From Galveston, we traveled west past
Houston to Austin, capital of Texas and home to the main campus of
the University of Texas. We indulged ourselves there by staying in
the dog-friendly and completely unique, Hotel St. Cecilia.
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| Olive in the courtyard of the Hotel St. Cecilia |
Each room in the hotel is unique but
they all sport old-fashioned turntables and in the lobby is a fine
collection of old record albums that can be checked out. But the
best part is the location, the Hotel St. Cecilia is on a quiet street
that is just a short walk from Congress Street, the main drag that
has a great variety of restaurants and shopping, much of which is
dog-friendly. We walked down each morning and had breakfast at Jo's.
We enjoyed great coffee and pastries and Olive enjoyed the company
of other canines like this beautiful pooch...
While in town, we toured the state
capitol building. It has a beautiful understated elegance.
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| The dome of the Texas Capitol Building. |
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| The Senate Chamber. |
When we were on the grounds of the
capitol, I experienced a little lens envy. But, you know, I would
never be able to hold that thing still.
Austin is also a great base for
exploring the Texas Hill Country and we took a day to check it out.
We stopped at Perdernales Falls State Park and took a gander at the
river that has made the area what it is today.
We checked out the boyhood home of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his adult ranch.
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| LBJ's boyhood home. |
We stopped by Luckenbach, which Greg
informed me is the subject of a country song by Waylon Jennings.
But, in spite of all the natural beauty
we took in and all the cool things to see in Austin, the coolest thing we saw has to be this!
