Austin is situated in the heart of Texas, surrounded by the beautiful Texas hill country.

The Capitol and the University of Texas Tower still figure in the city's skyline and command much of its attention. The city is vibrant and compelling in a way that no other city in Texas can quite match. But to those who love her there is an enduring vision of Austin - The southwestern pastels of pink and white set against the green contours of the hills lingers pleasantly in the collective imagination. Everyone who lives in Austin, or even tarries for a visit, takes away a vision.

From sunrise until dark, the joggers make their circular peregrination around Town Lake. The lake itself is the lowermost of a 150-mile-long series of seven lakes created by a succession of dams along the Colorado River. Beautification efforts, spearheaded by Lady Bird Johnson, have laced the lakeside trails with gazebos, flowering trees, and thousands of small horticultural grace notes.

The same plentiful dose of sunlight that nourishes the lakeside greenery also catches the men working the high iron around the peak of downtown's Bank One tower. There are no designer sweats or matching shar-peis up here. One of the city's first new generation of skyscrapers, built in the early 1970's, the bank tower once dominated downtown in haughty, splendor.

Commuters begin flocking into town before the sun has even made its initial appearance. They come from the bedroom communities of Round Rock, Cedar Park, and the piguantly named Pflugerville, bound for the glass-fronted headquarters of Austin's collection of shiny, high-tech industries.

Mike Gharbi