We moved onto Austin after a lovely stay in San Antonio only to experience some of the worst traffic we have ever seen in America. Mile after mile of bumper to bumper vehicles. A commuting nightmare. Apparently this is the norm in and around the State Capital.
That said, the following morning after rush hour, we ventured into downtown (the city centre in English) without so much as a problem and in fact couldn't believe just how little traffic there was and just how easy we found it to park in different areas, particularly around the State Capitol building.
This is a magnificent structure both internally and externally and is the seat of Texan governance. It was built in the late 1800s and dominates downtown Austin sitting at one end of Congress Avenue. At the other end is Congress Bridge which Linda was not happy to visit and why would that be? Well it is home to a colony of over 1.5 million bats who vacate their roost en masse every Summer evening drawing large crowds to view the spectacle.
We are returning to Austin at the weekend for the American F1 Grand Prix and so left early this morning to make the 500 mile plus journey to Amarillo intending to take in Abilene and Lubbock on the way. Well we have only taken in Abilene and are staying in Lubbock tonight having covered 373 miles.
Abilene provided us with an unexpected educational opportunity when Linda discovered Frontier Texas!, an interactive museum that allows visitors - we were the only two - to return to the old West with the use of state of the art technology. Seniors discount was for the over 60s thankfully and it proved a fascinating and highly educational experience. Hard to believe for example that the Comanche Indians kept the white man at bay for 150 years.
The other fascinating thing learned today was that the USA is the third largest producer of cotton in the world! We kept passing field after field of white topped plants and wondered if they were some kind of potato? Macdonalds has a massive call for potatoes after all. But no, it turned out to be cotton and this became more obvious when we saw bales and bales of harvested product waiting to be collected.
Amazingly, this is a $25 billion industry in America and Texas is the largest producer.
You see from today's post we are never too old to learn.
That said, the following morning after rush hour, we ventured into downtown (the city centre in English) without so much as a problem and in fact couldn't believe just how little traffic there was and just how easy we found it to park in different areas, particularly around the State Capitol building.
This is a magnificent structure both internally and externally and is the seat of Texan governance. It was built in the late 1800s and dominates downtown Austin sitting at one end of Congress Avenue. At the other end is Congress Bridge which Linda was not happy to visit and why would that be? Well it is home to a colony of over 1.5 million bats who vacate their roost en masse every Summer evening drawing large crowds to view the spectacle.
We are returning to Austin at the weekend for the American F1 Grand Prix and so left early this morning to make the 500 mile plus journey to Amarillo intending to take in Abilene and Lubbock on the way. Well we have only taken in Abilene and are staying in Lubbock tonight having covered 373 miles.
Abilene provided us with an unexpected educational opportunity when Linda discovered Frontier Texas!, an interactive museum that allows visitors - we were the only two - to return to the old West with the use of state of the art technology. Seniors discount was for the over 60s thankfully and it proved a fascinating and highly educational experience. Hard to believe for example that the Comanche Indians kept the white man at bay for 150 years.
The other fascinating thing learned today was that the USA is the third largest producer of cotton in the world! We kept passing field after field of white topped plants and wondered if they were some kind of potato? Macdonalds has a massive call for potatoes after all. But no, it turned out to be cotton and this became more obvious when we saw bales and bales of harvested product waiting to be collected.
Amazingly, this is a $25 billion industry in America and Texas is the largest producer.
You see from today's post we are never too old to learn.
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