sighted on the way to austin: the texas colorado river. but beware, this is not the iconic colorado river ( 2.334 km long ) that has its source in the rocky mountains and confluences in the gulf of california, flowing through the grand canyon and other magnificent landscapes along the way, but this is texas' very own colorado river with a length of 1.387 km starting in the llano estacado plains in northwestern texas, and eventually ending up in the gulf of mexico at matagorda bay. why there are two colorado rivers in the US, i really don't know 😅 my guess is, that they were named by two people in different times, not knowing of the other's colorado river discovery. we'll meet the texas colorado river again in austin, so i will probably bestow more information on you eventually ;D
a random road squirrel, also found on the way to austin.
austin is about 187 miles ( 300 km ) away from baytown and is situated west from there in central texas. it sits at the foot of the balcones fault - which is basically a precipice created by prior geological shifts, a surface rupture, if you will. this makes austin actually pretty special, as the landscape is reeved & burred with limestone canyons, with small creeks running through them, turning the city into a rather adventurous one, where you can explore much natural beauty. but austin isn't only about being a nature gem, but the city itself is rather interesting, too, offering people a wild pot of activities, outdoors & indoors. austin is well known for its inhabitants, who are wildly creative, open-minded & adventurous. it is one of those very few cities in texas that don't feel awfully conservative, but the total opposite. everybody seems to want to work for an open society, with little prejudice towards outside people. it felt like a very welcoming city, and i think the beauty of where it is located, along the shores of the texas colorado river and many little creeks, nestled against the balcones fault, it contributes to the life quality of people around here, which makes them more friendly, more curious, and libertarian. i can totally say that i am a big fan of austin, and it only took me one day to be converted!
let me introduce you to this special city in the heartlands of texas ❤
our first stop was at a little park near south congress avenue, in a neighborhood called travis heights. the park was called little stacy neighborhood park and the creek that usually runs through it is called blunn creek and is a 3 mile long watershed that empties into lady bird lake. we visited at a time where the summer apparently had pretty much dried out many of the creeks in the city ( it was early october ), i think they went through quite a drought back then. that's why when we visited the place, we came upon a river bed without water! which was kinda cool, as you could explore the whole place by wandering through the creek bed. i bet though, that this little park must be beautifully lush and pretty when the creek is actually flowing through the neighborhood!
the rocks there are mainly made of limestone, and the soils are pretty much loams & clays, which makes austin prone to flash floods, since the topsoil can't always retain heavy amounts of rain well. but during the times we were there ( which was 2 times ), none such a thing happened to us, gladly :)
little overhangs showed well how the water had been carving its way through the rocky limestone riverbed.
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| i gotta admit, i was feeling the urge to crawl under the overlaps and sheltering myself for a while, away from the people. though also, there actually wasn't many people around, despite the close proximity to one of the most touristy & busy streets of austin ( south congress avenue ). |
i did crawl into this tree's natural occuring cave hole, which i am prone to do as a hole loving person 😜
it grew directly next & into the blunn riverbed!
it quickly became my favourite tree in this little park!
another favourite: mr. magic man darius 💖 he was able to show me this special place because he had lived a few years in austin before & got to stake out many sweet places beforehand!
gnarly roots keeping the tree at bay!
imagine bubbly water flowing through this little creek course, and you have another idea on how special this place might be during more wet times!
the sun was illuminating the cliffs beautifully - it really was a magical place ❤
the further we explored the creek bed, the more beautiful it got, revealing the limestone underground.
little washed out holes were dotting the rocks, showing how porous limestone can be.
i crawled a little up the cliffs, looking down upon the river bed.
the blunn creek seems not important enough to warrant a deeper dive into its creation or history, as i could not find much information on it. there's a society that is dedicated to keeping it natural and free of invasive plants, but even they did not provide much information on their website. the blunn creek however has a portion along its course that was turned into a preserve of about 40 acre, providing hiking & running trails & possible wildlife encounters. i feel like that might be worth checking out for a possible future outing ;)
we did find some water at last, a tiny little leftover rivulet.
