LBJ and the Texas Hill Country

IMG_0599

The Path to Power: LBJ and the Texas Hill Country
April 18-21

mike_bbq

Join Paul Gronke, professor of political science, and Mike Teskey, director of alumni relations, in an examination of the Texas Hill Country that President Johnson called home. Using volume one of Robert Caro’s biography as the main subject text (along with some other suggested readings), we will explore the LBJ Library, Johnson City, the Texas White House, and areas in between.  Lest you think this extended weekend is all about LBJ, April is prime wildflower season, so we will also visit the Wildflower Center (one of Ladybird’s legacies) along with experiencing some Austin (and Luckenbach) music and dining on Texas barbeque.

JohnsonCowboyPrice: $595 per person includes lodging (double occupancy), ground transportation, and entrance fees. $400 per person price excludes lodging.

Full itinerary, details and registration information: LBJ Heartland

lbj_barn

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to LBJ and the Texas Hill Country

  1. Judith Wolfe says:

    I wish I could be a “booster” for this one. I lived in Austin, TX for 7 years, I moved there from Portland, after attending Reed ’75-’77, ’78-’80 and continuing to live there until ’87. After coming from the lush, green Pacific Northwest it took some getting used to. I moved to Austin in August and everything just kind of looked dead. 🙂 But I learned to appreciate the beauty of the landscape in the Texas hill country, it just, certainly, different than the mid-atlantic where I grew up, and Portland, where I lived for 11 years.

    The live oaks are extraordinary, and thank you Lady Bird! The wildflower displays in the spring are really quite amazing. Everyone who goes on the trip will have to have the obligatory picture of them sitting in a field of blue bonnets. LOL. Every spring, you go out on a drive or hike to look at the display of wild flowers and there always multiple “butt prints” in every field of blue bonnets. 🙂 Don’t let people worry about crushing the blue bonnets, everyone does it … like I said, that picture sitting in a field of blue bonnets is obligatory.

    Anyway, if anyone has any questions about whether the trip is worth, I can tell them yes, at least from an ex-resident’s perspective, not from a naturalist’s perspective.

    I have found that a lot of people have a lot of misconceptions about Texas but the hill country is beautiful in the spring. And the Tex-Mex is awesome eating too.

  2. Paul G. says:

    Judith
    Any suggested readings on Lady Bird? I have selected chapters on LBJ up on a Moodle and some video clips of his old speeches, but I haven’t found much yet on Lady Bird.

  3. Don Green says:

    The trip blog mentions vol 1 of Caros books on LBJ. I have read #3 on the list of his books, Master of the Senate. I just bought the latest one called The Passage of Power. I gather that the one Gronke would like us to read is Vol 1, Path to Power. Please confirm. (Vol 2 is Means of Ascent.). I worked for LBJ, 1964-1969, at OMB. Will be joining the Reed alumni group.

Comments are closed.