Our trip began as a desire to see the bats in Austin. Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in the US and every night between March and October (about) some 1.5 million bats fly out from under the Congress Ave. Bridge. They emerge just after sundown and go out in search of food, consuming some 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of bugs per night. The narrow but deep openings in the bridge have created the perfect home for these bats, so people congregate on the bridge or under, to catch a glimpse of what can appear to be black smoke flowing along the river. Here is a glimpse, or two, that we caught.
During the planning of our trip we picked up a few family members. Vacation isn't complete without seeing some family that we don't get to see often enough.
We saw the Bourg parents.
We saw the Bourg cousins (Aunt and Uncle too!)
We saw the Theobald cousins. (How did I manage to not get more photos?!)
Much of the family time was spent by the pool. That was a-okay by me since Austin was HOT.
And in our typical Becker fashion, much of the trip was planned on the fly. We managed to squeeze in a fair amount of things.
The 23rd Street Artists' Market. (Not much to see because many vendors don't come out in the heat.)
And of course there were various trips to local eateries and stores. And we can't forget our adventure to the original Whole Foods Market (which, by the way, is too big and too busy for any actual shopping to get done).
We had a great time celebrating the 4th of July at our state's capital. I've made a mid-year resolution to celebrate the next 4th of July at our nation's capital. We'll just have to see how that one evolves.
