The Ultimate Austin Quiz

Austin has been given the title Live Music Capital of the World. As soon as you enter the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, you are greeted by local live bands on stages strategically placed around the lobbies.

Austin’s terrain is often compared to that of Colorado, because of rolling hills and breathtaking vistas.

Two of the biggest draws to Austin are football, when the Texas Longhorns are playing, and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. In 2008, ESPN ranked Austin’s Texas Longhorns as having the seventh most prestigious college football program since 1936 and their all time record is the second best record of wins in the history of the NCAA.

Just over 50,000 students attend the University of Texas located in Austin. With all these young people and a population that loves the outdoors, Austin is noted as one of the fittest cities in America.

More than 17 million visitors make their way to Austin each year. This Central Texas city was ranked second on Money magazine’s 2006 list of Top 25 Best Big Cities to live.

The Hill Country Wine & Food Festival is the biggest such event, second only to Aspen. This event focuses on promoting food and wine with a Texas flare.

One of the reasons that Austin is noted for its healthy lifestyle is that it has an incredible 300 days of sunshine each year. How could anyone resist venturing outdoors almost every day?

Approximately 1.5 million bats emerge at sundown from underneath the bridge from May through October. The Congress Avenue Bridge is home to one of the largest bat colonies in North America.

With a population of around 690,000 in Austin proper and 1.4 million in the greater metropolitan area, Austin is a comfortably sized city.

Capitol Metro offers a single fare of one dollar or you can buy a day pass for two dollars, which is the best deal, since bus drivers do not issue transfers. Have exact cash ready as drivers do not make change.

Austin rush hours are from 6 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. and there is usually no traffic delays after 7:30 pm. On weekends there is relatively little traffic to deal with.

Capital Metro operates a free historic trolley car, called Dillo (a nickname for the Texas armadillo) with several routes that all hit popular downtown-area tourist attractions. These include the State Capitol, the Lyndon B Johnson Public Library and Barton Springs. There are also free trolley cars that run late Thursday through Sunday for a safe ride after late night downtown partying. For route schedules, check the Web site.

Austin is the state capital and home to the Texas legislature. Take a tour of the Capitol building, built in 1888 of Texas Sunset Red granite from nearby Marble Falls, which is the largest statehouse in the country.

Schlitterbahn Water Park has consistently been chosen as the No. 1 water park in the United States, but it's outside of Austin. You can, however, take a dip in Barton Springs Pool, a natural spring with water at 68 degrees Fahrenheit year round.

Austin was named one of the Top 25 Running Cities in America by Runner's World magazine. One of their most famous running trails is the Town Lake Trail, which features a 10-mile running path easily accessed from all downtown hotels that follows the beautiful Colorado River.

In 1894, the city of Austin purchased 31 moonlight towers from the city of Detroit, 13 of which are still operation. Austin is the only city still to have this form of lighting, and each of the 165-foot tall towers lights up a 1,500-foot radius from dusk to dawn.

The best example is the Governor's Mansion designed by Abner Cook, who specialized in the Federal style of mostly private residences. The Governor's Mansion was constructed between 1854 and 1856 with a Greek Revival motif and every Texas governor has made his or her home on its second floor.

The tower lights up in burnt orange every time there is a UT victory. When UT won the Rose Bowl against the University of Southern California in 2005, the tower was flooded in burnt orange for almost two weeks. Gold-plated clocks on each face of the tower each span more than 12 feet across.

The South Congress Avenue shopping district, commonly known as SoCo, is considered the coolest shopping district in Austin. Here you can find vintage shops mixed among high-end salons, designer clothing stores and jewelry boutiques.

Each Sunday night Blues on the Green is sponsored by local radio station KGSR. It is an Austin musical tradition in the summer, and it's free. To find the show just look for an outcropping of limestone rocks in the center of the park called Rock Island.