Tribute on the Larry Monroe Bridge

There is a little bridge in Travis Heights which is a mosaic memorial to Larry Monroe, a local musicologist and DJ. This part is a tribute to the late, great Doug Sahm.

To the Library

The bridge over Shoal Creek on Second leads to the library on the West Side.

Just Breathe!

That's good advice for the holidays! Just breathe. The RIP next to it is part of another piece of graffiti on the railroad bridge over Lady Bird Lake.

Dramatic look

I took this shot as we walked home from the library the other night. What a view, and it is a few blocks from where we live. It's still hard for this Austin boy to believe that we live downtown.

Batty art

Love this painting of a bat under the Congress Avenue Bridge. Someone had to stand in a boat to paint it, I guess. Well done!

Work in Progress

We don't usually walk on the north side of Caesar Chavez across the creek. (Until recently it was impassable because of construction.) Thought I should snap a picture while our building was still in the picture. The cranes are for two more buildings (the Proper and Third+Shoal) rising between the (as yet unopened) Second Street bridge and our place on the right. You can see the Independent going up on the left.

Abandoned with the Bird

Jackie found this one day on the 3rd Street Pedestrian Bridge. As with all our abandoned stuff photos, she didn't move or tamper with it 'in situ.' That's the new 2nd Street (auto and pedestrian) bridge in the background. And the new trail leading to and under it. Neither has opened as we await completion of the new library and other buildings.

Southern Sunset

Jackie caught this when the sun is setting  about as far south as it gets. Shot from just west of the Third Street pedestrian bridge over Shoal Creek. The shapes of the new Second Street bridge, the new library that will open this year, and the Seaholm Condos are visible.

Emergency? NOT!

I'd like to think these guys had an emergency to justify risking their lives. Doubt it.

Over Austin

After our friend Jackie researched the biplane she saw flying near her apartment she was determined to ride in this sightseeing vehicle. She shot this amazing picture of the Pennybacker bridge during her tour.

View from the bridge.

I took this panoramic shot on the Congress Avenue Bridge the other day. My partner in crime is taking her own shot. A bike that went by came across as a weird blur. 

Second Street Bridge

It's getting built. This bridge spans Shoal Creek in what will be a new auto and pedestrian extension of Second Street.

Spanning the creek

I'll avoid the urge to make any comments about golden arches. Progress is being made on the new bridge over Shoal Creek which lets Second Street go west through to the Seaholm Project.

A Break from the Bike

These bikers were taking a break (and a few pictures) on the Mopac Pedestrian (Roberta Crenshaw) bridge.

Under the bridge.

On our exercise walks, we often go under the MoPac Bridge on the pedestrian walkway. Sometimes it's daunting to think that a lot of cars are right above you. 

Dry Creek

This creek bed is a sharp contrast to the way it looked a few weeks ago when it was swollen with water. "Binary" is the word that comes to mind.

Habitat

Among the intense construction that is going on around our building there still stands an abandoned railroad bridge. As we walked by on the pedestrian bridge next to it a couple of weeks ago we observed a couple of squirrels who seemed to be making the bridge a home and an outpost for being construction observers.

Under Mopac

Our walks often take us on loops on the Butler Trail around Lady Bird Lake. At the Mopac highway bridge there is a pedestrian bridge underneath called the Crenshaw Bridge.  (Mopac is our nickname for Loop 1 which is in true Austin fashion not a loop but is partially built on Missouri Pacific Railroad right-of-way). Here you see FFP navigating across to the south shore. Although we have lots of places to walk we only have six places to cross the lake: Pleasant Valley Road (which is really far away, maybe three miles); IH35 (which is now pretty convenient with the addition of the boardwalk on the south shore with access to its pedestrian walkway but is still a couple of miles away); Congress Avenue (pretty convenient but the pedestrian walkway has no barrier to cars); the Drake (South First) Bridge (which is our go-to crossing, less than a half mile from the house with a separate pedestrian area); the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge which is near Lamar and avoids Lamar's very dangerous narrow sidewalk which you are now not supposed to use; and this bridge which we don't usually use to get somewhere since it's almost two miles away but use in making a loop for exercise.

Austin Icon

This poster is at one of our favorite eateries, Snack Bar on South Congress, combines the iconic 360 Pennybacker Bridge and a couple of iconic movie monsters.

Cooling Off

I went out for an afternoon walk and saw this group of people water-parked under the Lamar Blvd bridge.