After having a brief look around when we had arrived the day before, we were very excited to get stuck into a full day of exploring Austin. First up was breakfast tacos and coffee next door at Jo’s which was so delicious. I ordered a hash brown taco and we sat in the morning sunlight enjoying our food.

We then drove into Downtown Austin and did a tour of the Texas Capitol Building. The architecture felt much more grand and imposing than the Capitol in Washington, which makes sense as they say everything is bigger in Texas! I was amazed by the intricacies in the design, with the chandeliers spelling out the word Texas, and even the door hinges having detailed carvings.

We then went to the Bullock Texas State History Museum which tells the story of Texas including the previous Spanish and Mexican rule over the city of Tejas, followed by the independent republic of Texas before they entered the Union and then the Confederacy. We got lunch in the cafeteria (an amazing club sandwich!) and then spent nearly 3 hours in the museum because it was so fascinating. As someone who doesn’t know much about American history I found this museum to be one of my favourite on the trip along with the Gettysburg Museum.

For dinner we ate at Terry Black’s Barbecue which is so well known even Michelle Obama likes to eat there! It had the best beef brisket I have ever tasted and I also got to try homemade pecan pie for dessert.

We enjoyed another drink at our funky motel, and then as sunset approached we waited on the South Congress bridge to see the bat migration.