Austin smells really good

trail at Ladybird Lake, Austin,TX

I'll be writing about my amazing trip to Austin this week.  The whole city has a fresh, verdant scent.  It smells of cedar and juniper and earth, which I was so pleasantly surprised to discover

There are great tailed grackles everywhere, and they have a crazy, exotic call, which you hear everywhere you go.  I found them very beautiful. 

The landscape of Austin felt like a mix of California, Hawaii and Mexico. There were palm trees and lush flora, like these trees, which were full of little tangles of branches

There is a large colony of Mexican bats that nest underneath the Congress Bridge, which was near our hotel

They hadn't migrated back yet, but we talked to locals that said you can watch them every evening going out to hunt