hot and warm days can only be survived with a cold beverage. i think darius had an iced coffee, but i really can't remember anymore 😅
we passed underneath this bridge, which i think is called the larry monroe forever bridge. it was a special one, decorated in a mosaic-like style with all kinds of materials, incorporating pebbles, glass marbles, pieces of mirrors and other little trinkets. larry monroe was a beloved austin radio dj, and this bridge is of course a loving commemoration for him. the creator of the artful bridge design was stefanie distefano.
ceramic vinyls were incorporated into the bridge design too, a testament to larry's most favourite musicians.
i loved how very much altar-like the whole bridge was, this little window with animal heads i liked a lot!
the entrance to little stacy park was utterly fantastic - a real magic portal! you can also make out the shelter house from 1930 in the back, which i wished i had taken a closer look at, as it seems a little architectural gem. the portal was created by james talbot, a local artist who also built a beautiful home called 'casa neverlandia'.
talking about beautiful homes, austin had a lot of wonderful ones! they often were nestled into nice green yards, shadowed by big gnarly oak trees. i discovered that i really like a good porch situation, and this house, painted in a grey & green fashion, it was just perfect in that regard!
it definitely was a dream house situation for me :D
loved this display of rocks & skulls on this stone wall.
and finding these massive prickly pear cacti just casually growing on the curbside.
weird flowering texas plants - it was exciting to discover the local plant world here, lots of cacti, lots of yucca plants. this red yucca had some lovely little pink flower buds and the fruit were most peculiar. it is a plant that is actually native to the region, which extents into mexico. i saw many of these in austin, they attracted my gaze immediately with their florescence.
we slowly made our way to south congress street, where all kinds of neat little details caught my eye. i liked these dancing peeps on this building for example! they invite you to get inside the restaurant here: maie day.
on south congress you'll find lots of special little shops, owned by local people, rarely some big corporation. they all had some cheeky advertisement going on, showing a certain kind of humour only noted in austinites ;D
i loved big top candy shop, they had all sweets & chocolates & delicacies you can think of! we drank a milk shake there that completely blew my brains out :D
their circus-themed interior design was off the hooks as well, i LOVED it! though of course the gas mask was a tiny bit weird 😅
a cool piglet with fine steampunk goggles!
these cute as fuck scrap metal armadillos made me almost buy one! one only has so little space in the suitcase, but damn, i wish i had one to decor a neat little space with! mi casa gallery was the shop where i found these in front of! i adored all the trinkets and handmade art and objects you could find in there.
they had wonderful handmade ceramics inspired by mexican art. if i could i would probably buy half of the store ;P
these bedazzled skulls were pretty darn awesome! but of course had quite a hefty price tag.
there are many more neat stores and restaurants to discover on soco avenue, but we eventually hopped back into the car and made our way to downtown austin!
the view towards downtown underneath ann w. richards congress avenue bridge, which is known as 'the bat bridge'. why, you wonder? because in the evening, when the sun goes down, thousands of little batlings come out of their resting place underneath the bridge and will swarm the night sky, which for me, as a certified bat loving person, is just pure damn magical. but before we head back to nightfall to learn more about the bats, let's explore a little more of austin.
the most prominent buildings seen on this picture from right to left: one eleven congress ( 1987 ), frost bank tower ( 2003 ) and the austonian ( 2010 ).
a much nicer overview of downtown austin's skyline. i absolutely adored the local skyline, especially along the river it made for a special impression. most notables from left to right: the w austin ( 2010 ), still in construction sixth & guadalupe, hanover republic square ( 2021 ), colorado tower ( 2014 ), the ashton, 100 congress ( 1987 ), the austonian, the frost tower & 111 congress.
i really couldn't get tired of the mirroring happening in the river's waters!
more notable architecture along the colorado river banks ( left to right ): block 185 ( 2022 ), the northshore ( 2015 ), 500 west second street ( 2017 ), silicone labs building ( 2001 ), amli on 2nd ( 2008 ) & the w austin residences.
the smaller building in front of the 111 congress belongs to the line hotel. it was built in 1965 and has always been a hotel throughout the decades.
