Many years ago, I used to visit a friend in Austin and I also went there a few times in the 90's for work. First impression upon arriving in mid-June from Colorado: Wow, it is hot as a furnace here, and I even used to live in a place with temperatures like this. Not sure I could take it anymore.
The second observation was how big the city has become. I had no idea it is the #11 largest USA city now, larger than San Francisco, Denver, or Boston (proper). Some of these skyscrapers are new since I've been here last, and the skyline is dotted with cranes building new ones:
Texas State Capitol Building, made from red granite quarried from nearby Marble Falls:
I tried but didn't get to see the bats on their nightly evening launch from Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge:
Lady Bird Lake on a sweltering day, with the construction in the background:
My father's side of the family was from Bosque County, Texas which is about 30 miles west of Waco. I remember going to visit there in summers, and since I haven't been back in probably 30 years, I took a side trip there in June from Austin.
Downtown Clifton, Texas, aka The Norwegian Capital of Texas, named for the sizable community that emigrated here from Norway in the 1800s to early 1900s. It seems quieter here than I remember. The cafe that used to be on the ground floor of the brick building below is long gone. It was the hub of town and always crowded during lunch time.
The Norwegian flag flies downtown.
The Cliftex Movie Theater, claimed to be the longest running theater in Texas.
Fifteen miles from Clifton is the former town of Norse, Texas which used to have its own post office. Today, the area is an historic district, including Our Savior's Lutheran Church, which is still active:
A limestone rock fence surrounding the church cemetery. Some of the immigrant Norwegians were stone workers by trade and they used their skills to quarry limestone and build their houses and structures with it.
Downtown of the neighboring town of Valley Mills also appears much quieter than I remember it. My grandmother used to take me shopping with her at this grocery store:
Searsville Baptist Church, outside of Valley Mills.
And finally, the amazing gothic-style Bosque County courthouse, also built out of limestone, in the small county seat of Meridian (population ~1000).
Work trip to Manchester, UK and then to Dublin. It's the second year I've been to Manchester, and construction seems to be booming as the city continues its transition from its heavy industrial past.
Mix of old and new in the Deansgate area:
City Hall:
Obligatory double-decker bus picture:
An former estate in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury, now converted to an office building:
The pubs here have some unique names (and colors):
One of the canals running through town:
European Beech trees (Fagus Sylvatigus) in a Didsbury botanical park:
I was glad to be invited to a recital where old-time English folk music was played, accompanied by Morris Dancers. It was six years ago that I found Morris Dancers in downtown Longmont.
On to Dublin for a few days.
The pink flags along the River Liffey were there for the Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy) cycling race which started in Ireland this year and was set to come through Dublin a week after I left:
Everything is green in Ireland, even in early Spring. A visit to Merrion Park shows the famous statue of Oscar Wilde:
It was election time and every street corner was plastered with "vote for me" signs, and some of the buildings too:
I definitely didn't spend enough time in Dublin and Ireland, and need to return someday!
I've been fortunate in the past few years to be able to travel more, sometimes for work. So far, I've been randomly interleaving reports and photos from far away places in my normal Longmont, Colorado around-town commentary but I think this confuses readers that land there so I'm going to separate things.
I know that there are much more modern ways to log travel reports than this plain-old-blog format from the mid-2000's, with many of the new sites offering built-in maps, reviews, GPS-tagging, and cross-referencing to others that have logged travel in the same area. These are too structured for me. And there is the facebook monster but I find things get lost in there among the noise as time goes on, and it's a lot more difficult for FB outsiders to find your material. Then there are the photo dump sites like flickr or photobucket but I miss reading a narrative when I'm looking at other folks' pictures in these, and I've noticed a tendency for authors to just to shovel in a load of images for a given event, condemning readers to sifting through all those thumbnails or slide shows. So I'll stick with this platform and post my pictures here, with the primary goal being a purely selfish one of being able to conveniently peek at them, perhaps on cold winter days or when I'm daydreaming. But I'm always interested in feedback from others too, so comments are welcome.
Bon Voyage.
