Bryan & College Station, Texas

First of all, a little info:

Lake Bryan is owned by the local utilities company (BTU). They use the lake to cool their power plant (which you can see from the lake). The use of the water by the power plant does not affect the consumption of the fish in the lake. Here’s what WikiPedia has to say about it:

Lake Bryan is a power plant cooling reservoir in Brazos County, 5 miles (8 km) west of Bryan, Texas, USA. The dam and lake are managed by Bryan Texas Utilities which uses the reservoir as a cooling pond for the electrical generators in the Dansby Power Plant. The reservoir was officially impounded in 1974.

My family visited for the first time on a very windy day. Our food practically flew off the picnic table. There were wind surfers, jet skiers, water skiers, volleyball players, a few dogs and other people having picnics. We’ll go back to swim and hang out in the Spring or Summer.

• Day use fee $3/car weekdays, $5/car weekends and holidays
• Open 6 am to 7:30 pm November 1-February, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. March-October

There’s a restaurant (which is closed during the Winter Months), a boat landing and picnic tables just as you enter the park. The main area is across a bridge and into the center of the lake, where there’s a covered pavilion, volleyball courts, picnic tables, a beach, a stage and lots of room to run a play.

Here’s a list of things you can do at Bryan Lake:

1. Picnic: This is what we did. There’s a covered pavilion, and lots of picnic tables all around the area. There are BBQ pits at a few of the tables and a few large Oak trees for shade.

2. Swimming: It was too cold in December, but we will be back in the Spring to swim. In the middle section, at the tip, there’s a beach, and a large area cordoned off for swimming. Not sure how deep it was, but I’ll let you know.

3. Fishing: Looks like there’s Sunfish, Catfish, Crappie and Large Mouth Bass. Here’s what the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website has to say about it:

• Prey species: Sunfish make up the majority of prey fish in Lake Bryan. Gizzard and threadfin shad are present but in low numbers. Bluegill are the most abundant of the sunfish species, and most are < 4 inches in length. Threadfin shad were stocked in 1992 but do not contribute significantly to the prey base in Lake Bryan.
• Catfishes: Channel catfish abundance has declined over the past few years. Only one individual was captured in the 2006 gill net survey. However, the creel survey indicates anglers do target and catch channel catfish. Growth of channel catfish at Lake Bryan is slow.
• Largemouth bass: Largemouth bass are abundant in Lake Bryan with fish up to 21 inches collected in our electrofishing survey in 2005. The 18-inch minimum length limit has allowed the population to produce larger sized bass for anglers. The current lake record is over 7 pounds.
• Crappie: Catches of crappie in our monitoring surveys are typically poor. Though directed angler effort for crappie was low in the 2004 creel survey, anglers did report catching and releasing crappie, with some harvest of black crappie. Hybrid crappie were stocked in 1997 in an attempt to increase the numbers of crappie available for harvest; however, none were collected in the present survey.

4. Water Skiing: We saw some water skiing over by the dam. Looks fun.

5. Wind Surfing: There were two wind surfers on the windy day we went.

6. Mountain Biking: At the time of this writing, the trails are closed because of rain and mud, but I am definitely looking forward to hitting those trails. There’s an organization in town that even goes out periodically and services the trails to keep them nice and safe. Here’s a map of the Lake Bryan trails, and a place to find out the status of the trails at any given moment. (although the trails are not actually “closed” when they say “closed”, it’s just a reminder that the less they are taken care of, the more possibility there will be that they won’t be rideable in the future).

7. Hiking: Although the trails are perfect for mountain bikes, they are great for walking and birdwatching. Being a water area, there will always be interesting birds to look for.

8. Boating: There’s a boat ramp

9. Jet Skiing: Saw a couple of these while we were there.

10. Volleyball: There was at least one sand volleyball court that we saw. Looked in good shape.

11. Watch a show: There’s a stage out there. Not sure what ever happens on it, but it’s out there. Looks like a perfect place for an open mic night.

12. Eat at the Restaurant: Called The Hook Lakeside Bar & Grill“. They offer Catfish Tacos, Burgers, Po Boys and seafood platters at fairly decent prices.

13. Camping: I believe there’s an RV hookup per day charge as well as a tent charge. I can’t remember what it is, but I remember that there’s a thing called the “Honor Pole” where you pay what you owe. That’s fun.

Have fun.

jorge

We love the library. Each week we go and check out on average about 40 books. The limit per is 50 at one time, which we’ve never hit, probably because our library bag can’t hold that many books.

The Bryan and College Station (Larry J. Ringer) libraries are connected, so you can return your books to either library. They told me they make a round trip every morning for various reasons.

Both libraries have a 7 movie limit (DVD and VHS), and the movies are due back in a week. The late charges are pretty steep, so get them back on time.

We like the Bryan library most, although for convenience, we end up at the College Station one.

