Elise's Birthday Weekend Part III (Austin + Hamilton Pool)

This isn't the most representative shot of Texan buildings

So we get to Austin!  Austin follows the same colour-coding trend that I'm noticing with most of Texas. Most buildings in Houston, San Antonio and Austin are sort of a pinky-beige colour with red accents.  This is in contrast to Vancouver, where buildings follow a blue and green theme.

Upon arrival, we split into two groups based on interest.  My group went to go tour the capitol building, while the others went to check out a music shop.

The Texan State Capitol dates back to the 1880's

Confederate soldiers monument

Monument to fallen volunteer fire fighters

There are really nice gardens on the building grounds

The capitol is crowed with a statue of the Goddess of Liberty, holding a 5 point star.

Is there much more Texan than wearing a Texas flag shirt, that was bought at the Alamo, in front of the Texas State Capitol?  I think not.

We were happy to see that entry was free.  I was surprised that we had mostly free-run of the place after passing though security.  It was self-guided, and while certain areas were roped off, there weren't any guards around.

The doorways are all intricately carved

Even the door hinges are decorative

Mosaics are made in the floor tiles

Each of these seals represent one of the six nations that have governed Texas

Portraits of passed governors circled the main foyer. 

Looking up at the interior of the dome

Each floor branched outwards to galleries and offices

Stephen F. Austin is known as the "Father of Texas", leading the colonization into the region

Sam Houston lead the victory of the Texan Revolution, and was elected President of the Republic of Texas twice

After leaving the capitol, we met up with the others and went for dinner.  This time I was spared a mariachi band.   We parted with those who were only doing a day trip, and checked in to our youth hostel.  It felt like a normal youth hostel to me, albeit a little small and the weird Adventure Time-style drawings all over the walls.  I lament not having any pictures of those.  There was a painting of two 6ft tall cartoon men whose beads were merging together into a heart beside my bed, across from a purple princess with a glowing crystal.  In the restroom there was a plethora of cartoons, including a kid's balloon who was jealous of an older hot air balloon.  Weird.

We hit up 6th Street in the evening before retiring for the night.  We found a decent, but loud, place called Darwin's where we listened to a live band.  I'm not quite sure what you'd call the genre, but I would qualify it as an American rock-country style.

The next day we swimming in the Hamilton Pool Preserve.  It was gorgeous there.  There were ferns growing out of the top of the overhang, and many swallows were nesting up there.

Water falls over the edge (15m) into the pool

The rock here is limestone, like at McKinney Falls.   The pool was created when an underground river collapsed.

Ferns grow wherever there is adequate moisture.

Silhouette of Tim

And such concludes Elise's birthday weekend!  It was a pleasure.  Thank you to everyone who came out with us to make it special!

Cheers

Elise's Birthday Weekend! Interlude (Texas Billboards)

We drove to Austin from McKinney Falls.

First, I would love to interject that Texas has some of the best billboards along the interstates highways. They are all funny, even if they aren't supposed to be.  Some of the stellar signs that come to mind include:

Vodka Ad:  "The reason Edward Snowden wishes he seeked asylum in Poland"

Waterpark Ad:  "Wet your pants"

Impeach Obama Ad:  "He failed to live up to Kennedy's dream" *Coupled with image of the moon landing*

Then there was Buc ee's, which was a caliber of its own.  We had never encountered these before, and could not for the life of us figure out what they meant. Billboards were posted at uneven intervals along the interstates, each with the cartoon beaver logo with slogans such as:

"I dream of beavers"
"Got porcelein?"
"The Eyes of Buc-ee's are upon you"
"Keep calm and Buc-ee on"
"Don't stay thirsty my friends"
"All roads lead to Buc-ee's"

Eventually we came to the conclusion that Buc ee's is a truck stop chain, and we ended up passing two of them over the course of the weekend.  Steven was sleeping in the back of the car when we passed the first one.  Kaitlyn woke him up to point out that we finally found the Buc ee's.  Later in the day, he asked us, "... did we actually pass a Buc-ee's, or did I dream it?"

Perhaps we will dream of beavers.

Elise's Birthday Weekend! Part I (San Antonio+McKinney Falls State Park)

I had a fantastic birthday weekend!

We started off fresh and early the morning of the 28th.  While meeting up with the carpool (around 6:30am), my colleagues surprised me with a wonderful card and cake!  Ellie made me a maple cake, made from real Canadian maple syrup, decorated like the Canada flag!  All the interns also signed a nice card for me, which jokingly had Barak and Michelle Obama on the front.  It was pretty funny.

Happy Birthday to me!

"Uh, thanks?"

Hurrah!  Then it was on for the car ride.  We all agreed that it would be beneficial to stop in some small hick town for gas, in part due to the cost, and in part due to the experience.  The gas station we stopped at sold low-quality cowboy hats and Texas-pride baseball caps, such as the camo-patterned cap which is rendered ineffective by having a bright "TEXAS" and cow skull embroidered largely on the front.  They also sell individual pickles here, so that's weird.

This stop got me pumped.  I was excited to be here, excited to be in Texas, doing Texan things and going to Texan places.  I was stoked that we were going to the heart of Texan pride:  The Alamo.

