Deodapper
Austin: Capitol, Bats, Lady Bird Lake
Austin, Texas, US · 6 stops · 25.4 mi (41 km) · about 59 min driving · 15 spoken stories
Start at the airport and head downtown to see Austin's icons: the bat colony under Congress Avenue Bridge, the boardwalk along Lady Bird Lake, vintage South Congress, and the pink-granite Capitol. About an hour of driving through the heart of the city.
Photo: LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
From Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) to Texas State Capitol
The stops
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1
South Congress
lunchSouth Congress is a neighborhood located on South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas known as a shopping and cultural district with many eclectic small retailers, restaurants, music and art venues and, more recently, food trucks.
“Welcome to South Congress, or SoCo as everybody here calls it.”
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2
Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail
Lady Bird Lake is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pond for a new city power plant. The lake, which has a surface area of 416 acres (168 ha), is now used primarily for recreation and flood control.
“This is the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, named for a former Austin mayor and his wife and their part in the nineteen seventies beautification effort.”
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3
Congress Avenue Bridge
The Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge crosses over Lady Bird Lake in Austin, Texas. Before construction of the Longhorn Dam was completed in 1960, the bridge crossed the Colorado River from which Lady Bird Lake is impounded.
“Here it is, the Ann W.”
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4
Congress Avenue Historic District
Congress Avenue is a major thoroughfare in Austin, Texas. The street is a six-lane, tree lined avenue that cuts through the middle of the city from far south Austin and goes over Lady Bird Lake leading to the Texas State Capitol in the heart of Downtown.
“We are driving up the Congress Avenue Historic District now, the six lane, tree lined avenue that cuts through the middle of the city, crosses Lady Bird Lake, and runs straight to the Texas State Capitol.”
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5
UT Tower
The Main Building is a structure at the center of the University of Texas at Austin campus in Downtown Austin, Texas, United States. The Main Building's 307-foot (94 m) tower has 27 floors.
“That is the Main Building of the University of Texas at Austin, though everyone just calls it the Tower.”
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6
Texas State Capitol
The Texas State Capitol is the capitol and seat of government of the U.S. state of Texas. Located in downtown Austin, Texas, the structure houses the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and of the Governor of Texas. Designed in 1881 by architect Elijah E.
“And here is the anchor of the whole day, the Texas State Capitol, seat of government for the state and home to the offices and chambers of the Texas Legislature and the Governor of Texas.”
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