Austin, Texas

We have lived in Texas now for 2 1/2 years and have only driven through Austin a few times. Needless to say, it was time to check it out. Austin is totally different than the rest of the state - it has hills. :) Actually, it's a lot like Portland, very green, tree hugging wierdos, tons of organized outside activities, lots of different bodies of water, etc.
We brought Maddie & Rylee's great friends along, Megan and Emily Sonneborn.
Our first stop was the Congress street bridge which has the largest bat colony in North America lurking underneath. Supposedly, if you are there between 8:30-9:30pm, you will see hundreds of bats leaving for their nighttime activities. We tried to get a picture of the lone bat we saw, but it was too dark, hmm. Must be some kind of tourist marketing ploy :}
We had an awesome time at the state capitol; seriously. The girls were very entertained by the enormous stars everywhere, and were excited to go to Govenor Perrys office and tell him what they thought about the TAKS (a state issued test no kid likes) test! We didn't get to see Govenor Perry, but they did make him aware of their displeasure in his guestbook. We spent the next day at the movie theater and holed up in the hotel (swimming, pillow fights and the like!) because of torrential rains.
We had a wonderful time and thank the Sonneborns for letting their girls come along.