Back At Work After A Great Trip To Austin

I has a wonderful mini-vacation in Austin, Texas over the Memorial Day weekend. It was fun playing tourist in a new place and learning a lot about Texas history. Below are some of the pictures I took that actually came out...

If you are ever in Austin, this building is a must! It is 3 stories of Texas history and quite intriguing! I knew very little about Texas history before this trip and could only retain a small portion of what I saw. My tour guide is quite a history buff, so that made it even more interesting to listen to his comments along with seeing and reading the exhibits.

This is a poor representation of a beautiful floor in the main lobby. I was so enthralled with everything, I forgot to take more pictures!

On the way from the museum to the state capitol, we passed the Diocese of Austin building...

and this statue... It is hard to see, but besides the book he is also holding a set of keys in his lower hand. Guess who!?!

Approaching the state capitol which my tour guide explained is actually larger than our capitol building in Washington DC.

My great tour guide/history buff

It is amusing to see these two portraits next to each other!



I was surprised to see the legislative session in gear on a Saturday of a holiday weekend!

This picture was taken at a wonderful Bistro that served German, Hungarian, etc. foods. It was scrumptious! I had something called Jaegerschnitzel, a cucumber salad, and fresh baked apple strudel. Yummy! Here my hosts, the Young brothers, are getting ready to enjoy their meal. Bryan, on the right, also fixed some great food at his home. We had steak at one meal, Brautwurst with a mustard and onion sauce at another, and on my first night there, Bryan took me to a great Mexican restaurant where I had the best chili rellenos I have ever had!

One of the highlights of my trip was to view the emergence at sundown of the largest urban bat population that happens to reside under a bridge in Austin. This picture was taken prior to the bats leaving the bridge. I don't know what these kayakers were thinking, but at least they had the good sense to be wearing jackets and hats!

It was hard to get a picture of the bats, but here you can see some of them. Once they start coming out they just keep coming! They stick together in a long snaking "flock" and then another, etc.

The low clouds in the night sky here are actually clouds of the bats... and at the same time, more bats are still coming out from under the bridge! It is quite a sight.

So now I am back at work. I am behind, but rejuvenated. It is crunch time to get the new accounting program that has just been installed in my new computer up and running and finish the budget. I am getting it done, but it will be close! I have never been this late with the budget before, but I will have it ready shortly in both formats... the old system and the new!