March 23, 2017 - Kyle, Buda & Austin, TX

The pillow alarm went off at 7 am, but I hit the snooze button 3 times (5 mins apart). 

It was overcast and the clouds were moving so fast. The weather forecast called for no rain today. It was 66 degrees when we left the campground to go meet friends for breakfast in Buda, TX. 

While on the feeder I texted Char, our friend from Washington State, to let her know that we were on way to Buda to have breakfast with her and her friends. She texted back and said it is not today, but tomorrow.  I got the calendar mixed up, but since we were already on way south we decided to explore Buda and Kyle for a short while.

In Buda, TX there is an abandoned medieval castle facade with a dragon outside. This place used to be an arcade that had the largest pinball game.  The dragon is now in a bad shape, ready to fall apart.

In Kyle, TX we checked out one interesting attraction: Big Slice of Pie - an oversized slice of cherry pie on the front top of Texas Pie Bakery. The bakery was closed when I walked up to take a peek of what was inside.  There are vintage kitchen appliances displayed on the windowsill.

Since we were not going to have breakfast with friends at Cracker Barrel we decided to try a local restaurant.  Pisces Seafood & Mexican Grill was ranked #21 out of 56 restaurants.  The interior was just ordinary and plain, nothing fancy, sort of a hole in the wall.  However, our meals were very hearty and delicious.  

On way back to Austin we stopped to visit Chapel Dulcinea that is located on the site of the Wizard Academy campus.  It is a beautiful place to visit when the weather is as beautiful as it was today.  Chapel Dulcinea is an outdoor chapel, and the wedding was about to get started when we walked up to take a look inside the chapel.  It was an Indian wedding and wedding guests were starting to arrive.  Because of the wedding we could not stay around to explore more, so we went on a short hike elsewhere.  

Inside the Welcome Center

"What are you thinking, honey?"

The Wizard Academy

Wizard Academy
There was a line on the walkway that non-members
cannot cross, so that was as far as I could to get a
picture of the statue above the entranceway

Chapel Dulcinea

Guests waiting for the wedding to begin

I was very curious about Texas State Cemetery that is located east of downtown Austin, decided to go there after we left Chapel Dulcinea.

Texas State Cemetery is at 901 Navasota Street, was built in 1851. It was added to National Register of Historic Places in 1986.  Prominent Texans and their spouses are buried there, including the former governor of Texas, Ann W. Richards, who was buried here in 2006.  Former Governor and United States President George W. Bush stated that he wants to be buried in the State Cemetery.  The cemetery was very well kept, a nice place to walk. 

Stephen F. Austin
"Father of Texas" and Founder of Texas

Ann Willis Richards, the former
governor of Texas

After texting Christy to meet us at The Zilker Botanical Garden we realized that we went to the wrong part of the park. It took us a while to figure out where the botanical garden was.  Christy was waiting for us there when we arrived.  The botanical garden is by the south bank of the Colorado River near downtown Austin,TX and is part of Zilker Park.  It was in 1955 when the botanical garden was established on 26 acres.  It has different gardens: cactus, prehistoric, oriental, rose, butterfly, herb and so on. 

Dinosaur footprint

Keyhole Architectural Wall near the Rose Garden

Christy found a 4 leaf clover and was mighty proud of it!

Christy wanted to show us some cool, interesting murals because she knew I love taking pictures of murals.  Austin has lots and lots of vibrant murals

Christy was in a mischevious mood

The most famous mural of all murals
It is at Joe's Hot Coffee at SoCo District

We and Christy had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack on E. Riverside Drive. Afterwards we went out for a stroll on The Boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake.  A great view of Austin skyline!  A great place for walking, excercising and biking.

Joe's Crab Shack

Austin Skyline 

After bidding Christy so long we went to get a close-up look of the State Capitol. The sun was starting to set and it cast a soft golden color on the Capitol.

Austin became the capitol of Texas in 1840

Our day was great and we enjoyed spending some time with Christy. She is a good guide, knows many places to see.  On top of that, she is a great photographer (check out her website: https://wondersofbackroads.wordpress.com)

~Edith

March 22, 2017 - Austin, TX

Erwin was already up and let me sleep in some more.  After I woke up I peeked out the window and it was overcast.  It did not matter to me if the weather was lousy because I was really very sore from a bad fall last night.  My right thigh was still hurting.  I was very surprised there was no bruise on the right side of my face, although half of my lips and cheek felt strange. I guess it may be the nerve.  The scrapes on my elbow were not so bad as it was last night. 

Yesterday the ranger left a note notifying campers of power outage today between 9 am-4 pm.  The power went off at 9 am, but was restored about an hour later.

I had a hard time walking without limping, but I managed to walk without assistance.  I decided that I was not going to go out today, would rather stay and rest.  Sometimes one needs to slow down after being on the go almost every day.  

We had a plan to go with Marilyn and Roger to Austin Deaf Club tonight, but I texted Marilyn and told her of my physical impairment. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to meeting some friends I had not seen in years.

After Erwin finished his breakfast he then prepared All-American breakfast for me.  After breakfast I took a nap in the recliner, but fell into deep sleep for two and half hours.  

I began to walk better in the afternoon, but the right side of my body was still aching a bit.  Erwin went out for a bike ride around the state park while I was on a videophone chat with a friend.  

