Smile, Calvin! Oh, it's a selfie. Concentrating too much. I'll smile later.

Austin Texas Airport. You know right away you are in a music city.

Downtown Austin.

Cathy planned this trip to SXSW (South by South West).
I was not allowed to go past this point but Cathy had a pass for the point of entry for the sessions.
I just tagged along to be with her and take pictures. She would go to music sessions.
We would meet for lunch then I would be off to explore.

First time Christian music has been part of SXSW. A whole night of Hip Hop. It was awsome!
Da T. R. U. T. H. My favorite song: Without God.

Bands playing on anything.

We ate at places like this.

Met people like this on the river boat cruise.
He is a friend of Cathy's brother and his name is Ralph Murphy.
Look him up and you will find out what a talented man he is. We enjoyed sharing time with him.

We visited the Capitol building and took a tour through the building.
Look at the lights picture and see what they spell.

6th Street was a very interesting place to cruise.
Bars and restaurants and music playing in all of them.
The sights and sounds were constant.
Short clips of 6 st Music

6 street

Only in Texas.

I took a long walk around the lake that took about 4 hrs.
The pathway provides a great walk or run along the water.

I met this couple from Holland who used to live in Austin.
It was a nice little setting.
Helped them take their picture. I did that a few times along the walk.

This is a memorial to the homeless who have passed away.

This is where they film the show. It kind of supprised me as I came up to
the intersection from the walk. Something seemed different
then I noticed the NO flickering on and off sign and then the wierd setting
came all into view.

We took a self tour through the history of Texas Museum.
The French were trying to settle in Texas. Then
the Mexicans attacked and won the first battle, then a few days
later retaliated and won in a matter of several hours (1835). Did you know that
Texas was once its own Republic (1836) till it joined up with the USA (1846)?

Click this link to hear.
After getting off from the bus ride from down town we had to
walk across a parking lot of a grocery store to catch the
connector to the hotel. The sound that we heard was quit load.
While at the bus stop I recorded the video. It is around
midnight and the parking lot is full of vehicles.

I had the privilege to meet the owner of Champion products Craig and Nita
from Stevensville who drove 2 1/2 hrs. to meet us. We visit for 2 hrs.
and then they headed back home.
I learned a lot about the product that has been so helpful. The meeting was God ordained.

After taking public transport for the whole week, we rented a car on the weekend.
We drove South to the Buda area and went to a site, The Wizard Academy, where my nephew, Jonathan Farr, has his
name on a plaque in remembrance.
Video of the site with Jonathan's name.

Back in town we went to this hill Mt. Bonnell and climbed up 100 stairs.
There was a girl in training running up and down the stairs an unbeleivable 33 times.

Peacock doing its shake Video

Then as we were heading back, we saw a sign that led us to a park that was filled with Peacocks. They were putting on quit the display.
The cool thing is that I always hoped to take a picture of a Peacock in full display.
It was my lucky day.

I found this cool street where all the houses had been converted into restarunts.
So later we went back, after our last walk, and had lunch at one of them.
As you can see we ate a few burgers, I'm not complaining.
To Austin we say goodbye. It was a great week on many levels for both of us.
There's that smile.