Monday 23rd January - Austin, Texas

Thought I should check in with #eaglecam as it’s been a while.  Check out this ugly chick! ...And they’ve still not got rid of his un-hatched brother!  I’ve no idea how long it takes for bald eagles to fledge…. But I’ll keep you posted.

Today was Austin day and the weather was glorious.  Drove the 30 minutes back to the City (did we really drive that far looking for somewhere to park on Saturday night?!).  We headed towards a riverside park, hoping for a free parking/cycling combo.  No free parking unless we only wanted to spend two hours exploring the City.  But then we found the option of $5 for a maximum of 5 hours parking – perfect!  Then it was onto the bikes. I seem to have a slow puncture at the moment, my back tyre was totally flat but says inflated for a day trip (so far).

Ladybird Lake and the Austin skyline

We cycled through the park at the section of river through Austin, Lady Bird Lake, before finding a bridge which took us directly up Congress Avenue (above).  From the other side of the river we could see the Texas State Capitol building:  

Getting closer to the Capitol

We cycled up to have a closer look and discovered they do free tours!

Inside view of the Capitol dome

Lucky it was free really.  The tour guide was a lovely lady but she must have been new and was being monitored, which made her nervous. She kept forgetting what she was about to say and then showing us pictures of people on an iPad without explaining why they were relevant!  I’m hoping we learn more about the Texan revolution and securing independence from Mexico when we get to San Antonio?  I wouldn’t pass the test today….

Important congress bit inside the Capitol building

We toured some more of the city but mainly headed back to Sixth street where we’d seen all the bars and the music on Saturday night!  It was a lot calmer on a Monday afternoon, understandably, but we found the ‘Chugging Monkey’ where a guy was playing acoustic covers and settled in for a beer. 

The view as we cycled back over the river to the RV

We got back to the RV site for 6pm, where I went down to the river for sunset and saw a bat.  Good times.