Austin Getaway - Just Us Two - Day 1

 Guess what?  Mister surprised me with a small trip down to the Hill Country for a few days.  This is so nice.  He has rented a cute little cabin and we are just going to put the world out of mind for a bit.  Perfect timing.

12/13 - Our first stop this morning is at the Waco Mammoth National Monument.  I had no idea this place even existed and am super excited to check it out.  We've got tickets in hand and are heading down the path.

In 1978, Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin were exploring a dry creek bed when they spotted a bone sticking out of the ground.  They knew they'd found something unusual, so they took it to the Strecker Museum at Baylor University.  Strecker Museum staff member David Lintz quickly identified it as part of a leg bone from a Columbian Mammoth.  The bone was such an exciting find that staff from the museum began excavating immediately.  For two years, Lintz and volunteers carefully explored the creekbed.  Then from 1984 to 2001, staff and volunteers resumed excavations and uncovered the remains of at least 23 Columbian mammoths.  Eighteen of these were grouped in what the National Park Service called "the nation's first and only recorded evidence of a nursery herd of Pleistocene mammoths."  The owner of the land donated it to the City of Waco and the Waco Mammoth Foundation was formed to raise money to build the Dig Shelter, Welcome center, and other improvements.  The Waco Mammoth Site opened to the public in 2009, welcoming visitors from around the world.

Sixteen of the mammoths at this site were found in the dry creekbed.  Scientists studied the layers of dirt surrounding the bones and discovered that thousands of years ago, many streams ran through here.  The silt, clay, sand and gravel that surround the bones also tell us that the animals were covered by water.  Putting this information together, scientists think the mammoths may have been gathered at a watering hole when a flash flood struck, trapping the animals in a thick mud, killing them.

In 2015 President Obama used the Antiquities Act to create Waco Mammoth National Monument, officially including the site as a unit of the National Park Service.  It served over 100k guests from all 50 states and 70 foreign countries in the years 2010-2015.

Into the Dig Shelter we go - Oh WOW!

Most of the time, fossils are removed from the ground and put in storage to protect them.  Very few are protected in situ like the ones here.  By protecting the fossils in the ground where they were found scientists can continue to learn from them.  Shelter walls extend deep underground to exclude water.  The ceiling has a hidden attic space to help maintain steady temperature.  The walkway is suspended from the ceiling to prevent soil disturbance.  The HVAC systems maintain steady temperature and humidity year-round and the windows prevent UV light from directly touching fossils while allowing ambient light.  Before the Dig Shelter was constructed, most of the nursery herd bones were removed from the ground to protect them from water damage.  Today, these bones are stored at Baylor University's Mayborn Museum complex, now a repository for the National Park Service.

One of the animals buried in the same layer as the nursery herd of mammoths was a camel.  Scientists don't know if the camel was living with the mammoths or if the camel was here by chance.  However, camel and mammoth fossils are often found near each other, indicating they lived together on the same landscape.  Both species ate plants and preferred open grassland landscapes with scattered trees.

These mammoths were crazy huge.

Teeth - 

More size comparisons - human femur on the left.

North America was rich with animal life during the Ice Age.  Mammoths, along with many other Ice Age animals known as "megafauna," became extinct in North American about 10k years ago.  These included saber-toothed cats, lions, cheetahs, camels, horses, giant bison, giant sloths, giant tortoises, short-faced bears and giant armadillos.  Scientists haven't yet determined the cause for this extinction.  Two factors may have been critical:  the climate was changing, and humans were beginning to populate North America.

As we exit the center, I spot this sign and it gives some great visual  information.  This was a fabulous stop - Thank you, Mister.  Back to the car we go -

Making it to Austin, a stop for food at Whip Inn - a brew pub with Indian food.  I grab a Great Divide Stout called Velvet Yeti and it is soooooo yummy.  Lunch is Onion Pakora (sliced red onions lightly battered in chick pea flour and served with mint chutney) and Chicken Biryani (basmati long-grained rice layered with chicken cooked in a thick gravy) with Naan as a side dish.  LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the onions.

Taking a peek around - only a couple other people sitting at the bar with us.

Off we go to our little cabin to get checked in.

Jester King is right down the road and we have such great memories that we want to go back.  That was a bit of a mistake - it has changed soooooo much and is not near as fun and inviting.  It is a Friday night and very few people are here.

Finishing up our drink - we decide to give Fitzhugh Brewing a try.  Again, hardly anyone in there and kids kind of running crazy, screaming didn't exactly make it a "want to stay" place.

I guess we'll call it a night and see what tomorrow brings.  See you then.