Nerve Endings Firing Away

A small university town on the fringes of Texas metropolis may not exactly be the place to visit but College Station was featured in the New York Times Travel (way back in September last year) as a weekend escape.

Now don’t expect a packed schedule like visiting some European or even an American mid-sized city and life revolves predictably around the university which not only is the major employer but also the reason for this town’s existence. Although bordered by an almost-twin city of Bryan which has deeper historical roots, College Station still manages to hold its own. The Messina Hof Winery of course is a prime attraction and seems a tad out of place in this otherwise typical Texan town. The La Salle Hotel located on Main Street Bryan is one of the rare building in the region on the National Register of Historic Places.

Of course, the presence of Texas A&M, one of the nation’s largest universities has a overshadowing impact on the town’s places-to-visit. The campus buildings aren’t your traditional Gothic style since the university started out as a military school. The Corps of Cadets is still the face of the university and thus has barrack-style boring buildings. The Northgate District, my residential locality before I moved earlier last month is known for the plethora of bars. The Dixie Chicken has the honor of serving the most beer per square foot than any other bar in the country. Rumor has it that on certain nights like ring dunking (dunking your graduation ring in a beer pitcher and getting to it only by downing the pitcher), the bars are known to run out of beer by late night [I bet that just happened once] How’s that for being a guzzler?

The other obvious attraction is Kyle Field, home to the Aggie Football team and definitely the best time to visit is during a game more so against rivals U of Texas, Texas Tech, or Oklahoma. If you are gonna be here a day before, then you must attend the midnight yell where the yell leaders rehearse the next day cheers. The intensity of school rivalry is best seen here. NY Times compares the halftime marching band performance as “you’d have to go to North Korea to match the choreographed pageantry of A&M’s band and corps of cadets.” I have seen it and I must agree. It is an amazing sight.

The Bush Presidential Library is not too far and is practically on campus. I haven’t visited it yet and am waiting for someone to visit me so I can take them. There are other local small-time attractions like the Texas Hall of Fame. I am no fan of hall-of-fames but some may like a quick look at pinboard history.

Of course, living in College Station is a completely different matter and I’ll probably touch on that subject in a later post. In the meantime, let me know if any of you are headed here, we can go and check some of these places out. But as you see, it is all seasonal.