i'm telling you... it was horrific. we tried twice on saturday to get downtown from our campground, mckinney falls state park, about 5 miles from downtown. the peace and quiet of the park belied the intense experience of trying to get around in one of the fastest growing cities in the united states, if not the fastest. the population growth has so outpaced the ability of the infastructure to absorb all of the commerce coming and going from this city center that it will take decades for the city to catch up with all of the necessary improvements. construction is ongoing, which only adds to the confusion. we finally abandoned all hope of ever traversing the short drive to the city center until early sunday morning, when we finally achieved our goal.
once we got there it was a wonderful mixture of architecture from 100+ years ago to the present that gives a vision of how far the city has come in the last 150 years.there is a beautiful hotel, the hotel driscoll, that fully expresses the elegance that was a century ago while backdropped with modern structures that both expose the plain practicality and extravegent overstatement of modern architecture. the state capitol is another example of elegant design for public buildings as expressed in the distant past that sharply contrasts with the modern impersonality of government structures. texans are rightly proud of their civic architectual heritage and are even today striving to preserve the old county courthouses with an ongoing program of renovations for various courthouses all over the state. they are wonderful structures and truly deserve preservation. it is a benefit to us all that they are spending the treasure and energy to bring back these buildings to their former glory. i took some pictures of one of these buildings in lockhart, texas that will appear shortly in the bar-b-que chapter. lockhart is, after all, the mecca for bar-b-que lovers in the south, and with good reason.
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