Me and E.T. are going home!!

Atlanta, GA

I was in Atlanta to see the Frida & Diego, Passion, Politics and Painting exhibit at High Art.  The exhibit was extraordinary!  Seeing the works of these two artists up close was amazing.  High Art really had a fantastic showing.

 

 

There was no shortage of Frida stuff in the art museum gift shop.

 

This painting will be on exhibit at the museum in June.  I love this particular painting and I really don't know why!

 

The rest of the day was spent walking around the Midtown area of Atlanta.  It was a beautiful day in Midtown!

 

Pretty Church

 

 

This art work was on the museum grounds.

 

A great lunch at Highland Bakery.

 

OH YUM!

 

Pretty flowers all over Atlanta!

 

Mexican Free-Tail Bats

After leaving Fredericksburg, Texas, I continued on to Austin, just in time to see thousands of Mexican free-tail bats fly out from underneath the Congress Avenue Bridge.  I have see this spectacle before - it is an awesome thing to watch.  At dusk, the bats fly out from their home under the bridge to feed on insects.  It is very difficult to photograph, as the bats are moving fast and it is dark.

 

The Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin is the spring and summer home to some 750,000 bats with up to 1.5 million bats at the peak of the bat-watching season. It's the largest urban bat colony in North America.  While bats have called Austin home for many years, it was after renovations to the Congress Avenue Bridge over Lady Bird Lake in 1980 that they found their favorite hang-out. Narrow but deep openings created in the bridge turned out to be perfect accommodations.  Each evening around sunset the Congress Avenue bats emerge like a black cloud from the crevices of the bridge. Covering the countryside in search of food, it is estimated that the bats consume from 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects.  Giving birth in June or July, the bats and pups hang around til October when they head back south. Watching the nightly forays for food is a favorite evening activity, especially in late summer.

 



Fredericksburg, Texas

This quaint town was voted one of 2013's Best Small Towns to visit.  I was driving through west Texas and came upon it.  It is a charming town, something I would term an old cowboy town.  Its very clean and friendly.  I agree with it's Best Small Towns tag!

 

This is NOT unusual in Texas!  Don't mess with Texans!

 

A great little bakery.

 

Yes, it was as delicious as it looks!

 

These chairs were so cute!

 

I loved these old candies in the 5 and dime store!

 

Great, hand-painted shoes!