Tuesday - Austin, the Texas State Capital

After arriving in Clear Creek which is just 20 miles outside of Austin, Gary got to work repairing the refrigerator and front cap of the RV. He replaced the piece that controls the water valve for the ice maker and then the refrigerator wouldn't start! Apparently I did not do a very good job checking fuses as a long time was spent troubleshooting the problem. After asking for assistance from an RV technician that lives at the campground we found the problem - the fuse really was bad and as soon as we replaced it the refrigerator worked!

Now that our refrigerator was working Gary climbed onto the roof to check our end cap. This is the 3rd time he has had to smooth down the special tape that had been put there by our local RV repair shop in Reno. He bought some more self-leveling caulking and did his best to get everything sealed. He thinks it should keep the rain out but he will have to check it every time we travel down the road. At least we bought an extra tube of caulking to use when needed.

We were really lucky to get a parking space right in front of the Texas State Capital. Before we walked to the capital we went to the visitor center.

There were a lot of displays about the life in Texas as it became settled and it was very interesting.

In this room there were several quilts hanging on the walls and they had a video talking about the XIT Ranch in the Texas Panhandle. It was the first time cattle were fenced in (about 6000 miles of barbed wire) and one of the first times that barbed wire was used. This land had been traded for the land where the state capital was to be built.

The actual building that housed the visitor center was the original land building where all the land grants and records were kept. We could see how some of the land was portioned to people according to their service to the new Texas Republic.

We walked to the capital to take a tour and find out about some of its' history.

This is a picture looking up at the dome. It is 218 feet high and is actually taller than the dome in Washington, DC. Red granite from Texas was used in the building and was donated by the people who had the local quarry.

This Senate room has the original desks made when the capital was built. It's too hard to see all the pictures but you can be sure that Sam Houston and Stephen Austin will be among them. There are also pictures showing the major battles fought in gaining the Texas independence.

Throughout the building are large pictures showing the people in the legislature for a particular session. Like Nevada, Texas has only a part-time legislature which works 140 days every other year.

We looked down to the floor of the rotunda from one of the upper floors. This mosaic portrays the different countries that flew flags above the lands and represents Spain, France, Mexico, the Confederate Union and the US!

I think our guide said there were 440 doors in the building, each needing 3 of these hingesd which weighed 8 pounds apiece. How is that for some trivia!

A four story addition was added to the capital building in the 90's and all 4 stories are underground! As we were walking underground on the north side our guide told us to turn around and look up! There was the dome risingabout 300 feet above us!

As we walked to the State Museum we saw the Texas Longhorn stadium for the University of Texas. The campus is just about 4 blocks north of the capital grounds. There are parking structures all around and a lot of students moving about.

We were disappointed that we missed the IMAX showing of "Texas - The Big Picture" but we did see a shorter movie called "The Star of Destiny" in the Texas Spirit Theatre. Instead of entering the museum we decided to walk back to the truck. We had already been given a lot of information during the visitor center, capital tour and movie so we had been filled to the gills!
One thing you will see all over Texas is the star. It can be found on buildings, freeways and all matter of signs and paraphenalia. (Did I spell that right?) Anyway, you can feel the pride and courage of the Texans in everything you see and do.

Wednesday we will head to San Antonio. We hope to look at the Alamo again and maybe take a walk on the River Walk. I would also like to go back to the "Mercado" plaza that we visited the last time we were here. Also in the plans are a visit to the San Antonio Temple. We will call them to schedule an appointment tomorrow.