A Round Rock, a Clear Spring, and sniffin' around Austin

Layli's brother Dan and gentle-spirited wife Marie live in Round Rock, TX, where we've been staying. There is an actual original "round rock" from which the town is named. It's a large limestone rock platter connected to what looks like a pedestal, anchored into the ropy limestone beds strung out along the river. This rock feature came to be the guiding marker for the shallowest river crossing on the Chisholm Trail, where the pioneers had the best chance of making it across, especially in spring.

The water level height as measured against "round rock" determined your chances of crossing with all your horses, goods and passengers intact. And visible today, as Dan pointed out, are the permanent ruts pressed into the limestone beds a stones throw from I-35. They were pounded into the rock by the multitudes of the steel-rimmed wagon wheels of our early pioneers.

 So Round Rock, Texas is actually a town named for a river crossing, marked by a round rock... plain as day. Now that's getting down to the nitty gritty of the American experience!

With Dan and Marie, we continued south into the heart of Austin Texas through the scattering of SW neighborhood homes hidden among the expansive rolling hills of forests pitching up and down, topography you'd not associate with "flat" Texas.

As we neared the downtown skyline, we drove forward along Constitution right towards Austin's state capitol building, as it gradually loomed larger in our windshield. There's something special about the detail and massive grandeur of this icon, all saturated in a rich tan color, with a hint of red tint as the sun lowers. The downtown skyline juts forth from the horizons of its well-kept progressive parks.

My memories of Austin's capitol building flicker as the illuminated PBS backdrop skyline behind the skilled musicians appearing on "Austin City Limits" (All I needed was to spot at least one armadillo out in a grassy field, to complete the ambiance).

We were also captivated by the tree-lined Barton Springs, also deeply rooted in Austin's history. These huge and powerful aquifer-sourced clearwater springs feed huge rock-lined aquamarine pools of crystal clear waters that have entertained and cooled generations of water-loving Austin residents since the days of Thomas Edison.

 The Alamo...

And, Dan treated us to San Antonio's riverboat tour....


CONCLUSION?
One can lumber through Texas, seeing it only as one large horizontal obstacle delaying your journey to wherever you thought you wanted to go, (as many do), OR you can set aside a few more days, talk to some locals, and let a little Texas get in your blood. It'll do you some good...maybe get you a little more grounded to your pioneer heritage. Thank you, Dan & Marie! We "GET" Texas now. You were just letting us figure it out for ourselves, right??

Yup, we were able to dig a little deeper into this part of the Lone Star State with the help of our friends, and consequently, this July 4th," we got a little Texas under our fingernails, and it felt good.