Austin
, United States
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Capitol Complex
Smack in the middle of downtown, the Capitol Complex is made up of over two dozen state government offices. Like a pink mirage in the city centre's sea of green, the Texas State Capitol (1888) is certainly Austin's most distinctive landmark. Constructed of sunset-coloured Texas limestone, the capitol is topped with a statue of the Goddess of Liberty and (as its proud staffers are only too happy to tell you) ranks as the seventh largest government building in the world. Someone actually went to the trouble to measure the building from the basement floor to the top of the Liberty statue, and at 311ft (93m), it's taller than the national capitol in Washington, DC.
The capitol's rotunda features terrazzo seals of the six nations whose flag has flown over Texas. Inside the building you'll find the standard assortment of the state's top brass, including the chambers of the Senate and House of Representatives and the offices of the governor.
Congress Ave Bridge
What's so special about this downtown bridge? Bats! The bridge's 1980 reconstruction created crevices beneath the bridge that somehow caught the attention of a homeless colony of Mexican free-tail bats. Each year they fly in from central Mexico, arriving in March and departing in early November. In June, each female gives birth to one pup, and every night at dusk, the families take to the skies in search of food. The spectacle of 1.5 million bats flitting forth at once looks a lot like a fast-moving, black, chittering river. It's become an Austin tradition to bring along a six-pack and cheer the bats as they head out to feast on an estimated 30,000lbs (13,500kg) of insects per night.
Bat Conservation International has volunteers on hand and holds programs throughout the bat season. Congress Ave Bridge crosses the Colorado at the southern end of downtown.
East 6th Street
Along with adjoining Congress Ave, this central historical thoroughfare has been the focus of Austin's downtown area for more than 100 years, with many of the buildings holdovers from the late 19th century. When the Texas State Capitol was completed in 1888, Congress Ave stole the spotlight from East 6th St (then known as East Pecan) and the latter went into a lengthy period of decline that left it a virtual skid row by the 1960s. In the late '60s, local entrepreneurs took to restoring the area's aged Victorian and Renaissance Revival structures, and by the mid '70s, East 6th was jumping again as the city's main live-music and entertainment district. Since then, the party's just kept getting bigger, the lights brighter and the string of clubs and bars between Congress and Sabine - in the area known as the Strip - have been the main propellant in Austin's current rise to 'hipster' fame. On weekends, the Strip is cordoned off for pedestrian traffic only and the revelers take to the streets in droves. If you want to experience the Austin you've read about in Rolling Stone, this is the place to go.
University of Texas Museums & Galleries
The LBJ Library on the University of Texas (UT) campus is a highlight of a visit to Austin. Lyndon Baines Johnson - or LBJ, as he was known to just about everybody - was the 36th president of the USA. A menacingly jovial native Texan, LBJ balanced the John F Kennedy campaign ticket with a southern political mainstay and, hours after JFK's assassination, was sworn in as president on board Air Force One. Supported by Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady, the museum contains as much propaganda as you'd expect but also offers a candid look at the social and political climate of the era. Look for video clips of head-bashin' cops and dope-smokin' hippies to complement solid exhibitions on the JFK presidency and assassination, the Bay of Pigs, Krushchev, the civil rights movement, the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy, and the Vietnam War. Upstairs, a new exhibit on Mexican Texans details pre-republic Texas life.
Also on campus, the Texas Memorial Museum packs a huge art deco building with displays of Texas' natural and social history. Exhibits focus on geology, paleontology, anthropology and natural history. Don't miss the impressive pterodactyl skeleton.
The Archer M Huntington Gallery at UT is one art museum in two buildings: the Harry Ransom Center (HRC) on the West Campus and the Art Building on the East. The collection focuses on 20th century North American and Latin American art and on drawings from the 15th century on. Major figures represented include Elsworth Kelly, Andy Warhol, Joan Mitchel, Thomas Hart Benton and Robert Henri. On the first floor of the HRC is the museum's prized Gutenberg bible.
The university is located just north of the capitol complex and is easily accessed by bus No 86/Congress 'Dillo.
Austin
Off the Beaten TrackColorado RiverJust south of downtown, Town Lake is actually a dammed-off section of the Colorado River, lined with hiking and biking trails. It's a very nice area - as you'd know if you were staying at the Hostelling International-Austin, whose windows overlook it. Northwest of the city on a bluff over the river, the Mayfield Estate and Nature Preserve is the former home of Texas Secretary of State and railroad commissioner Allison Mayfield. Mayfield settled this idyllic spot at the turn of the century, and for over 50 years he and his wife built up the estate's grounds with lily ponds, a gazebo overlooking the Colorado and a flower garden. The estate is very peaceful and far less crowded than the overlook at Mt Bonnell, the much-heralded highest point in the city. La GrangeAbout 65 miles (100km) southeast of Austin, in an area thick with descendants of Czech and German immigrants, the small town of La Grange was known for generations as a quiet community in a region of rolling hills and farmland. That all changed in the 1970s, when the town made national news by unveiling its local cathouse, the Chicken Ranch. The brothel was immortalized in the Broadway musical and Hollywood movie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and though the Chicken Ranch is no longer with us, La Grange has never quite shaken its randy image. National Wildflower Research CenterAnyone with an interest in flora and fauna should plan to visit this first-class centre 20 minutes south of downtown Austin. Founded in 1982 with the assistance of Lady Bird Johnson, the Center has a display garden featuring every type of wildflower and plant that grows in Texas, separated by geographical region. Excellent signage provides details such as the plants' range, bloom season and family. Note the aqueducts and cistern system, which are part of the largest rainwater harvesting network in North America. The best time to drop in is between April and August, but there's something in bloom all year. There's a short nature trail and rock gardens as well as a playhouse for the kids and frequent programs to keep them busy. The Center also maintains an enormous interactive database covering plants and wildflowers from all regions of the US. The Center is about half a mile south of Austin and is easily reached by car, taxi or bus. Texas Hill CountryThe area around the Balcones Escarpment of the Edwards Plateau, west of Austin and north of San Antonio, is known as Texas Hill Country. Boasting some of the most beautiful and entertaining landscape in the region, Hill Country is where Austinites flock to avoid the heat and humidity of summer days, and where outdoorsy types from across the state gather to tackle the limestone cliffs and rock formations. Whether it's the area's prime hiking, biking, climbing and horse riding opportunities, or just the allure of pitching a tent and watching the stars come out, the rolling landscape here is central Texas' largest natural attraction. Still, the appeal of Hill Country isn't totally nature made. One of the region's most popular towns, Fredericksburg, is a favourite of antique shoppers and western history buffs. Or if the thrill of ropin' doggies serves to twirl your lasso, nearby Bandera has the market cornered on dude ranches. For rhinestone cowfolk and other city slickers who prefer their Westernalia watercoloured, the residents of the Cowboy Artists of America Museum in Kerrville are only too happy to provide. Probably the most common (and immediately gratifying) Hill Country excursion is at its eastern border just outside of Austin. The Salt Lick BBQ in tiny Driftwood shows how barbecue was meant to be enjoyed: outdoors, weather permitting, with the meats prepared over an open pit and the buzzards circling overhead. The 45-minute drive to reach the ranch restaurant is an Austin weekend institution - it's not the place for a quiet night alone, but with everyone from presidents to rock stars among the clientele, you may well run into someone famous. Fredericksburg is about 80mi (130km) west of Austin, Bandera about 100mi (160km) southwest, Driftwood about 25 miles (40km) west, and all are best reached by car. In fact, you really need to have your own transport to fully enjoy the area; public transportation in Hill Country is downright pathetic.
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