My Trip to Austin Texas

My Trip to Austin

Since my oldest son recently moved to Austin, Texas, I’ve developed an interest in the city, and I’ve visited twice so far. Austin is apparently one of the fastest growing cities in the United States right now. This is obvious in the many construction projects underway in the city and the heavy traffic. In fact, traffic alone would keep me from moving to Austin, but I do love the city, especially the architecture, Lady Bird Lake, and the Colorado River. There is a lot of history to learn and fun things to do in the city. They also have great brisket and pizza!

First we walked around Austin

My son showed me where he’ll soon be working after his company moves. It’s the cool, tall building in the middle with the the pointed top. I took this picture from the balcony of a hotel we went inside specifically to take the picture.

Jordan's work

Cool building

This building was near the place where we bought the bus tour. There’s a little park we sat in. The park itself was a nice, but the building and clouds caught my attention.

wonderful sky

We took a bus tour

I love bus tours because they give you an overview of the city and facts that you might not hear otherwise, unless you go searching. So on my second trip to Austin in late September 2019, when I went alone to see my son, we went on a bus tour. Here’s the beginning with the capital building ahead. We’d gone there on our first visit, and this was definitely a change in the way we saw it.

bus tour Capital building

 I took a lot of pictures, but I’ll only post a few of these. Almost everywhere we looked there were cranes and construction. Austin is definitely booming!

Street in Austin

Texas Memorial Stadium

The Texas Memorial Stadium on the University of Texas campus is home to Longhorns football team. During my 2019 visit, it was under construction like . . . well, just about everything else. Below we are approaching the stadium.

Texas Memorial Stadium

Below the stadium is on the right. The other side is taller, which you can see in the next picture. It’s huge, in fact!

Texas Memorial Stadium2

Texas Memorial Stadium   Texas Memorial Stadium construction

Little bridge

In Austin, they seem to value parks, biking, and walking. This picture I took near the stadium.

bridge

Colorado River

It was fun going over the Congress Avenue Bridge and seeing the Colorado River from the top of the bus.

Colorado River Congress Avenue Bridge

Congress Avenue Bridge

Congress Avenue Bridge and the bats

Austin is home to 1.5 million Mexican free-tail bats who nest under the Congress Avenue Bridge, so at dusk I was standing on the Bridge with a lot of other people to catch sight of the creatures. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good picture of the bats. It got dark too fast. We saw a few flying out, and then a huge cloud of them in the distance. They sure fly fast! In my picture you can see people waiting below the bridge for a glimpse of the bats.

bats in Austin

Lady Bird Lake

I’m told that Ladybird Lake, also known as Town Lake in the old days, is simply a dammed section of the Colorado River. Whatever it is, I must say I immediately fell in love with the place. The trail around the lake was perfect, the water was beautiful, and the turtles were amazing! I confess, I adore turtles.

Turtles

More turtles. We also saw ducks, geese, and a couple of squirrels. The water was a brilliant aqua, probably from the algae, and I wondered if that was why there there signs warning people not to let pets swim in or drink the water.

more turtles

Below, I am sitting on a stone wall at Lady Bird Lake, with Austin in the background. Next time, I hope to spend an entire day walking around this beautiful lake. I’ll take my girls next time, because I know they’ll love it. By the way, my son doesn’t like pictures of him posted online, so that’s why I’m the only one in the picture, lol.

Teyla at Ladybird Lake

Next time, I’m going to show you my son’s cool 3D printer we used to make a clip just to show you all.

Teyla Rachel Branton

Copyright 2019 Teyla Rachel Branton

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13 Responses to “My Trip to Austin Texas”

  1. KarenE Frost

    Love the pictures Teyla, from the buildings to the turtles. Thank you for taking us on your journey.

    Reply
  2. Julia Evans

    Thanks so much for sharing your life and adventures! I also have a grown son and I love to spend days with him all to myself
    I understand what you mean about staying focused on the book you’ve been working on, but I’ve been waiting a long time for more about Erin and Ritter!! He’s going to be a father and he doesn’t know it yet!! Talk about a cliffhanger!! Hahahaaa
    One more thing! I also love turtles❣️❣️ especially sea turtles, but they’re all cool the ones in your pictures remind me of horseshoe crabs!
    So anyway, please do finish with Autumn, but know that some of your biggest fans are really looking forward to more Unbounded stories ok!!
    Thanks
    ps. I see the owl too!!

    Reply
    • Teyla Rachel Branton

      Thank you! The Unbounded story I have running through my head is a second generation one, with Erin and Ritter’s daughter. Hmm. I didn’t consider that people would want it picked up right where I left off. I may have to reconsider, lol.

      Reply
      • Julia

        Yeah the Unbounded series is one of my favorites. I love the super strong female lead with her even stronger soulmate at her side. The love and compassion among friends and family. It’s all so right and romantic. Who doesn’t love an awesome group of super heroes!? Autumn is good but the unbounded stories seem to have more depth and character. I’ve wished there was more since I finished reading them It’s been awhile. Maybe I’ll go back and read them again.

        Reply
  3. Michele Rolfe

    I LOVE Texas! I usually go to Fort Worth. Looks like you had a lot of fun. I LOVE turtles too! Glad you enjoyed yourself!

    Reply
  4. Cathy Davidson

    Great pictures…l love turtles as well…ohhh, cant wait till Feb!

    Reply
  5. Jim Dunn

    Love your pictures and story about your Austin visit. I too love to walk or ride my bike around Lady Bird Lake especially when I can talk my adult daughter into going with me.

    The building your son is going to work in was designed by a graduate from Rice University. Their mascot is the Owl. If you look at that building the top part looks like the face of an Owl. What a hoot!

    Love to meet you and any of your family members the next time you visit Austin.

    Reply
    • Teyla Rachel Branton

      Hi Jim, what an interesting addition to my story! I love knowing that it looks like an owl. It really does! I hope to visit again soon, though not likely before spring. I really do love the city. It would be fun to meet your family.

      Reply

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