Austin, TX to Fort Hood

I arrived in Austin just about lunch time. I parked the car on South Capitol street, on the opposite side of Lady Bird Lake. I had lunch at a place called Doc's. Monday they had a $5 burger special, I had to stop. Wanting to try something a little different I had a green chili burger. It was a little different, but good. After lunch my plan was to walk down the hill towards the capitol building. Once I got to the capitol I decided to go inside and walk around. The capitol building in Austin is very beautiful. They also have a lovely park surrounding it. I even took a few pictures of the church that my moms friend was married in. After the capitol I needed to walk down sixth street. To see all of the bars and where the 'happening' spots are in Austin. It was a little underwhelming seeing sixth street during the day, but I am sure that it lights up in the evenings. I have heard good things at least. I continued to take photos on my stroll back up the hill towards the car. Austin is a beautiful city, unique in a lot of ways I see myself coming back for a linger period of time maybe for a country music festival. There were quite a few cranes in the sky so it looks like Austin is growing, but i hope it doesn't loose its small town feel.

On my long walk back up the hill I stopped and walked a little ways down the river. There are trails on either side, great paths for walking/running or riding your bike. A unique fact is that the bridge during the late spring and summer months is home to the largest bat population in North America.

After Austin I continued north. I had been working at CGI for the last two and a half years during this time we had opened an office in Belton, TX. All we heard about for a long time. I decided to make a stop. This proved to be more difficult than I expected. Neither the road nor the office park in which the office was located came up on google maps. How was anyone supposed to find this place? The plan that night was to stay with an old coworker who used to work in our Fairfax office, but left about a year and a half ago, married an Army man and moved to Fort Hood, TX. She currently works at the Belton, TX office so she gave me some nearby streets that would come up on Google maps so that I could find the office. The office was underwhelming, a nice building, but nothing special. I am certainly glad I do not work there:).

Next stop was Fort Hood. I believe it is the largest US army base in the world. Staying on an army base was  a first for me. It was quite a process to get in. I had to get a visitor pass, show proof of insurance, registration and my drivers licence. I was expecting as much, they can't just let anyone in right? The Fort Hood base looks alright. It is quite large, clean and organized as you would expect, but boring as anything, barely saw a sole outside. Not sure I could survive, but I am sure everyone that lives on base develops a close network of friends to make it more bearable. A unique thing about living on base, all the houses have a sign with the last name of the family living there. You cannot mistake the house, not sure why they have house numbers as well...It was great to catch up/see my old coworker again and meet her husband. They look like they are doing great! I am sure it was hard to get used to living on base, but they are making the most of it. They have an eight month old golden retriever and a cat to keep them plenty busy.

We all went out for dinner at a great BBQ place that night just off base. I of course ate way too much and spend the rest of the evening digesting sideways:) Another early night, wake up was at 5 something for the army guys. I stayed up for a little longer, but knew sleep was going to be important as I was to have some busy travel days coming up!