It was a pretty short drive – about 50 miles – from Fredericksburg to Austin and a lot of it was through ‘hill country’. The area west of Austin is known as hill country and they mean it. The area is composed of limestone hills and many of the old buildings around here are built with limestone blocks – a very distinctive and attractive look. Austin the capital of Texas and, probably because the University of Texas main campus is here, is very liberal politically. The motto of the city is ‘keep Austin weird’ and they seem to love to point out all of the ways that it is weird.

We have found that a good way to get acquainted with a city is to take a tour bus ride as soon as we get there. This orients us to what is in the area and where to go on our own afterward. This time we took a 90 minute tour that took us to the western part of the city and into the hills – still inside city limits – overlooking the city. It was very informative and enjoyable.  After the tour, we walked a few blocks to the O.Henry museum and learned quite a bit about the author.  We had intended to do some more walking around the downtown music and nightlife areas to hear some music – this city is know for its music – but it was too hot and humid to do very much so we just went ‘home’ to cool off.

We are staying at the Pecan Grove RV Park which is very close to the downtown and is right on a bus line that goes there. We took the bus in and out of downtown – the bus stops are right next to the park and it is only $1 each way or $2 for a 24-hour pass. It was not bad and, as city bus rides are, pretty interesting. Austin is pretty weird, and we’re glad.

Here are our photos so far – we plan to see more today so stay tuned: