Mercer Botanic Garden Austin

​Well Wednesday night in Waco was truly uneventful.  It was cold enough for me to find out if my in-house heating systems worked.  I have an electric unit that helps take the chill out of the air, but I needed the forced air heating system to get through the night.  It was close to 32 degrees, but the heaters kept me cozy at a nice 70 degrees.  I pulled into Austin early enough to spend some time just relaxing inside the motorhome, and then went out for dinner at a Tex/Mex restaurant and the chicken was delicious.  After dinner I had an early evening as Friday was a day of visiting gardens in Austin.

​The Mercer Botanic Garden had a Japanese inspired garden that was particularly interesting.  It wasn’t so much that it was beautiful, as it was playful.  The paths just went everywhere, and you wanted to explore each and every one of them.  The pathways were laid out such that you always wanted to see what was right around each corner, and each time there was a surprise waiting for you, either a new pond, dramatic view, or a nice resting place to ponder and view the garden.  Nice job Austin!
 
Friday afternoon it was on to Canyon Lake to visit friends and relax for a day or two.  I arrived early enough to be able to spend some time bicycling around before my friends got home from work.  The Texas “Hill” country is that….it’s hilly so I got a good workout in, and some of the views from the road were breathtaking of the local lake.  My friend Christian and his partner Lawrence were home and we had a wonderful evening.  I had not seen Christian for a few years, and it was good getting reacquainted with him.  It was only too bad that we had such a short time together.  He invited me to come up to Montana this summer, so that sounds like another great trip/adventure.