Walking Austin, Part 3 -- Sat., Feb. 16

Back on the south side of the lake, we continued to follow the lake to Barton Springs Creek. We turned up Barton Springs Creek trail to Zilker Park.

Skill with sculling.

A mute swan.

The Zilker Zephyr train ride.

Mute swan.

Ooh, must be something interesting in the water below!

Two turtles and a fish. Look how clear that spring water is.

Just a day out fishin' with the dawg.

Bob's walking two feet off the ground!

Late afternoon shadows and silhouettes.

Did I mention we REALLY enjoyed this walk? The day was so pleasant. Next destination on our walk is Barton Springs Pool which is normally open all year; however, it is closed through March 2013 for  much-needed repair work. Barton Springs flows out of the ground and creates this marvelous pool where people love to swim (especially on 100+ degree days!). The water is so clear, but it is chilly. Then there are the people who like to swim here in winter when it is cold outside because then the water is warmer than the air.

Philosophers' Rock.

Barton Springs Pool.

What it looked like "back in the day."

Wowsers! That's a lot of people.

Here's the extent of the construction.

Looking downriver at the pool.

Any time there's water in a dry climate there's bound to be some interesting history.

The line to ride the train.

Stilt shadows.

We turned around at Barton Springs Pool and we are now heading back to Lady Bird Lake. Old people, young people, in-between people, walkers, joggers, bike riders, fishermen, dog walkers: that's who was out today.

Crowds of people out enjoying the day.

As we entered the off-leash dog area, there is a big reminder awaiting dog owners. Another sign in the area says, "Dogs can't flush."

Many reminders for dog owners.

Stevie Ray Vaughn statue.

I love this photo...look at the expression on the dog's face.

Greater scaup.

The new Long Center for the Performing Arts.

And so ended our beautiful day in Austin. From here we headed back to the car and drove south to San Antonio.

Bob had one more trick up his sleeve, though. For dinner, he took me to Magic Time Machine. What a hoot! Don't expect a quiet dinner here. This place is crazy. From the moment you walk in the door you get a feeling this isn't a "normal" restaurant. The waiters and waitresses dress as all kinds of characters: our server was Indiana Jones, we also saw Dracula, Peter Pan, the Red Queen.

Throughout the huge restaurant there are all kinds of rooms and decor. We were in a Mexican-themed room. Some tables were in small, hole-in-the-wall rooms. It's hard to describe, you just need to go if you want a totally different dining experience. And the food was actually good.

Salad car.

Stained glass window room.

And so ended our 120-mile round trip driving day with 12.4 miles of walking and two good meals in restaurants.

The end.

 

Travel Bug out.

Walking Austin, Part 2 -- Sat., Feb. 16

For our second 10K walk, we drove into downtown and started our Lady Bird Lake Walk YRE (year round event) walk at a hotel lobby. The Walk Box had the walk route, start card and envelope to mail my $3.00 for the walk. I also stamped my Volksmarch books because I walk for credit (pins and badges).

From the start, this walk was really good. (Well, except for the old guy with the shopping cart on the sidewalk yelling at people at the top of his lungs. "G-d damn" this and "G-d damn" that. We don't know what he was so angry about. Mostly a mental problem, we think.)  We passed by Palmer Event Center which is where all the marathoners were picking up their packets for the race tomorrow morning.

On the back side of the event center were gorgeous views of downtown Austin. The day was bright, sunny, and 67 degrees with a cool breeze blowing.

Downtown Austin skyline.

The Army had some vehicles on display in front of the event center. People could climb in them.

From the back of the event center, we entered Barton Park. They are getting ready for the marathon tomorrow.

In Barton Park we had more expansive views of the Austin Skyline, walked to the top of observation hill and past the Liz Carpenter fountains.

Liz Carpenter fountains.

At the top of Observation Hill.

Liz Carpenter fountains.

Kayaking Lady Bird Lake...see the dog on the yellow kayak?

So many people were out today. It was absolutely amazing. The local population in Austin loves getting outdoors. We saw many walkers, bike riders, kayakers, canoe-ers and stand-up paddleboarders. At times the trail was downright crowded. Before walking across the trail to take photos, I had to look both ways to make sure I wasn't going to get mowed down by a bike rider!


On one of the pedestrian bridges over Lady Bird Lake was a ghost bike. I had never seen one before. Here's a photo and the description.

Ghost bike. Share the road!

After being on the south side of the lake, the pedestrian bridge was our footpath to the north side of the lake. Here are some photos from the pedestrian bridge.

After crossing the bridge, we saw some very pretty flowers on a bush. Does anyone recognize these? (Thank you, Colleen, for identifying this bush as mountain laurel. We did not have these in Portland, Oregon.)

Mountain laurel.

What kind of flowers are blooming here? Mountain laurel.

Bob and I were getting into Austin's vibrant vibe. Whole families were out enjoying the day. Lots of people were walking their dogs. You can tell this is an outdoor-oriented town. And why not with views like these and weather like this?

A greater scaup, I believe.

 

We walked 2K on the north side of the lake, then crossed back over the lake on another pedestrian bridge. Views from the bridge reminded me of the Willamette River in Oregon.

Greater scaup flock, or raft.

This post is getting pretty long so I'm going to add Part 3 to this.