From Fredericksburg we headed into the Texas Hill Country and made our way to the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area for a bit of morning exercise on our way to Austin.

Breath-taking, awesome, intriguing and beautiful - words alone cannot adequately describe this area with its massive dome of pink granite. Our exercise - to climb to the top of the pink dome! - a fascinating trek to start the day! and what an incredible view of the Texas Hill Country we got from the summit! Native American lore swirls around Enchanted Rock, which led to its name in the 1800's. Think there must be a vortex at the top (like the rocks in Sedona) because people claim they are much calmer once they've climbed the rock! Guess that is why it's named "enchanted" rock.  Pete said he felt more "enchanted" coming down than going up! lol He worked out a very clever way to scale the sheer face as we went up - he tacked his way up so he "sailed" up there - no problems!!

With our invigorating exercise done for the day we headed to Austin via Johnson City - home of Lyndon B Johnson, 65th President of the USA. Austin is the Capital City of Texas and home to the Capitol, their very impressive government building. As you drive up Congress Street, the main thorough fare in Austin, the Capitol and the other interesting city buildings stand majestically before you.

From Austin we headed to San Antonio ready for another educational day tomorrow - learn more about The Alamo!

The Texas Hill Country

The human ants scaling Enchanted Rock

Click to enlarge

We head up the rock

Looking out towards the road to Austin

Looking out over the Hills

A limestone quarry - a lot of the homes in the area are built out of the local white stone.

A natural water hole in the limestone rocks

Pete contemplating! or is he enchanted?

The beautiful pink granite. 

A rock climbers heaven

We got to see a few of the wildflowers.

The impressive city skyline of Austin

The Capitol as we approached it down Congress Street.

Lovely architecture!

The Capitol.
Bigger than the Capitol building in Washington.- 
it's the Texan way of doing things!

The beautiful grounds and gardens

The dome from inside the building.

The House of Representatives.

The Senate.

L.B.J 

The mosaic in the central atrium of the Capitol.

Sam Austin who the city was named after.

David Crockett and his involvement in the Alamo.
Click to enlarge

Painting of Davy Crockett stands proud in the foyer of the Capitol.

Memorial to all who fell at the Alamo -
all perished.

One of the Memorial Stones  on the monument.