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Written by Shirley T
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Monday, 02 November 2009 08:55 |
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September 9, 2009 (090909) was a special date on Gregorian calendar. Personally, it marked our pioneer drive to Austin Downtown. Depending solely on GPS navigation, we marked Lady Bird Lake as our first destination. MD did brought us to downtown two days ago and I recalled we passed by Lady Bird Lake. Unfortunately, there were too many images, landmarks and roads to remember and guess we ran out of memory on that day!
Our first exploration took us to settle at Austin Park & Recreation Main Office off South Lamar Blvd. We leveraged on the first two hour free parking and took a quick stroll into one of walking/hiking/biking trails of Lady Bird Lake.
Lady Bird Lake is a reservoir created in 1960 on Colorado River after the construction of Longhorn Dam at its eastern boundary. It was built to serve as a cooling pond for Holly Street Power Plant and at the same time envisioned to be a recreational venue.
Not many cities in the world have the luxurious to own a relatively huge lake and recreational area in the heart of its hustling and bustling city but Austin - the capital of Texas (United States) does. Formerly known as Town Lake which was later renamed after the former First Lady of United States - Lady Bird Lake (since July 2007) to honor her dedication, effort and marvelous contribution to beautify the lake and creating the recreational trail system around the lake's shoreline.
Today, Austinites get to walk, run, bike and hike in the longest trail designed for non-motorized traffic maintained by the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department. The path is about 10.1 miles (16.3 km) long and mostly flat, with 97.5% of it at less than an 8% grade.
For parents, you have a choice to bring along your little one on a stroller to sweat and have fun together. For the friends who enjoy the water sports activities like kayaking, canoeing, dragon boating and rowing shells in the lake, this lake never forget about them. Adjacent to Zilker Park and Barton Springs, swimmers may continue with a dip in a man-made natural pool that I heard the water is cold in summer and warm in winter . Ample space of green grass is next to the lake and there is even a designated spot for dogs at play as well!
Several loop trails of Town Lake are shown on a sign at the entrance into a granite paved path. As we walked into trail, we were also greeted by some squirrels, tortoises, ducks, birds and plenty of fish in the lake.
Our short stroll took us to cross a wooden pedestrian bridge and then arrived at a gazebo - Lou Neff Point where we captured the reflection of Austin Downtown. Sitting here was so serene and we totally lost touch of the time!
When the weather is perfect, we would love to visit this lake again. Perhaps this time with a bike or running gears!
Acknowledgment: Facts are sourced from Wikipedia - Lady Bird Lake
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Texas Austin Downtown Top Attraction | Lady Bird Lake (Town Lake)
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