With an abundance of my much-missed Starbucks/any coffee shop and health food restaurants, Austin reminds me a bit of many cities in California. And there’s quite a bit of fun, wacky stuff to see in Austin, the capital of Texas – besides the big blue spider butt.

This post was going to be about the Largest Urban Bat Colony, but my photography skills the photos suck could be better (but are shown below anyway because I still think that’s much more interesting than a state capitol building).

You’ll just have to trust me… there are hundreds of bats in this photo.

Really, there are hundreds of bats in the above photo. See that blotch that looks like a swarm of bees going across the center? That’s the bats. I’m so glad you can see them. (Just pretend you can.)

They live under the Congress Avenue bridge in downtown Austin. They fly out around sunset, usually between March and November. The photos below are of the bridge. If you go to see the bats, wait on the other side of the bridge because this isn’t the side they fly out of. But the pictures are prettier on this side.

Beautiful downtown Austin at sunset… no bats.

Beautiful downtown Austin after sunset.

It’s a good thing I dragged a victim friend along to see wacky stuff in Austin. It’s also a good thing my friend really likes state capitol buildings. Don’t get me wrong, I like them, too. But I’m far more interested in seeing giant blue spider butts. He did not understand my interest in the giant spider sculpture, but he went along with it.

Luckily for you, I did the same in regard to the capitol building. Because if it wasn’t for his preference for touring elaborate state buildings, you’d be seeing only the Bat Colony photos.

A capital Capitol Building in Austin, Texas.

Inside the secret chambers.

The inside of the capitol building dome.

Construction was completed in 1888. It really is a beautiful building, and I do enjoy old architecture. We got a short tour where the docent told us many things about the building’s history. I would tell you more about it, but it wasn’t a giant blue spider butt or an urban bat colony so I didn’t pay that much attention.