I remembered quite a bit about the Johnson presidency, the Great Society as well as the Vietnam War. Even so I was surprised at the number of programs which Johnson initiated that have made us a better and a more decent society -medicare, medicaid, environmental programs, more than 60 bills to improve education, the list goes on and on. Because Johnson knew both the people and the process by which things got done in Washington, he certainly has to be considered one of our most competent presidents. The Viet Nam War was not only a tragedy for the United States but also a personal tragedy for a man who used his position so effectively in so many ways to leave the country at the end of his presidency better than he found it, and ended up being practically driven from office because of a war that almost all of his advisers both military and civilian initially considered a worthwhile endeavor. I suppose that for all of us, myself certainly included, with the best of intentions so many things beyond our control happen to us in the course of a lifetime that we rarely end up at the age of 60 where we expected to be when we were 21.
After the museum we drove to downtown Austin and just walked along 6th Street enjoying the good weather and the great architecture, both old and 19th Century. Austin bills itself as "the music capital of the world," and 6th Street has a number of music venues along the three or four blocks of 6th Street. It reminded me somewhat of Nashville in that respect. We stopped in one of the restaurants for a Tex-Mex lunch of a burrito with beef, shrimp, and fish all rolled into one with a good sauce on it - pretty tasty.
At around 6:30 we drove down to the lakefront and arrived just in time to take the boat cruise around the lake, which featured watching more than half a million bats fly out from under the bridge over the lake and fly off for their evening meals of moths and other insects. Like at Carlsbad Caverns, it was quite a sight.
Afterwards we went back to downtown and wandered in and out of a few of the music bars. One was too loud, one was an open mike bar with performers generally not as good as one might hear at Open Circle in Philadelphia, and finally to another place where two guys on two pianos played requests and encouraged the audience to sing along. We were tired by then and we weren't properly dressed for the too-strong air conditioning so we didn't stay long, but it did seem like fun.
Texas roadsigns: Drive Friendly
Don't Mess with Texas - $1,000 fine for littering
Thanks for the good glimpse of Austin. It is a musical place and I know a couple who are there doing that now. I visited long ago for a conference and remember the LBJ Library. The town has a lively ambiance I had limited time to explore.
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