[Elspode]

My training ended at 2:30 today, so I went to downtown Austin and played tourist. The Texas state capitol building is quite impressive, despite the numerous pictures of Dubya scattered about its premises.

Downtown Austin is rife with panhandling homeless, raving lunatics, drug addicts and other unfortunates. I feel for them, but it really kind of takes the nice edge off of a pleasant stroll when you are being accosted for spare change or given the loony look by some guy who is either spewing God's word or has just finished calling a Texas Ranger a motherfucker.

Lots of amazing places to eat here, many kitschy stores and whatnot. I think it would be a fun place to spend more than an afternoon, but since I didn't think I was even gonna get that much out this trip, I'm grateful for the day I had. My sole major disappointment is that the bats have gone south for the winter, so my trip to the Congress Avenue bridge at sunset was fruitless. Pics in the Images section...