Road Trip to Austin

We decided to take an afternoon road trip to Austin. Tom knew he wanted to go to Austin, but had no idea what he wanted to do there. When we got off the freeway, we didn't really pay attention to where we were, but I guessed immediately. We saw bars, clubs, and pubs EVERYWHERE. I thought, "I wonder if we're on 6th street," and sure enough we were. As we drove down the street, we decided to go head to the capital, especially since we've never been there and we won't be in Texas much longer. I mean what kind of Texans would we be if we didn't visit at least once.

Anyways, as soon as the girls saw it, Taylor decided it was the Capital Temple. Haha! I guess any cool looking building must be a temple. Oh, and the crane we saw in the distance was building a temple. Love it!!! The grounds were beautiful and we walked through them letting the girls run around and then checking out all the memorials and signs we found. One thing you know from visiting the Capital and its grounds . . . Texans are proud to be Americans and proud of their heritage. We saw numerous pictures and statues of people and events from the past. There were also many markers dedicated to fallen police officers, fallen military men of wars of the past, and so forth. Tom and I were especially excited that the girls enjoyed looking around. We love this kind of stuff and are glad the girls will be able to enjoy this with us.

After spending about an hour walking around, we headed back to the car. Shelby was so cute and decided we had to return to the car visiting the same things in the opposite order, so she would tell me, "Next we need to go there" and so forth. Taylor and Payden on the other hand chased squirrels up trees and sat there and yelled at them all the way back to the car. Poor squirrels.

On the way home, we got caught in traffic for some event. Fortunately, the cars were backed up going in the opposite direction from us. We did need to turn left, going across the heavy traffic. There was one car ahead of us. The car turned left and then for some reason stopped and went into reverse once she had crossed the line of traffic. We ended up almost hitting her and were barely able to get around her in time. The only thing we could figure is she was trying to go to this event too and decided instead of U turning that she was going to stop and back-up into the lane of traffic. I know it makes NO sense to me. I am constantly amazed at how people drive; their only thought is to get where they need to go without any thoughts of obeying the traffic laws and rules. The rules are there for a reason people . . . so we don't get KILLED!!! Anyways, after our hearts calmed down from that, we had a nice drive home. It was a fun outing, and we were glad we were able to go.



After rounding the building we'd parked by, this was our view.



The girls enjoyed running around on this grass, so we made them stop to take a picture.



Declan hung out the entire time in the sling. It's a great way to carry him, and he really likes it, but his 15 lb. body kills my back after awhile. I can't wait til he's strong enough to hold his body up so I can move him to my hip. It'll be a lot easier then.



Texas Peace Officers' Memorial



Freedom Tree - The sign read "With the vision of universal freedom for all mankind, the tree is dedicated to Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from Texas 1973."



Looking up at the back of the capital.



The door hinge as we went inside. Tom LOVES this kind of detail in buildings.



Looking up inside the dome. Notice what it says at the top? Texas, of course.



In the rotunda underneath the dome, there are pictures of past governors of Texas, so we just had to get a picture with W.



A painting depicting the surrender of Santa Ana. There were lots of other statues and pictures, but I figured y'all didn't want to see them all.



This gazebo was a memorial for the Heroes of the Alamo.



Of course the girls had to go to the water fountain and, since those are the same flowers we have in our flowerbed at home, they were extra excited. They had a grand time yanking flowers off and throwing them in the water.



Looking up at the front of the Capital Building.



An ornate door handle found on the doors going into the Capital.



Like I said, Texans are certainly proud to be Americans and proud of the military.



Poor squirrels.



On our way back to the car, Shelby heading from the Freedom Tree to the Peace Officers' Memorial since we had gone the opposite direction earlier when we had left the car and were going towards the Capital.