Arrival & Registration/Welcome & Orientation; Stereotypical Texan Presentation

Afternoon: ORIENTATION begins in the hotel conference room at 4:30pm. Your arrival packet will contain an updated schedule of program activities, a list of fellow attendees, and your name badge. Start your Austin experience with an informative overview of the week to come. The site coordinator will provide contact names and phone numbers of program leaders; address responsibilities, questions, and concerns; review safety guidelines and emergency procedures; orient you to the hotel location on maps; and discuss the program schedule and what will be included in the field trips. Begin getting to know the program staff and your fellow participants with a get-acquainted session to introduce each member of the group. If you arrive late, be sure to pick up your packet at the hotel front desk. Breakfast each day is in the hotel with lunch and dinner at Austin area restaurants. This Road Scholar program provides opportunities to learn how history, culture, art and music all converge at the Lone Star State's capital, Austin. Challenge the myth of the stereotypical Texan, hear of controversial politics from Ma and Pa Ferguson to LBJ. View the Texas White House - still a working ranch and final resting place of LBJ and Lady Bird. At Austin museums review the life of our 36th President and review history of the Lone Star State. In San Antonio explore America's most complete Spanish Colonial Spanish Mission complex featuring the Alamo, unlock San Antonio's colorful history, study the River Walk and its environs with historians, enjoy a barge cruise on the San Antonio River and hear Lone Star Tall Tales.

Dinner: A nearby restaurant offers multiple entrées,and continuing opportunities to become acquainted with your fellow participants and Road Scholar staff.

Lodging: Radisson Hotel

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Morning presentation: "The Texas Political Tradition".

Lunch: Transport to the University of Texas at Austin campus. Guided tour of Nettie Benson Exhibit. Lunch at campus conference center with a variety of soups, sandwiches, salads, pizza, desserts and beverages.

Afternoon: Afternoon presentations by staff at the LBJ Library and Museum. Self-guided touring of the museum.

Dinner: Dinner at local restaurant features multiple entree choices.

Lodging: Radisson Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Presentation: "Texas Rhythm, Texas Rhyme". Go on city bus to Texas State History Museum for guided tour.

Lunch: Walk to Capitol for lunch at Capitol Grill.

Afternoon: Afternoon with guides at the Texas State Capitol. The capitol itself, a massive, classic statehouse of famous Texas pink granite, dominates the 46 acre, park-like area. Expert-led exploration of the Capitol is followed by a self-guided tour of Capitol Visitors Center and time on your own to walk 2nd, 4th, 6th Streets and see the Driskill Hotel or ride bus to South Congress area.

Dinner: Unscheduled dinner to investigate the many downtown Austin restaurants.

Evening: Unscheduled evening to investigate why Austin is called "The Live Music Capital of the World."

Lodging: Radisson Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Depart Austin for the Texas Hill Country, LBJ Ranch, and San Antonio. Box lunch served on bus. The LBJ Ranch rests along the banks of the Pedernales River where Hereford cattle, white-tailed deer, and turkey abound. In the spring and summer, wildflowers, so beloved by the former first lady, accent the picturesque countryside. Access to the ranch is by bus tours only provided by guides from the National Park Service. Transport to San Antonio, hotel check-in.

Dinner: Happy hour and catered dinner at hotel.

Lodging: Drury Plaza Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: San Antonio Overview. Discover why San Antonio is undoubtedly one of America's unique cities. Its poignant and colorful history, ethnically varied people, and blending of cultural heritages set the city apart. While the River Walk and the Alamo define San Antonio symbolically, past political and cultural wars of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries resulted in six sovereign nations flying their flags over Texas. This created a mixture of inhabitants from Mexico, the Old South, the "Wild West," and Europe. Get the facts and figures on the city's demographics, economy, weather, geography, and ecology.

Lunch: Sumptuous luncheon buffet at legendary hotel en route to afternoon expert-led walk.

Afternoon: Afternoon expert-led walk of the River Walk and Alamo. The heart of downtown San Antonio is the River Walk; the most significant historical event the battle of the Alamo.

Dinner: Dinner at local restaurant featuring multiple entree choices.

Lodging: Drury Plaza Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: All that's missing as our master storyteller weaves her tales of Texas lore and legend, is the campfire's shadows on a starry night in West Texas. Stories are handed down from Native Americans and the days of the Texas Rangers. Hear about the origin of Texas' state flower, the bluebonnet, the snake that fought in the Civil War and much more!

Lunch: Lunch en route to the afternoon guided cultural field trip.

Afternoon: This afternoon's cultural field trip travels back in time to the Spanish colonial era of San Antonio in the 18th century. Unlike the original mission, now called the Alamo, the four other missions lie outside of downtown in more pastoral settings. All were situated near the San Antonio River to provide irrigation for crop cultivation, and some of the original "acequias" or ditches built in the 1740's are still in operation. The missions of San Antonio were some of the most successful in Texas, and the largest in the area, Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo, earned the name "Queen of the Missions." Visit the National Park Service Visitor's Center and experience the life of native people who were recruited to be the builders of these missions.

Dinner: Festive farewell dinner at popular Mexican restaurant with local mariachi music.

Evening: Narrated river barge cruise on San Antonio River.

Lodging: Drury Plaza Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel. Departures.

Meals Included: Breakfast