I've been meaning to buy a tourist's guidebook for Austin for a while now; I want to know what it is that draws people to this city, what they do when the visit, and what else this city has to offer. With a friend in town to check out Austin as part of his graduate program search, I'm taking this as an opportunity to experience Austin as a tourist might. Although the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum is right across the street from the law school, I had never given it a second glance. Further, I drive or run by the Capitol every single day, yet I haven't been inside since I was a lobbyist four years ago. Today we went to both. We didn't have much time for the LBJ museum, but what we were able to see was interesting and the exhibits are well put together. We traipsed around the Capitol, letting ourselves into random rooms because, as I so eloquently put it, my tax dollars pay for the place. My sass aside, it was interesting showing the Capitol to my non-Texan friend as he began to get a sense of what this state is all about. Standing in this beautiful building that is the Texas Capitol, I don't think my Texas pride has been any stronger than it was today.
