral. 
Lunch was at Stubb’s BBQ before getting to the Capitol for a tour. It wasn’t fancy, but the food was good. They have a bar and stage in the basement with live music. Another time!
On our walk up to the building we stopped to read several of the informative signs explaining the history of Texas beginning in 1519. Four signs talked about the Tejanos who are descended from the Spanish explorers and colonizers who settled Texas. We arrived five minutes before the next tour was starting – talk about good timing!
Elizabeth, our guide, did a great job relaying information about Texas history, the history of Texas politics, and the capitol building itself. The “Goddess of Liberty” is a statue on the top of the Capitol’s dome. While the Texas Capitol building isn’t the tallest of all the states, they do like to boast that it is 15 feet taller than the US Capitol!
On our way back toward the river, we spotted lots of fun art. Austin has a large music scene and lots of music festivals, unfortunately for us, not while we are here!
Our last little sign for the day is Dean’s One Trick Pony, for our friend, Dean in Colorado. I took the picture, then had to look it up to find out what it was! Apparently it is a pretty well-rated burger/bar. Maybe on our next trip we will get a chance to try it.
The weather held out and we made it back to the RV park before a light rain started. I walked to the grocery store a couple blocks away and got a little wet on the way back, but I didn’t melt. It was a good rest day and we had a chance to explore a bit of Austin.
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