Virginia

We made a quick trip last month to see Becky and Gerald but more importantly to visit Scout, Isaak and Ellie. We had a great time! The weather was perfect; we enjoyed seeing some real Fall color and other than a flat tire on our rental car the first morning, it was a perfect long weekend visit.
We enjoyed a fun day at the Pumpkin Patch;
found some pumpkins, and made some new friends.
We made a day trip to Harper's Ferry in West Virginia where John Brown raided the Federal Arsenal in 1859. He made a stand in what is now called John Brown's Fort - below. In case you don't know, he was captured in the Fort, tried and later hung. Some historians agree that the Harper's Ferry raid escalated tensions that, a year later, led to secession and the American Civil War.
I delivered the quilt I made for Isaak and he loved it! whewww!!
We took Scout and Isaak to the National Zoo for "Boo in the Zoo" which was a very fun evening.
We enjoyed watching movies, swimming in our motel pool, and had a fun pillow fight.

The capitol of Texas is.....

Austin!
Last month we decided it was time to explore the state capital some and took our Aussie friend Dave with us. Dave has probably seen more and knows Texas history better than some Texans! Of course we weren't able to see everything but we got a good start.
The capital building was built in 1885 - 1888 out of pink granite quarried here in Texas.
It is a beautiful building inside and out with many incredible details and the woodwork is amazing. I'm cheating and downloading a picture from Wikipedia rather than my pictures - they were working on the outside and scaffolding was all over it.
The rotunda is taller than the US capitol (of course! remember this is Texas; everything is bigger and better!)
The mosaic on the center of the rotunda floor shows the seals of the six different countries that have governed Texas. Can you name them?
Spain, France, Mexico, Republic of Texas, Confederate States of America, and USA.
Just down the down the street is the Texas State Museum, which has what out front? A huge star of course! Remember Texas's nickname? The Lone Star State. Stars as decorations, are very big down here. It's a wonderful museum.
We left 6th Street and the music scene for another trip - Austin rivals Nashville in country music. In fact the official city slogan is: The Live Music Capital of the World.
Right across the street from the museum is the University of Texas at Austin campus; home of the Longhorns! So we walked around a bit. A nice co-ed asked if we were lost. Haven't I mentioned; Texans are just down right friendly.
Now you may be wondering as I was, do they really have a Longhorn cow as a mascot? and the answer is yes!
Meet Bevo XIV (also called Mighty Bevo or Bevo the Great). Bevo? well, apparently there are conflicting stories how that name came to be. Yes, there have been thirteen other steers beginning in 1916.

The Mighty Bevo makes appearances at all home football games of the University of Texas, as well as many away games. He also typically makes appearances at important pep rallies, such as the ones in the weeks before the games against Texas A&M and the University of Oklahoma. Following commencement ceremonies, he is typically on hand for photographs with graduates and their families.

Since 1945, the care of Bevo during his transportation and appearances has been entrusted to an honorary organization of undergraduate students called the Silver Spurs.^[13] Bevo rides in a special burnt orange livestock trailer with his name on the side.

During football games, he typically stands or sits placidly behind one of the end zones (the south end zone in Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium) and is occasionally greeted by UT players when they score touchdowns. Contrary to popular belief, Bevo is not drugged during football games.^[14] Bred to be docile, he is riled only in the most extreme of circumstances, such as once during a lightning storm during a game against Rice University, in which he broke away from his handlers. (help!) He is 1800 lbs (820kg), stands 5'8"(1.7 m) tall and his horns measure 72"(173 cm) tip to tip.

Isn't he great? I would love to see him in person! Guess we''ll have to go to a game sometime.

The best part of the day was, well, after the amazing steak dinner - thank you Dave! The bats!

The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake houses the world's largest urban bat population. When the bridge was refurbished in the 1980s, the new design created crevices underneath the structure that happened to be ideal for bats to roost in. In the summer, the colony has up to 1.5 million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. The bats can be seen emerging by the thousands from under the bridge every evening throughout the summer, before they migrate to Mexico for the winter. I know you can hardly see them in this picture; but bats are dark brown and it was dark, so look hard.

many thanks to Wikipedia (in blue) for the info; they say it so much better than I can.

It was a fun day! Austin is about a 2 hour drive West of Houston.