ok, for those of you that got that, it is way funny. 

I must admit that I liked Austin more than I really thought I would.  What surprised me was how much more Austin was than just a “college town”, although many of the 60,000 or so students that descend on Austin every August had begun to arrive while we were there.  And I can’t lie, I do think there are more bars in a one mile radius than there are in New Orleans.  However 20,000 more drinking age customers do provide an incentive some find attractive.

OK, enough of that. 

Did you know 1.5 million bats who live under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin go on nightly flights at dusk to consume about 20,000 - 30,000 bugs?  We went to see them fly, however there has been double the rain in Austin in the last months which has seriously confused those poor bats.  They still fly, however they fly much later, making seeing them a little more difficult.  Especially if you went to one of those bars I mentioned before heading out to the bridge… 

Did you know that Austin has an oasis in the desert, Barton Springs?  After a couple of days in Austin (in August, in the heat) my lovely bride and I decided we needed to find somewhere to go swimming, and the nice folks at the Driskill told us about this “for pay” swimming pool, but more importantly, a great place right next to the pool where you could climb in the springs themselves, swim around, ride the currents, play with your dog, and generally enjoy all the kids splashing around to keep cool.  That is Barton Springs.  Honestly, one of the coolest places I have been in a while.

Did you know the Driskill Hotel in Austin is haunted?  Well, we didn’t.  The story goes that a bride was left at the alter at a wedding at the Driskill, and afterwards went to a room on the fourth floor and killed herself.  Luckily we were on the fifth floor.

Did you know that Austin is the only city in the country that still uses a 100 year old technology, a Moonlight Tower? In 1894 Austin purchased 31 used lighting towers from Detroit, common in US cities to illuminate urban areas in place of streetlights. A single tower cast a bright light from its carbon lamps, illuminating a circle nearly a mile wide. The towers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Did you know that the “Real World” house was a grocery store and is now a Mexican Restaurant?  Not sure what that means, but it’s my blog and I thought it was interesting.  Ah, the power of the pen.