the ann w. richards bridge with another really neat skyline view: 111 congress, the line, the san jacinto center ( 1987 ) with the smaller 4 seasons hotel in front ( 1987 ) and the 4 seasons residences right behind the hotel ( 2010 ), and on the far right the fairmont ( 2018 ).
random mural by chad eaton that we found while walking aimlessly around near the bat bridge. i loved its close to nature motive, sitting around the campfire with the animals of the woods! we found it at the back of a sportsware shop that also functioned as a bar called yeti. disguised as some bat blood-related beverage, i drank my very first bloody mary there... and deemed it undrinkable 😂
alleyway with a view onto downton austin.
as we were walking closer to the bridge i spotted these little guys and was reminded of wiesbaden's local curiousity bird, the ring-necked parakeet. should austin also have such a curiousity bird? turns out that texas actually as a whole experiences these birds pretty frequently, especially in bigger cities like houston and in the galveston bay area. so, who's this special bird that originally stems from argentina? it's a monk parakeet! and these parakeets are actually on a 'i want to rule the world' quest as they have been found all over the globe already. apparently they like living in cities where they can use their opportunistic ways of life to thrive and adapt well. just like the ring-necked parakeet in wiesbaden.
we actually wanted to stay as long as it would take the sun to go down, to witness the night flight of the bats. as the sun set more and more, the bright texan sun turned the city into a golden spectacle eventually ending up in a most peculiar and memorable twilight hour.
many boats, canoes and little ships were out and about to enjoy the calm waters of the colorado river, probably some also preparing for the bat show.
downtown austin's skyline got lit up wonderfully by the evening sun!
block 185 especially turned a little transparent with the right kind of lighting.
i just adored the view over the river 😍 i think this was the moment when i completely fell in love with the beauty of austin! here's also some more skyscraper info ( from left to right ): van zandt hotel, the shore condominiums, 70 rainey, skyhouse appartments (2013), milago condos in the front ( 2006 ), natiivo directly behind milago ( 2021 ), windsor on the lake ( 2008 ) with 44th east avenue tower ( 2022 ) right behind it.
( yes, i couldn't get enough of this view and could not decide which image i liked best, so all of them stay in this post 😜)
100 congress & the austonian looking pretty swell in the evening light.
people waiting for the sun to set - they come in flocks during that time of day to witness a special spectacle going on every night in the summer: the flight of the bats! these bats coming up every night are mexican free-tailed bats, and their population in austin is freaking huge, they say up to 1.5 million bats live in and around the congress avenue bridge. in winter they migrate to mexico until it is time to go back to their summer residence in austin. i was in awe to learn that all of these bats together eat 5000 to 14000 kilogram of insects each night! crazy numbers, right?
the bridge is also a great spot to just take in the gorgeous austin cityscape! and you'll understand why it is called city of the violet crown, as the sun is setting, the sky turns from a pastel light blue into a pastel violet, getting darker and more deeply purple until a nightly blue overtakes the horizon. and thrown into all of that you'll have that distinct peachy glow of the sun, until she disappears completely. it's definitely kind of feeling like a crown is subsiding down on your head.
i still often think about the magical experience of this particular sunset, waiting on the bats to fly. it evidently was hard to capture any bats, but seeing them rise suddenly in one big cloud and crawling out of their hiding holes in the bridge, was truly a sight to behold.
of course their needs to be bat art on this bridge!
people were gathering more and more around the bridge, with their private boats but also with official sightseeing cruises. the bats will fly exactly on the cusp of dusk, so in these pictures it definitely wasn't time for that yet 😅
i very much would have loved renting a boat for this, maybe on a future visit to austin this might be in the cards again! super romantic date idea for sure!
i loved the colours of the sky reflected in the waters of the river 😍
and that glow getting stronger and stronger!
just breathtaking!
the view down congress street. a wonder woman mural graces the wall of the line hotel. it was created by sandra chevrier & shepard fairey in 2020 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment which granted women the right to vote.
the bridge was quite populated by the time the bat flight took place. not easy to find a close watch spot when you're a bit late.
waiting and enjoying the night with this fine dude ❤
the absolutely gorgeous night skyline of austin completely blew me away 😍
and thus ended a wonderful exploration day in an absolute dream of a texan city - austin!
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