Austin! Skyscrapers and Cityscapes!

Friday morning! Welcome to Austin! Hot and humid!

Our first outing this morning (I'll refer to it as "getting to know Austin 101!") is a 2-hour e-bike (part bike, part motorized scooter) ride around downtown Austin with Your Biker Gang! Led by our wonderfully fun and crazy guide, Rooster!

Zipping through the streets of downtown Austin, Rooster kept us engaged bopping to the sounds of his cool smooth jazz and reggae playlist streaming from the speaker strapped to the back of his bike. Instructed on his hand signals, we slowed down or stopped at intersections, or pulled over, parked our bikes and got a quick history or commentary about a skyscraper, building, or venue as he pointed to them.

Sites and public art highlighted on our ride around downtown included:

- The Austin Central Library, a beautiful modern structure with an contemporary architectural design.

- The Frost Bank Tower dubbed the "Owl Building" by the locals because of its bird-like appearance.

- The Independent, a residential skyscraper and the tallest residential building in the U. S. west of the Mississippi. It looks like a giant Jenga game pieces tower!

- Kempelen's Owls, 10 feet tall Texas horned owls with interactive moving heads constructed of layered metal and composite materials. One of Austin's Art in Public Spaces collection.

- One of the beautiful custom Gibson guitars of the Guitartown Austin art project, "Vibrancy" by Craig Hein.

- Juan Pelota Cafe owned by legendary Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

- Austin Ballet

- The Texas Capitol and the surrounding mall area

We capped off our morning ride with iced beverages from Sweetwater's and lively conversation about music and jazz clubs with Rooster before returning to the Your Banker Gang to remove our helmets and turn in our bikes!

Ann and Dawn, we did it! Rode our first e-bikes! And, we're still in one piece!Read more