Fairview Park 10K Volksmarch in Austin, TX - Tues., July 23

When we do our Volksmarches we really get to know a city. Austin is no exception. Our Volksmarches here have taken us around Lady Bird Johnson Lake to Barton Springs Pool, through downtown and the state Capitol, into SoCo (South Congress district), and now into the Travis Heights/ Fairview Park neighborhood. All of these walks have been delightful. Austin is a mixed up city, but in a good way: charming, surprising, bohemian, athletic, friendly, and authentic. We tasted Austin and it is a good blend of flavors.

Today's walk focused on the history of south Austin and the different types of architecture to be found. Again, there were murals, interesting places to eat and shop, and lovely neighborhoods.

Here we go, off on our walk ... We noticed this neighborhood has a thing for chickens. Asked a resident out walking her dog what was the relevance of the chickens on signs and large chicken yard art. She said she didn't know, just that chickens are currently "hip." Alrighty then. Our walk started and ended on SoCo (South Congress), the cool place to be.

Business sign by a chicken food trailer on South Congress.

Ms. P's Electric Cock Fried Chicken food trailer.

People love little trailers - even mural painters!

Bat garage? Part of Doc's Bar and Garage.

From South Congress, we headed into the neighborhoods. Fairview Park in South Austin was originally designed for the wealthy in 1912 by Newning, Swisher and General Stacy, but it didn't take off until the 1920s when Travis Heights was built next to it. The development was a mixed neighborhood with mansions, smaller homes and apartments. Today it is considered one of the best places to live in Austin because of easy freeway access and close proximity to South Congress shopping and eateries.

Quite a hairy cactus!

Victorian home - The Academy (1889)

Craftsman-style home.

Pueblo Revival-style home (1937)

We then crossed a small creek and headed toward Little Stacy Park. A great plus to this walk is that it is nice and shady through most of the 6.2 miles.

Bob on footbridge over Blunn Creek.

Big Stacy Park

Big Stacy Park

Big Stacy Park - SHADE!

Most of the rest of our walk was spent on Travis Heights/Fairview Park neighborhood streets. The walk  focused on historic architecture. We had two pages of written history of homes in the area provided by the Colorado River Walkers Volkssport Club. We can't believe how quickly our 10K walk sped by as we read all the materials provided.

Reuter House - Spanish Colonial Revival style (1934)

People here love their yard chickens.

Love this old truck!

Quirky entry with neon address.

Neighborhood LittleFreeLibrary. Good idea.

Here's what it looks like if you want to make one.

There's the all-pervasive chicken again.

Inviting entryway to a home complete with pond.

Arts & Crafts Bungalow

Ultra modern home.

There's even REAL chickens. I felt like I was on Kauai in Hawaii.

Bright paint job. I like it.

Yes, this house is lavender and had lavender flowers in the yard.

Gingerbread cottage.

A periwinkle-colored house.

From the neighborhoods, we finished our walk on South Congress (SoCo) looking in the store windows and enjoying the quietness before the shops opened at 11 a.m. We also passed by the enormous Texas School for the Deaf.

I love these shoes!

Hey Bob, you're my butter half.

Texans love their big boots!

Art in a store on SoCo.

After our Volksmarch we headed to Hamilton Pool. It was 10 a.m., so there was a chance we could make it in before they filled up. They only allow 75 vehicles in at a time. (This is on a Tuesday, remember, not a weekend.)

On the way to Hamilton Pool Preserve, we stopped at Taco Cabana for a scrambled egg and potato breakfast burrito with a bottle of orange juice. This is our go-to food after a morning Volksmarch; it completely replenishes and refreshes us.

This blog wore me out and it's pretty long. Hamilton Pool Preserve will be a separate, shorter blog. Look for it shortly.

Travel Bug out.

Bouldin Creek Walk and Bats - Sun., July 21

Weird, unique, quirky, unusual, maybe even kooky, definitely batty - that's Austin for you. We had quite a day.

On our 10K (6.2 mile) walk today it seemed something quirky or unusual was around every corner. There will be a lot of photos and you can judge for yourselves if you think Austin packs a lot of surprises.

