AUSTIN & SAN ANTONIO

Austin marks the eastern edge of the Hill Country and San Antonio is on the southern edge. We stayed in both cities for a number of days and being only 81 miles apart this is how we see the two from our short stay.

We stayed within the city limits of both with the ease of getting around a plus in San Antonio even though we had a car in Austin where the traffic was more congested. San Antonio metropolitan area has 300 thousand more people but they are spread out a little more, were within the city limits there is 137 more sq. miles.

Austin also has another city in it "The University of Texas" with over 35,000 students plus 12,000 employs and it's own bus service because the campis is so spread out. {a side note from our tour guide was that he couldn't believe U. of T. would allow anyone else to have a larger football stadium "it only holds 100,119" and he thought they would definitely do something about that} You know things are always bigger in Texas!....this was brought up after he found out we were from Ohio and The Big Ten...HA..HA.

Austin is the capital of Texas along with a lot of political and historical museums that track not only the history of Texas but much of the south west.

Austin is also known as the live music capital of the world hosting many large festivals, and there are dozens of small venues that offer live entertainment nightly.

Where as while we were in San Antonio we felt we were sometimes living back in history. Going to the missions and other old structures was more laid back, and not as fast pased.

It also made a difference to be on a short bus route to down town that went through a couple of neighborhoods.

The River Walk which they are expanding is one, if not our favorite part of San Antonio and at this time of year....it's just beautiful with all the lights

As we left Texas with a promise to return we reflect on the beauty of the Hill Country and the hospitality of native, long time and Winter Texans in general.

....and another thing about Texans...they seem more proud of there state than people in other states we have been to on our travels. You can't drive, ride, walk or even sit any were without seeing a Texas Flag.

Maybe everything in Texas isn't bigger...but their heart sure is big!

SanTony