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One mile down Congress


I was in Austin again.  Capital of Texas.  Still humid and somewhat hot.  I got to stroll down the main drag in the early morning from where I was put up to an industry conference I was attending down the road.  Main drag being Congress Avenue.

What began in the mid 1800's turned into a brick lined road in early 20th century to its modern Avenue status with tree lined sidewalks on both sides of the six lane road.  It runs south of the Capitol building right over the Colorado River (not the mighty but a local version) which is dammed to form the lake on towards I-35.

I got to walk it going downhill starting from my hotel close to the Capitol to where the avenue crosses the Lady Bird Lake in the form of Congress bridge.  Here are some of the interesting sites - from historic and kitchy to modern and definitively Gen Z.


















One thing you notice is this city takes its main artery seriously and has done much over the years to make it look beautiful and stately.  The sidewalks here too are littered with the new found mobility of scooters but the homeless to scooter ratio compared to SF is much less.  Kudos Austin!

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