Keep Austin weird.

On the off-chance that the weather cleared up we went to get some photos of Austin. Our car would be ready for pick-up at midday, so we used the morning to head north and catch some of the tourist must-sees.

Just a few blocks from where we were staying was the Texas capitol building. And, as it happened, a bit of blue sky.

Pretty.

Over the hill - actually a quick deviation, despite everything being bigger in Texas, the hills are not. They are wide, but not tall or steep. Anyway.

Over the hill was the University of Texas. We had a stroll to/through the campus. It is dominated by the stadium, home of the Texas Longhorns.

Team colour - baby-pooh brown.

Another $1 each and we were heading out to the airport to get our car. It came with a GPS unit and we plugged in a street in South Congress and she decided to take us into the back streets of Austin down a series of dirt roads in the opposite direction to where we wanted to be.

A few more false starts and we were on our way to SoCo where we wanted to find lunch. The first thing which took our fancy was Guero's Taco Bar and, five minutes later, they had a table for us and, ten minutes after that, some tamales and some tacos.

We had a pretty good time.

We did not feel like we had eaten a lot of food but it hit the stomach like a rock. With this weight of Mexican food lying inside we had to go for a walk along South Congress. A day before, the gentleman at the tourist center had told us that SoCo was the what people referred to when they said 'keep Austin weird.' It was an entertaining walk.

I have a lot more photos of signs.

Before we set out we made an agreement; if we walked the whole of South Congress, we got a cupcake from the trailer we passed on our way down.

You would stop too.

We got six. They sold a sampler pack with a miniature version of every type of cupcake. 'Great for indecisive people,' the cupcake guy told us.

With our tiny cupcakes in hand we dropped our car back at the hotel for the night.

We would soon learn that in Texas, this was a very small car.

There was still plenty of time left in the afternoon. We went running along the Colorado (in the opposite direction to the previous day) in the hope there would be some nice photo opportunities. It stayed overcast but otherwise it was perfect weather for running. And there were a lot of bridges to cross (and take photos from).

Even in the middle of the day the water was so still.

The path along the river was great for running - flat and straight, wide enough to let people pass so everyone could go at their own pace. We crossed to run on both sides.

Back toward downtown.

The run served another purpose; we wanted to have dinner on sixth before we left. Running had added an edge to our appetite and we set off for the hotel to get ready.

'Twinkle twinkle lonestar.' Ah, corporate art.

The "Gotham Building," as Ali called it, had been a feature of our trip and we needed a photo before we went.

Every city has one.

Dinner was at the Chupacabra Cantina where we had great jalapeño poppers (stuffed with pulled pork!) and the best beer I have had this trip.

Yeah they were fried.

Outside we took our last walk through down-town in Austin. A cool town, easy to chill out, a great way to relax for a few days. We packed before we went to bed so we could get away early and take our time driving to Louisiana.

Lights along the street