Texas State Capitol — Austin, Texas

The Lonestar motif was everywhere, but we never grew tired of it.

The higher you go, the more you see. From the 4th Floor, Danny noticed a small spiral staircase leading to a row of windows just below the top of the dome. Certainly not for the faint of heart!

During our visit to the Capitol we toured the Capitol Visitors Center, which is located in the restored General Land Office Building (1856-57) ... the oldest state office building in Texas. Here we viewed historic flags, a meticulously detailed replica model of the Capitol dome, and the O. Henry Room ... where William Sydney Porter worked as a draftsman before finding fame as short story writer O. Henry.

We were intrigued by the story of Jane McCallum (Secretary of State 1927-33), who discovered the original Texas Declaration of Independence folded up in a tin box in a fireproof vault in her office. She played a leading role in restoring the document and displaying it in this beautiful hand-crafted wrought iron grill.

Near the end of our visit to Austin, a severe storm moved through the Capitol ... spawning a small tornado which did considerable damage to several of the old beautiful oak trees.

Nothing says weird like getting a hug from a zombie. While visiting the Capitol grounds we spotted a bizarre sight … hoards of zombies lumbering across the lawn. Seems that we had innocently stumbled upon the shooting of popular local indie film, "Hazmat J and the Birth of the Apocalypse," a prequel to that widely popular short, "Zombabies."

OK ... one last brass door knob, and that should close the door on the Texas State Capitol.

(Page 3 of 3)

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.

— Charles Kuralt —