I spent part of the afternoon making a list of places to visit in Del Rio, Texas and Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

Erwin spent the night working on his woodburning project while I was editing the post for our travel blog.


~Edith

March 21, 2017 - Austin, TX

It was very cloudy this morning, but it felt warmer than it was yesterday.  We packed our lunches to go.

We were on our way to Sitagu Buddha Vihara at 9001 Honeycomb Drive, but we saw a sign pointing to Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center.  I was curious about it because it was not on my list of places to visit, and I made a turn to go there instead.

The parking lot was almost full, but I managed to find a spot.  Little far for Erwin to walk, but he said he will be alright.  The admission for Seniors (55 +) was $8 per person.  It does not accept Texas State Park Pass.  We were given a tour map. 

As we started walking toward the courtyard there was a group of people looking at something higher up.  A photographer was telling passerbys, including us, about the Great Horned Owl nest.  We could see the Mamma, but not the babies. The photographer thought there may be two or three babies.

It was in 1982 that the National Wildflower Research Center was founded by Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady, and actress Helen Hayes. Then in 1995 it was renamed to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  It is a botanical garden, about 10 miles southwest of Austin, TX. It has 279 acres, and displays only native plants and landscapes.

We spent over 2 hours meandering throughout the garden, checking out different flowers, bushes, trees, etc..  Texas bluebonnets were in full bloom.  A great relaxing place to spend a couple hours there!

Erwin loves wind chimes. He wants one for
our Lil' Home!

Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady, and the wife of
the 36th President, Lyndon Baines Johnson

Texas Bluebonnets

San Antonio Tower

Lunch break 

Sitagu Buddha Vihara was founded in 1996.    It is the center for overseas missionary activities.  This is the place where laypeople can mediate.  Fully ordained Buddhist monks live here and they study the Dhamma and mediation practice.  We met a full-time Buddhist monk, Ashin Cintita, who used to live in California, and we asked him questions.  He gladly answered our questions.  There are small houses, a dining hall, reception hall and twenty mediation cottages. 

We asked if we could go inside the temple, and were told that we need to remove shoes before getting on the temple ground.  Erwin did not want to go inside, so I went in alone.  It was fantastic and beautiful.  It was just two of us touring the area and it was so peaceful.

Inside the temple

Monk's residence

Dhamma Ceti Library

Ashin, the Buddhist monk walking after talking with us

We stopped by to visit Assumption Cemetery-Chapel & Mausoleum at 3650 South I-35 off the feeder road. The grounds were well-maintained and there were groundkeepers  checking, cleaning, pruning trees & shrubs throughout the cemetery. 

We met Christy, Erwin's niece, to go out for pizza at Home Slice.  Home Slice is an independent pizza place, serves New York style pizzas by the pie or the slice to go.  There are two places, one is a dine-in joint and the other is a takeout/slice joint.   The dining place was closed when we got there, so we went to More Home Slice place to order pizza slices.  It does have a dine in area, but is very small and limited, but we were lucky to find seats for three of us.  The pizza was very delicious.

On way back to the car Christy and I stopped to take pictures of murals. Austin has so many of them!  

Christy and I did our best not to smile....

After supper we hurriedly drove down to a parking lot near the bridge, walked down the hillside to the base of the Ann W. Richardson Bridge.  That area is excellent for getting a close-up view of the emergence of Mexican free-tailed bats.  

The best time to see the emergence is between March and October, 15-20 minutes after sunset. Back in 1980 the bridge was redesigned to create crevices for bat homes.  Austinities love that idea because the bats consume vast amounts of insects, including some of the most damaging agricultural pests.

After the sunset

We stayed and watched the emergence for more than 45 minutes, and there were MORE and MORE bats coming out of the crevices.  Christy said that sometimes it will take up to three hours before the last bat leaves the bridge!  That is probably over 2 millions bats living under the bridge.

Erwin's heel was starting to bother him, so he walked back to the car by himself, while Christy and I stayed a little while.  The path on the hillside was not in great shape, and there were small potholes, etc.   Christy and I were talking while walking up, but paused for a second.  At that second I stepped into a small pothole, "threw" my Canon camera forward unintentionally.  The camera landed on the path right in front of me, about 4 feet away.  At that moment Christy turned around to talk to me, but saw that I was about to fall and tried to stop it. It was too late! The right side of my face landed on the camera body!  Ouch!  I swore that I was going to have a broken tooth(teeth), broken nose and cracked cheekbone.  There were passerbys coming to the rescue, trying to help me get up, but Christy told them to wait.  One of them asked her if he should call 911 and  she told him she wanted to check first to see if I was bleeding or not. I stayed there motionless for a short while.  Finally, they moved me around, checked my face to see if it was okay.  No bleeding, no broken bones!  Wow! However, I had bad scrapes on my right arm and one area was badly swollen.

Christy had to run to the car to get Erwin to come over.  He had no idea what went on.  After I was up and tried to walk I then realized I had a torn thigh muscle. I limped a long way uphill to the car. 

Erwin stopped at a store to get some ice to be applied to my scrapes.  After we got back to the campground Erwin and Christy had to help me up inside the Lil' Home.  I was really very sore, went to bed very early.  Christy warned me that in the morning I may have black/blue bruise on my face. Let's wait til tomorrow morning to see if there is a bruise.

~Edith