We spent about 24 hours in the city of Austin, and during that time we spent at Mercury Hall (of course... main reason we went), the Texas State Capitol building, and walked around Zilker Park.
Our first trip was to the Texas State Capitol building and grounds. The Capitol building sits on 22 acres of land.
The building was constructed in 1888 and looks brown because the exterior was made of "sunset red" granite. This was Texas' 3rd Capitol building, the first being extremely small make-shift capitol, and the second burned to the ground in 1853 or 1881 depending on varied sources.
On top of the dome sits the Goddess of Liberty, who happens to be holding a lone star- a symbol of Texas. The original is located in the Texas State History museum, the replica that sits atop was done in 1990.
Also, the Texas Capitol is the largest in gross square footage of all state capitols and is second in total size only to the National Capitol in Washington, D.C. With everything being 'bigger in Texas', this doesn't surprise me at all.
From the top of the dome with the Goddess of Liberty to the base, it is 311 feet tall.
Former President George W. Bush was the governor of Texas, and now the current governor of Texas, Rick Perry is running for presidential election against incumbent President Barak Obama.
On the doors leading to the Senate and the House chambers, the hinges were all engraved specifically for the Texas Capitol. The detail for door hinges was just a bit ridiculous. Then again... it wasn't my money used to purchase them.
Before leaving Austin, we stopped at Zilker Park in downtown Austin. The park consists of 351 acres with hiking and bike trails. Oscar was particularly interested in exploring all 351 acres and the various dogs that were being walked nearby.
They also have canoes for those interested in paddling on Town Lake.
And the best part... they had Barton Springs pool. The name just sells itself doesn't it? It's basically one of the 4th largest natural springs in Texas that is average of 68 degrees year round, and a local swimming area. Due to the fact that this is October and we didn't pack swimming suits, we didn't go. But it would be something interesting to try sometime.
And while we didn't go to Barton Springs pool, we did walk around a lot. And in the end, we got to stretch our legs, and Sophie conked out for a portion of the trip from the exhaustion of all the walking.
For more information about the Texas State Capitol building, click HERE.
For more information about Zilker Park, click HERE.
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