Texas 2009 - Day 4 - Waco & Austin

On our 4th day, we packed up and left Dallas and hit the road again. Our first stop that day was Waco, TX, where the Waco Massacre occurred. Believe it or not, the Branch Davidian Compound still exists and is still in the same place (out in the middle of nowhere). We stopped by to take some pictures and then get out of there as fast as possible. Haha.

Also in Waco was the Dr. Pepper museum. Did you know that a Dr. Pepper used to be called a "Waco"? So next time you order one, just ask for a Waco and see what happens. The museum was really interesting, and they had a cafe where you could order sodas and ice cream. They made the sodas from scratch, probably like they did in drug stores back in the day. First they put ice in the cup, then some syrup, then add water, and then carbonation. It was pretty cool to see.

After the museum, we had lunch. Four of us went to Cheddars (LOVE THAT PLACE) and the rest went to Golden Corral. The latter four did not know what they were missing. We got back on the road and made our way to Round Rock, which is just north of Austin. We have cousins that live in Round Rock, so we went to visit them. We hung out at their house for a while, then made our way to the Congress Street Bridge to watch the bats. We got there a bit early, so we took a walk along the river/lake (it's apparently the Colorado River, but they call it Town Lake?). We walked up to where the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue is, took a picture for my friend Steve, and then walked back.

So let me tell you a little about the bats. The Congress Street Bridge in Austin is home to the largest urban bat colony in North America, which consists of about 1.5 Million Mexican Free-tail bats. Something about the way the bridge was built was attractive to the bats, so they made it their home. Every night between March & November, the bats fly out for food. It's a pretty cool thing to see.

Austin, by the way, is a gorgeous city. We didn't get to see much of it, as our time there was quite limited, but what we saw was beautiful.

We went to dinner that night at a Tex-Mex restaurant called Chuy's. There were 11 of us total, and we had a great time. It was nice to spend time with Cindy, Jamie & Jordan since we don't get to see them very often.