December 23, 2013

Touring the Capitol

 
 On Thursday the temperatures plunged from the balmy 70's down into the 30's. We still ventured out though, this time to the Texas State Capitol. We had driven by it a few times but I was really eager to see inside and it was well worth it. We arrived and got a parking spot right our front (yeah for weekday visitation!) We spent a few minutes walking the grounds because there are some statues and sculptures and great views of the exterior but it was so damn cold we didn't last too long and ventured into the warmth of the Capitol.
Brr!


Once inside we had to pass through metal detectors before we joined up with a tour. Our tour guide was amazing. Her name was Georgia and she was a sweet southern lady who absolutely loved the state of Texas and all its history. I think tours are supposed to be a half hour but we were with her for about an hour because she had so much to share. What I absolutely loved about this building was the freedom it allowed visitors. You can wander anywhere you want to see your government in action (the house and senate weren't in session though).
Senate

House
The capitol rotunda features portraits of every person who has served as governor and apparently when a new governor comes around EVERY picture gets shifted so the most recent is on the ground floor. Imagine what a job that is to move every portrait!
Rotunda
The rotunda is beautiful to gaze up at but the details throughout the building are pretty interesting too.
Door hinges
The top of the rotunda and the lighting fixtures spell out Texas!

The most fascinating thing to me was the underground portion. It was completed in 1993 to add more space to the building and its all completely underground but its designed to let light in via skylights. We headed down there to get some really cool views of the Capitol from below ground.

December 21, 2013

San Antonio

Meris had never been to San Antonio before and I loved the city from my one previous visit (when I came through Texas during my Trek in 2009, I met Melissa there before we went to Austin), so we headed down south for a day. The day dawned quite foggy in Austin but by the time we arrived in San Antonio, the fog had lifted.
The Alamo


Our first stop was the Alamo. It’s so hard to fathom what it once was, especially giving the city that has risen up around it but there are some neat dioramas on display that show the land and structures that comprised the Alamo to help you get a better idea.
Outside the Alamo
From the Alamo we headed down to the Riverwalk and strolled up to Hemisfair Park because I wanted to find that awesome wooden playground that Melissa and I had stumbled upon before. While on the search for it, we got sidetracked taking pictures of the Tower of the Americas which was built as the theme structure of the 1968 World's Fair.
Tower of the Americas
It is open to go up in and view San Antonio from 750ft above so we paid the admission and climbed in the elevator. It was a nice view but San Antonio isn’t really a skyline city with huge skyscrapers so it was more the vast landscape down below that made up the view.
View from atop San Antonio
After descending back to ground level I found signs for the playground and we skipped over to play around. Growing up, my elementary school had a great wooden playground and I loved that thing so whenever I come across these rare wooden playgrounds I have to stop and play around.
We joined back up on the Riverwalk and decided to hop on a boat and take a tour since we were tired of walking. I had always wondered if the Riverwalk was natural at all because it just looks so perfect. I learned the Riverwalk is partially natural and the guide pointed out which sections were the real river and which weren’t. I was kind of disappointed in the tour because it just seemed to be a shill for the many hotels and restaurants that line the Riverwalk. Most of those establishments had really beautiful architecture though and fascinating histories so I guess it made sense.
Octagonal building

On the Riverboat
.
Gorgeous Riverwalk
We also passed by a mural that is covered by 1 inch tiles that are all naturally colored (with the exception of the blue ones that were painted).
Beautiful mural
After all this touring we were starving so we alighted the boat and headed to a delicious Italian restaurant for sustenance. It was getting pretty late I the day but we still wanted to check out the San Antonio Missions (run by the National Park Service) so we headed over to Mission San Jose.
Mission San Jose
 We were the only ones there and the rangers were going around closing things up but we didn’t feel rushed and got some nice pictures. I really love the arches of this one and could spend hours taking different pictures.
Mission San Jose

Beneath the arches
Right down the road is Mission Concepcion which is a bit smaller but just as beautiful especially because we arrived just as the sun was setting.
Mission Concepcion
Mission Concepcion
Our tour boat guide had told us to come back to the Riverwalk at night to enjoy all the lights and we were so in love with San Antonio that we did just that!

