Thursday, August 16, 2007

The "ica" Building

Austin, Texas
August 10, 2007



This a picture of the famed "ica" building (also known as the Bank of America building run by people too lazy to fix the lights on their sign). I'm just saying...



Saturday, August 11, 2007

Inner Space Cavern

Georgetown, Texas
August 4, 2007

In 1963, the Texas Highway Department began testing the ground in Georgetown to build I-35. They started drilling holes to test the strength of the ground. This is when they discovered Inner Space Cavern. Naturally, they went ahead and built the highway right over the cavern.




You are not allowed to touch anything because it will stop the growth of the formations in the cave, but there is one place that they allow you to touch. We decided not to touch it because the child sized germ factory in front of us had something that sounded a lot like whooping cough or TB. Gross.




If you do touch anything, you turn into black and white statues from the 1960s.




You can buy furry hats in the gift shop. Nothing says "caverns" like a furry hat. But Sylwester does look really cute!




Our tour guide told us that this formation was a sumo wrestler eating ice cream. I can see the sumo wrestler, but can can she be sure that he is eating ice cream? And what flavor? I would have asked her, but when she offered to take questions she always cut off the kid with really good questions. It was kind of like going on a tour led by a hall monitor.




Here are a bunch of other picutres I took of the cavern.
















Thursday, August 09, 2007

So close, yet so far away

Georgetown, Texas
August 4, 2007

Cactus Pryor used to do these radio commercials for Gold's Department Store in Georgetown and one of it's selling points was that it was "just a conversation away." Back when those ads were running, there was actually pasture land between Austin and Georgetown. It was a nice drive. Now it is just bad traffic and strip malls. It isn't a conversation away anymore, just road rage and stress. Two cheers for progress. My friends were in town and wanted to go to Inner Space Cavern so I drove them up there. Once you get to Georgetown, it isn't a bad place even if you have to drive through Round Rock to get there from Austin.

Back in the day, Georgetown was covered in cow poop because The Chisholm Trail went through the heart of town.



I don't know what this building is, but I took a picture because I thought it was cool.



And because anytime I go to the county seat, I take pictures of the courthouse. Old habits die hard.






Friday, August 03, 2007

Is that right?

Waterloo Ice House
Austin, Texas
July 14, 2007

I've never been a new mother so I can neither verify nor dispute the truth of this statement. But either way, I thought it was a strange marketing ploy. You know, not everyone is a new mom. Does this mean that the non-new moms among us should be eating something else instead?




The Big Texan

Amarillo, Texas
March 30, 2005
(more phone photos)



The Big Texan is a steakhouse, a motel, and a horse hotel. And they have a gift shop too.


and a really big cows. You know how much I love fake animals!



This is a picture of the 72oz. steak. When you order this, you sit at a table on a stage in the middle of the restaurant. It comes with a baked potato, salad, dinner roll and shrimp cocktail. You have to pay the $72 up front, but if you can eat the whole thing in less than an hour, they refund your money and you get a T-shirt, a souvenir boot mug and a certificate.