I didn't know what to expect from the Alamo.  I assumed it would be a small, crummy fort in the middle of nowhere.  I was entirely unaware that the city of San Antonio was built around the site.  I was also unaware that there would be beautiful, well-kept gardens within the walls.

The fortress was built in 1744, as a Roman Catholic Mission compound

Monument to lives lost at the Alamo

The fortress was passed from Spanish to Mexican possession after the Mexican War of Independence in 1821.  

Texans gained control of the Alamo in 1835, during the beginning of the Texan Revolution.  During this intervals, Texans had driven out all Mexicans out of what was "Mexican Texas".

Only 189 Texans were stationed at the Alamo when 1,500 Mexicans laid a 13 day siege to the fortress in Feb-Mar 1836.

During an assault lead by President General Antonio López de Santa Anna, all of the Texan defenders were killed. There were approximately 600 Mexican fatalities.  

The defeat rallied the Texan army, leading to an surprise attack launched at Santa Anna.  The soldiers were heard crying, "Remember the Alamo!" during the Battle of San Jacinto.  The battle lasted 18 minutes, with Sam Houston leading the victory, ultimately securing Texan independance.

In one of the courtyards, an older gentleman told us the story of the Alamo, and the history of the formation of Texas.
I learned a lot that day.

I bought a t-shirt at the gift shop since they didn't charge any entry fee.  Afterwards, we walked along a canal to find a restaurant for lunch.  They have a gorgeous river!  It really caught me by surprise.

We ended up at a Mexican restaurant called "Ritas on the River", which specialized in margaritas.  Some of the servers had the slogan on their shirts, "Margaritas so good, you won't remember the Alamo!".   They had a mariachi band.  Ellie had to be a terrible person and tell them it was my birthday.

"Noooo.... Whhhhyyyyy?"
Photo courtesy to Tim

We set off to drive again, but instead of heading straight to Austin, we take a detour to McKinney Falls State Park!

During the Cretaceous, a lot of the land now known as Texas was submerged under a shallow sea

Limestone precipitated in this time interval, creating the bedrock present in this park.

A nearby volcano ejected debris into the sea, depositing soft volcanics along with the limestone

Because the volcanics were softer than the limestone, they eroded away more quickly allowing for river channels to undercut the limestone banks

While I may look pensive, I am really just lamenting my lack of swimsuit.
Photo courtesy to Ellie

Group shot!  From left to right:  Steven, Ellie, Zack, Me, Kaitlyn, Tim, Alyssa, Stefan, Molly
Photo courtesy to a kind stranger

Hurrah!  To be continued.

Houston Natural History Museum

On Saturday June 7th all the intern students who had arriven (8/12 of us!) decided to do a day trip into downtown Houston.

Our residence and workplaces are in the Clear Lake area, which is part of the Greater Houston Area to the southwest of the downtown core.  It is approximately a 40 minute drive into Houston, (with no transport services) making trips an exciting experience!  Carpooling is advantageous, as four interns have vehicles.

We all bought tickets to the Scotland vs. U.S. rugby match (why not?  New experiences!), and decided that beforehand we would visit the Natural History Museum and go for dinner.  Dinner was at a Mexican restaurant, and by heavens, Mexican food is understandably amazing in Texas.

The museum delighted us geology students with its paleontology and mineral exhibits.

"But first, let me take a selfie."
With Stephan and Tim

There was a special exhibit on gemstone carving.  There is definitely a masterful display of skill in these pieces. 

Almost all the stones carved were agates.  Agates are a microcrystalline variety of quartz which have been used in artwork and jewellery around the world for millennia.

Agates have a hardness of 7 on Moh's scale, making them considerably harder to carve than soapstone or marble.
Diamond bit tools are required.

There is an exhibit specifically devote to Petroleum Geology.  I was rather excited to go through that.
The exhibit featured various remote sensing and geophysical exploration methods, as well as different aspects of drilling procedures.

Dinosaurs!  Not quite the Drumheller museum, but still pretty fantastic!

"Okay guys, look scientific"
The polished petrified wood slices were really fantastic.  The amount of variety in colour was incredible.  Some were black and white, others had vivid reds and yellows.

A lot of the fossils were stunning.   I wish I could decorate my place with these!

The amount of detail in these fossils is very impressive.

This ichthyosaur was pregnant at the time of death.
You can see some of the remnants of her progeny.

Quetzalcoatlus is a genus of Pterosaur, which contains the largest known flying animals.  They have a 10m wing span.
I could ride this into battle.

This is the tallest amethyst cathedral I have ever seen.
For scale, I am 5'7".

Stibnite is one of my favourite minerals, and I have never previously seen a specimen larger than one of these blades.
Stibnite is a sulphide, and is the most common ore mineral for antimony, (Sb2S3)

"The Dragon" - Native gold.
This is easily the one of the most impressive mineral specimens I have ever seen.
Photo credit to Stefan.

I didn't take too many photos of the mineral exhibit, because honestly, everything in there was fantastic and I couldn't prioritize.  My camera was also running out of battery.

We went to the rugby match, which was exciting!  Scotland won, 24-6!  God save the Queen!  Tim, Stefan and I beamed with Commonwealth pride.

Happily sitting in the nosebleeds. 

All in all, it was a great day with great people.  I hope we get to do more fun outings in the future.