Austin

The City of Austin is located on the banks of the Colorado River in Central Texas, along the edge of the Texas Hill Country. We have a wide variety of natural beauty and Austinites love to enjoy the outdoors. The centerpiece of an extensive and varied park system with over 50 miles of hike and bike trails is Town Lake. One of the most delightful, unsung amenities of this area is that there are hundreds of opportunities to go swimming in the summertime. Barton Springs is by far the most celebrated, but lesser known local favorite swimming holes run the gambit and include: Hamilton Pool, Sculpture Falls, Deep Eddy, and include many small neighborhood pools like Shipe Park pool.


Austin is ideally situated for a broad range of outdoor activities. We enjoy mild winters, and get an average of 34 inches of rain per year. The area is rich with a variety of natural forms and landscapes with hills to the west, rich plains to the east with several lakes and rivers; and is within a day's drive of the gulf coast. Central Texas is habitat for a diverse biological community which features spectacular wildflower displays in the spring and throughout much of the sumer, majestic live oak trees, the largest urban bat colony in the world (a little scary to some, but we love our bats and they help keep down the insects), as well as several rare and sensitive species.


The people of Austin have just as much once the sun has gone down. The official motto of the City is: “The live Music Capitol of the world”, and the city lives up this ambition. Any night of the week, you can have your pick of any of several bands performing at small clubs around town. There are also a rich array of larger venues; two truly world class festivals (Austin City Limits and South by Southwest) each year and several smaller, but equally high quality festivals such as the Kerrville Folk Festival and the Old Settler's Music Festival.