LBJ, the Capitol, and Hamilton Pool Reserve

We rolled into Starbucks around 10am and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast while thinking about our plans today. We decided to head over the the University of Texas at Austin campus to check out our first Presidential Library. We’ve never been to one and now that we have, there’s a high chance we will check out another. The Lyndon B Johnson Library was a cool way to spend a few hours. The admission was decent and there was a bonus exhibit on MoTown. Win-win for us!

There were a lot of cool artifacts and reels on how MoTown changed music for African Americans. Having a record label that was created and owned by another African America led to a lot more music being produced by African American artists. It was a cool addition to the museum all about LBJ - partially because he was the president who signed the Civil Rights Act in 1968.

Who knew that JBJ was a teacher before he became a politician? That was news to me. There is of course a lot of conspiracy theories about how he became president after Kennedy, but aside from whether that’s true or not, he started programs like Head Start Preschool, Medi-care, Medi-caid, and he made Thanksgiving a national holiday. That was an odd fact we learned today. I love learning! And I love that the family doesn’t mind historical stuff when we are on vacation.

This was a T-shirt praising LBJ’s accomplishments. I wasn’t alive for his presidency but I’ve heard mixed reviews. The Vietnam War (actually a Police Action) surely shrouded his presidency.

Best we checked out the State Capitol building because Austin IS the capital of this state. It was a beautiful building and there was of course some cool history to learn inside. Did you know that there was a Governor named James Ferguson who was impeached and then two years later his WIFE was elected. And four years later (they serve two year terms), so was RE-ELECTED! Texas has a FEMALE Governor from 1927-29 and 1933-35. Do you know when California had a female governor? NEVER. Yup, it’s hard to ever say that Texas is progressive, but on this, apparently they have us beat. And Miriam Ferguson wasn’t the only female governor. Texas elected another woman in 1991 named Ann Richards. It kinda makes we sad that California hasn’t done this yet...

The building had some lovely architecture and these two smarties standing in front. One super cool thing I caught more of was the door hinges. Check these out!

Pretty amazing if you ask me. After the library and Capitol, we drove around town a bit and came across a few churches on our way to our next destination. Churches in Texas are clearly trying to get viral attention on Facebook. You know, those funny billboards that you see online and think, “Dang, my church isn’t that funny.” Well, there are a lot of funny churches here. While we couldn’t snap photos fast enough, I do recall a few we’ve seen. 

“God accepts Kneemail”

“Go, Jesus! It’s Your Birthday!”

“Yes! We are open between Christmas and Easter!”

And so it’s pretty clear that Texas is winning the church humor contest. 👏

We found lunch at The Cheesecake Factory which is a family favorite for us. We stuffed ourselves knowing that we were eating a late lunch and thus no dinner. I’ll spare you all the food photos. They exist, but there’s no need to make you jealous of that juicy ribeye and shrimp linguine.

After stuffing ourselves, I convinced the family to drive outside of Austin and find this super cool water cave hole thingy. It’s on EVERY top ten things to do list in Austin. Check out the photos I saw online 👇

So, yeah. This was THE destination of the afternoon. So we drove the 40 miles to get there, and there were no reservations taken today, so it was first come first served. And... the “wait line” was closed. Ugh. We got to see some hills and mountains of sorts on the drive, and a few people napped. So all was not lost, but I’m super bummed I didn’t get to see the place in person. I guess we should leave things to do for next time, right?

We decided to check out the Lady Bird river walk which is lovely. Coming from Sac, Lady Bird has a different meaning to us now that we have a famous movie set in Sacramento by the same name - but Lady Bird was LBJ’s wife and this beautiful river walk is a popular way to stroll, bike,  run, scooter, or jog around the river that runs through downtown Austin. Beautiful views of the city skyline and a gorgeous day.

Oh yeah, and we saw a couple getting married!!! On a Monday afternoon no less. How sweet!

And we saw this cool amphibian tour. Some of our crew gets seasick so we watched from afar. 

We ended the night a movie recommended by the tour guide at the Capitol all about the female Texan Governor. The Highwaymen is on Netflix and is about the female Texas governor Miriam Ferguson, her corruption, and her hunt for Bonnie and Clyde after they do some damage in Texas. The movie was historically accurate and started Woody Harrelson and Kevin Costner. It was really good! Even the girls enjoyed it. Go check it out!