Austin

I spent more time in Austin than I have anywhere else. This was partly to see more of the city and partly because I needed a break from the road. Texas turns out to not just be a bunch of desert. Austin was actually pretty green. Austin is also incredibly bicycle friendly. Bike lanes are on the side of most major roads. Bike paths went through most of the parks scattered through the city.

This is the capital building and surrounding buildings. Quite a large park was built up around it.

Notice each of those stars are painted gold. They look to be hand painted. The fence goes around the entire capital area in this manner.

Some people were taking a segway tour.

This picture was taken outside at ground level while looking down. The capital building apparently has a large underground complex.

There were many confederate memorials. The civil war and the Alamo seem to be the only combat Texas remembers.

Thats the capital building in the distance.

This is a small metro park I went to. Keep in mind all these pictures were taken within 2 miles of each other.

If you look at the shade in the middle, you can see a small brown lizard.

These plants looked ready to attack.

Just to make sure I don't disappoint people hoping for desert, here are some cactus I found.

This is a Texas bridge apparently. Dogs are allowed on this trail and many of them were wet. It might be because there were about 10 of these crossings.

This van was parked at my hotel. I still don't know why anyone would do this.

These are pictures of the hills in west Austin. If I lived in Austin, I would want to to be around here. It would be a nice view to wake up to. The entire area is full of hilltop condos and apartments, with trees filling the space in between. Many of the best views I was unable to take pictures of because I was driving.

To get downtown from my first hotel, I had to walk through this park.

I think Austin tops Atlanta barely, mostly because traffic isn't horrible. I feel like I could live and work anywhere in Austin and not need to worry about horrible commutes. Also, Texas has great beer and BBQ.