Extended Stay Suites on South 1st St at Barton Springs Rd. was our start point. Within a few blocks, our route took us on Dawson Road where we had the option of walking on the street or hiking through West Bouldin Creek Greenbelt. We chose the Greenbelt.

On a SnoCone food truck.

The Greenbelt

After the Greenbelt we hooked up with Dawson Road again, then started winding through many neighborhoods.

Collector of classic cars.

On our itinerary were libraries, parks, schools, history of local architecture, churches, food trucks, SoCo (South Commerce) and tattoo studios (no we didn't get a tattoo). There were beautiful flowering trees and shrubs along the way too.

Bamboo, even.

Park with lots of fountains.

This park looked like so much fun - especially since it was in the 90s.

At Green Pastures Restaurant, peacocks have a home. There are also beautifully carved peacock sculptures. We even found babies.

White peacock (not sure if it's albino, no pink eyes)

Look at those gorgeous feathers!!

Mama and babies.

Peacock sculptures.

Baby peacock.

Isn't he magnificent?

Green Pastures Restaurant

Mural at a mechanic's shop.

Phoenix - tile work.

Toadstools.

"Your Essential Magnificence" shrine by James Talbot

 
The day was HOT and we were dragging. Nothing a good cupcake won't cure. Our next stop was Sugar Mama's to have a cupcake in air-conditioned comfort. I had a Pinup cupcake (vanilla with chocolate buttercream frosting) and Bob had a mint chocolate chip bar (kind of like a brownie). Delish! A good break from the heat and some quick energy too.

Special cupcake flavors today were mud pie and French toast.

Sugar Mama's interior

Sugar Mama's sign

Mural on the side of Sugar Mama's Bakery.

The houses in the neighborhoods we walked ranged from cubist to modern to common.

This home looks Italianate.

The area that really pepped us up was SoCo (short for South Commerce). We would describe SoCo as bohemian, hip, trendy, and fun. If you go, look for food trucks in addition to traditional restaurants.

SoCo (South Commerce in Austin, Texas)

Zebra disguised as Carmen Miranda.

Costume shop: Lucy in Disguise with Diamonds

How do you like the classic RV below?

Lots of murals around the SoCo and 1st Ave. area.

On south side of "Roadhouse Relics" building.

Roadhouse Relics specializes in making authentic-looking relics. Even though everything in the store looks old, it's not. They sell well-made reproductions.

Mural on a tattoo studio.

Gingerbread cottage - looks like something from England.

Bouldin Castle.

Along someone's driveway - hubcap row.

Very large yard art!

Passion fruit flower.

 At the end of our walk, we needed some ↓↓↓↓↓↓. The heat really saps your strength.

Driving back to McKinney Falls State Park we saw this cool mural on a Chevron station in town. It shows a number of reasons Austin is famous:  Stevie Ray Vaughan, the State Capitol, the Colorado River, and bats coming out from under the Congress Street Bridge.

When we returned to the 5er we had lunch, then Bob called a special phone number to find out what time the bats were estimated to fly out. The window of probable bat departure was 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. We rested until it was time to head downtown.

Our evening included viewing bats flying out from under the Congress Street Bridge. Austin, Texas, has the nation's largest urban bat colony living under the bridge, estimated at 750,000 bats.

We parked at the Austin American-Statesman parking lot on the southeast side of the Congress Street Bridge at 8:00 p.m. and walked along Lady Bird Johnson Lake until we came to the bat-viewing area. Yep, this must be the place.

People line the Congress Street Bridge.

Congress Street Bridge downtown Austin, Texas.

Many people hang out on the lawn east of the bridge.

Others kayak, take a tourboat or paddleboat to watch the bats.

Downtown at dusk.

It's really hard to photograph bats because they're so fast. I gave it my best shot. The bats came out at exactly 8:15 p.m. By 8:30 p.m. we were back at our truck.

Mexican free-tailed bats.

The people are in focus. The bats are fast!

After our bat viewing, we went back to the park, made a nice campfire, roasted hot dogs, had coleslaw and then made S'mores. We're getting the most we can out of our state park experience. We're having a wonderful time.

The end (of a very long day)!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog. Whew, what a fun day we had in downtown Austin.

Travel Bug out.