Road Trip 2008: Day 15 of 17 (Austin\Arlington)

Doors to the Austin City Limits set

Austin City Limits stage

Various artists that have performed on Austin City Limits over the years

Texas State Capitol in Austin

Interesting facts on Confederate Memorial located on Capitol grounds

Symphony performing in Capitol rotunda

Nice view from Capitol downhill towards the city

Riding the "Dillo" around Austin

Round Rock Donuts - yummy!

Inducing a carnivore's coma at Louie Mueller's BBQ in Taylor

The photo for this poster of Stevie Ray Vaughan and his brother were taken in the spot where the poster hangs

Gotta love the no-frills menu

Not very enticing from the outside - we were very disappointed to see the white sign on the door saying they had run out of food for the day

Dr Pepper Museum in Waco

Rangers game in Arlington

Friday June 6

We enjoyed a nice breakfast at the Marriott Residence Inn in Austin before hustling to check out and make it to the 10:30 tour of the "Austin City Limits" studio on the University of Texas campus. Amazingly, we found parking and located the studio quickly enough so that we were only a few minutes late. They only give tours on Friday mornings so we were lucky that we happened to be in town on Friday.

We all really enjoyed the tour. There were about 15 or so other people taking the tour. We watched a short video about the show and then did a question and answer session with our host where we learned about things like how the acts are chosen, how to get tickets, and what stars are nice and not so nice. Our host then showed us around the room where they had pictures of a lot of the artists that have performed on the show. There are two pictures of Willie Nelson - one from the first time he performed and one from the last - a neat contrast.

After the Austin City Limits tour, we took the free "Dillo" trolley to the Capitol, an impressive structure that sits atop a hill overlooking the city. I heard that there's a law that forbids any building from obstructing the view of the Capitol. It's neat how you see the Capitol from a long distance as you travel on the main street approaching the Capitol. The grounds are impressive as well with beautiful landscaping and numerous memorial statues and structures including many related to people and places we had previously learned about on our trip.

Inside the Capitol there was a symphonic group performing in the expansive rotunda. We enjoyed the music and the beautiful architecture as we toured the building including the house and senate chambers.

After the Capitol we hopped back on the Dillo in search of Zilker Park, which is supposed to be a beautiful city park. We took a couple different trolleys before figuring out, after talking to a nice co-ed, that you can't get to the park directly from the Dillo. We would have had to walk a mile or so - we passed. It was still fun seeing the city on the Dillo and meeting some nice people. We talked to a very nice lady who echoed the feeling we got about the city - that Austin was growing too fast. There were construction cranes everywhere and there were bumper stickers that said "Welcome to Austin - now leave". It seems that all the good things about Austin have attracted a lot of people - inflating prices and congestion and jeopardizing all the things that attracted people to Austin in the first place. But, overall, we really liked Austin.

As usual, we got out of town later than we had planned. We headed towards Dallas and thought it was only a couple hours away. It was closer to 4 hours.

We stopped just outside of Austin in Round Rock at the famous Round Rock Donuts. We noticed a line of cars at the drive thru so we headed inside only to be stopped when the drive thru worker told us that the inside closes at 3 pm. We wanted to get a look at the inside to get a feel for the place, but we reluctantly settled for the drive thru line. We eventually got our donuts and they were impressive. They could have been more fresh and we thought the donuts from the Blanco Bowling Club Cafe were better, but they were still very good.

After donuts, we were really looking forward to Louie Mueller's in Taylor about 30 minutes east. We pulled into Taylor and the town looked pretty run down. We initially drove by Louie Mueller's after mistaking it for all the other vacant run down looking buildings in the town. We finally found it only to see that there was a note posted on the door saying that they had run out of food for the day. It's kind of neat that a place would prepare a bunch of food and once it's gone - it's gone. Nevertheless, we were downright dejected. Before our trip we fantasized about all the succulent brisket and barbecue we would eat in Texas, but somehow our schedule and other logistics had conspired to keep us from our desires. Here we were at the door of the barbecue mecca only to be denied.

Just as we were about to leave another car pulled up and some people went inside. I followed and was met by a worker named Lance who seemed to be in charge. He was super nice. I told him about our road trip and how we had read about the place in RoadFood.com. He informed me that the people that had just come in were long time customers and had called ahead to reserve the last of the food. But, taking pity on us, he held back a couple pounds of brisket from the other customers and set us up with some other sides, as well. What a great experience - the brisket was awesome, the people were great, and the atmosphere was perfect! We all just ate and hummed in a meat induced coma sort of way as we gave each other looks that said it all - this is the best!

We stopped in Waco on the way to Dallas and drove around Baylor University. It was a nice and tidy campus, but not much going on. Then we drove to the Dr Pepper Museum as Waco is where Dr Pepper was created in 1885. Dr Pepper is my favorite soft drink and, during our trip, became Derek's favorite also. The boys used to balk at my Dr Pepper (preferring Sprite instead), but during our trip Derek became a Dr Pepper fanatic. I think it started at the crawfish boil in Pierre Part when one of the older kids was drinking Dr Pepper.

I knew the Texas Rangers baseball team was playing a home game and we wanted to see a game, but we didn't get into the Dallas area until after 9. We still decided to head towards Arlington, which is where the Rangers play, just to check it out. Arlington is west of Dallas, but considered a suburb along with Irving, which is where the Cowboys stadium is located.

As we approached the stadium we saw the lights were still on so we decided to go in. We bought some cheap tickets and arrived in the 8th inning. The visiting Devil Rays were leading 3-1. We grabbed some snacks and watched as the hits started coming and by the time the game was over an hour or so later the score was 12-3 Devil Rays. Derek and Adam thought it was cool that Derek's little league team was the Devil Rays also. We ate lots of junk and had a good time.

The Rangers Ballpark in Arlington is newer, like the Braves Turner Field, but not as open as Turner Field where there are open breeze ways giving you a view of the field and a "breeze" as you walk around the stadium. Still a nice park.

The new Cowboys stadium is going up next to the Rangers stadium. It's very impressive. We drove by the current Cowboy stadium in Irving the next day and saw why they are building a new stadium. The one in Irving looks terrible. It looks great on TV from the inside, but looks rusty and dilapidated from the outside.

We tried a couple of hotels nearby, but heard that everything was sold out in the area. Six Flags over Texas is also next to the stadium, so I guess all the nearby attractions were causing a run on hotel rooms. We drove north and then east towards Dallas and picked a Drury Inn based on the Drury Plaza hotel we stayed at in San Antonio. It was OK, but not the Plaza.