The nice thing was that we had paid $10 for parking and it was good all day so we headed back downtown and even got our same spot back! We strolled the same route but now The Alamo, the Tower of the Americas, the Riverwalk and all of San Antonio were lit up. We decided to savor the beautiful night and return to the Italian restaurant we went to earlier for some dessert.
 


 I really love San Antonio. It's such a relaxed and beautiful city and because we were there on a Wednesday there really wasn't a lot of people anywhere we went which made it even better.

December 18, 2013

Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park


What trip of mine would be complete without visiting a national park site? My target this time was the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park. The park is in two units so our first stop was in Johnson City, TX at the visitor center to get oriented. I never really knew much about Johnson, other than the fact that he was a president. Boy did I ever get an education!
Flags over Texas

The man himself
Lyndon Johnson was president of the United States for five years and two months. In that time, he pushed no fewer than 135 acts through Congress; a feat no one had accomplished before or since. Here is just a sampling:  the Clean Air Act, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Food Stamp Act, the Higher Education Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Public Broadcasting Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. And my personal favorite, he created 35 national parks and established more than 1,000 recreation, scenic and historic trails. His wife, Lady Bird Johnson, also contributed greatly to his conservation efforts and it was her mission in life to beautify the nation.  
Lady Bird Johnson
I wondered why the heck I hadn’t heard more about this President who seemed to have done so much and apparently it comes down to Vietnam which is what most people associate with him, which is a shame.
Boyhood home
Right across from the visitor center is his boyhood home where we got a tour. His family moved to this house two weeks after his fifth birthday, in September 1913 and he spent the next 11 years of his life there. The home is furnished in the early to mid-1920s period and I loved how there were so many porches. There was even a sleeping porch which, to a New Yorker, seems absurd.

Kitchen of boyhood home
We then embarked on a walking tour of the Johnson Settlement. His grandfather and great-uncle established a cattle droving headquarters in the 1860s on this land and their log cabin and subsequent barns, cooler house, and windmill still stand. 
Dogtrot cabin
Windmill through the barn
There was a great exhibit on the cattle business, early Johnson family and settlement history, and Hill Country survival which was quite fascinating to imagine life back then.
What a sight that must have been!
There were also longhorn cattle which I was very excited to see.
Longhorns!
 To see the other portion of the LBJ National Historical Park we had to head 14 miles west to the birthplace, home, ranch, and cemetery for the Johnson family. It is on approximately 1,500 acres. It was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.
Road to the ranch
To get to the homestead you have to drive along the Pedernales River and then through pastures of sheep, goats and Hereford cattle (descendants of LBJs own herd). 
When we saw the airplane hangar, we knew we were close to the Texas White House-so called because the President spent approximately twenty percent of his time in office there, hence the need for a plane to come and go. We made it in time for the last tour of the day. Alas, there are no pictures allowed in the house. 
Tour entrance to White House
Texas White House
Meris and I
That allowed me to focus more on the guide who told us more about LBJ both as a person and as a President. The Johnson's left the house pretty much intact with their clothes still hanging in the closets so it was a fascinating portrait of a family (also of 70's fashion and decor). 

As we exited the house, the sun was setting and it was really such a peaceful and beautiful place, I can imagine why he chose to work from here.  It is still a working ranch to this day which I think is a great legacy to leave and a real testament to who he was.

We made a stop at the Johnson family cemetery on the way out. I really appreciated the cemetery because most presidents are buried in tombs or these elaborate settings but here was LBJ just laid out under an oak tree on his ranch. We couldn't linger though because a ranger pulled up in his truck who told us that the park was closing and we needed to leave.  
Johnson Family Cemetery
To appease the hovering ranger we headed outside the gates and stopped at the one-room school house that Lyndon attended. 
LBJ School
The ranger caught up with us again and I thought we were really in trouble this time but his demeanor completely changed and we ended up chatting for 20 minutes which was a pleasant surprise. Plus we got to savor the sunset while chatting. Thanks Ranger Brian!


On the way back through Johnson City we saw a glow about the town and following our eyes we stumbled upon this beautiful sight:
LBJ brought electricity to the Hill Country and boy do they put it to work with this display! It is on the grounds of the electric company, which is conveniently next to his boyhood home. 
 
Every tree was wrapped roots to tip in lights and it was spectacular. Everything really is bigger and brighter in Texas!