The Bryan library has the most children’s books of the two, in fact, there’s a whole second floor dedicated to children’s books. They also have a “new books” section for children’s books that is where we go first. We love the new stories and new illustrators featured in the new books.

The College Station library used to have a new children’s book section, but they got rid of it. I asked them about it and they asked me to fill out a request form, but nothing has happened since.

Both libraries have internet, and everything else you’d expect at a library.

Their movies are pretty good. They don’t have a huge selection, but it’s OK. We actually found “Meerkat Manor” the other day (which is great, if you haven’t seen it, check it out). They’ve got a bunch of “Reading Rainbow”, (remember LeVar Burton?), and although you won’t find too many new releases, if you are patient, some of them make it to their shelves. We’ve checked out the TV series “24″, the BBC series “Planet Earth”, March of the Penguins, various National Geographic episodes and Veggie Tales to name a few.

Something really cool about these libraries is that with your library card number, you can go online and manage your account. You can search for and request books, you can reserve copies of books (if there’s a wait, you can set up how they tell you it’s available…either by phone call or email). You can even renew checked out books and see when your checked out books are due back.

The one thing I have to go to their website for is their hours of operation. It’s all over the place.

Here they are:

Do you see the confusion? I don’t know how many times I’ve forgotten the hours and gone to one or the other and found it closed, only to have to drive across town to get to the other one.

And what’s up with Fridays and Saturdays closing at 5? I guess Librarians need some “personal” time too…I guess.

Besides the silly hours, the librarians are all very nice and very helpful. At the College Station Library, there’s a librarian there named “Autumn” who knows her way around the children’s section like nobody’s business. Ask her about anything and she’ll have a book for you, in fact, she’ll most likely have 5 or 6 books for you to have a look at.

We love the library.

It seems that children’s books can be late without incurring a fee. I haven’t asked them what the deal is with that (and have actually been pretty late and not been charged), but the movies are expensive if you go over. I think it’s like $1.50 per day over the due date. Ouch. Regular books incur a late fee too.

We just recently accidentally ruined a book (someone spilled water on it) and had to pay for a new book. That was a bummer.

I guess I’ve been talking all about the children’s books, but it’s where we spend most of our time. Both libraries also have a toys section with puzzles and legos and puppets. Pretty nice of them. But the rest of the library is great too. Again, everything you’d expect from a library.

The Bryan Library is in Downtown Bryan, and looks more like what a library should look like, whatever that means, and the College Station library is more modern, higher ceilings, more light, etc.

We’ll be there this week I’m sure.

jorge

There are 9 Starbuck’s in town, and about as many non-Starbuck’s Coffee Shops.

As far as other “chains”, there’s an “It’s a Grind” on University (which have a great “perks” program where you get deep discounts at least once a month - like $1 specialty drinks, buy one get one free, and free drink on your birthday), the standard coffee shop in the Barnes & Noble, and the Hastings on Texas and Holleman has a nice cafe too.

Our favorite Coffee Shop is Sweet Eugene’s. Couches everywhere, free Wi-Fi, Great Coffee, an outside patio area, a drive thru, good prices, and a donut shop inside the store. The staff is very nice and very calm considering how crowded it gets.

Their Mocha drinks have chocolate sprinkles in them…yum.

There’s a place called “Coffee Station” on Harvey, but I’ve not been there. There’s also another called “Java Joy” way over on the other side of town by the Wal-Mart that has a couple of meeting rooms and good coffee as well. There’s a little Shack called “Java Jitters” behind the IHOP on University, but we didn’t like their Iced Mocha so much. We know people who say this is the best place in town, so don’t take my word for it.

Our favorite Starbuck’s is on Texas and Villa Maria. The servers there seems like they know what they are doing better than the others, and it’s fairly convenient with it’s drive thru. They once accidentally gave us caffinated coffees instead of the decaf we ordered (it was 10:30 at night…and a Venti) and early in the morning, we called and told them that their mistake had made it so that we didn’t sleep all night, so they gave us a free (decaf) coffee. Very nice of them.

The Starbuck’s in Northgate (on University right across from the campus) made the best Mocha Frappuccino I’ve ever had. Apparently I was what they called a “Once-A-Week Decaf Frap”, so instead of making a mix they would have to throw out at the end of each day, they have to make them special. They brewed a strong cup of decaf, and blended the most wonderful icy cold beverage. I also met a homeless man who said his name was Alfred, and he was named after Albert Einstein. I had to wait for the coffee to brew so I asked Alfred to sit down and talk with me. He knew all about the weather and how cold it was going to get…and he was right. He told me he doesn’t get much sleep, but he was very proud of his coat. He was sweet, but I kept losing his attention.

Coffee shops are almost always packed, well, not during the summer and the Winter break, but that makes them more interesting. There’s almost always a study group or Bible study going on, and almost everyone has a laptop and ear buds.

Oh, something cool about the Starbuck’s in the Kroger’s. Get a Kroger’s card (which they scan in for discounts throughout the store) and make sure you give it to the Starbuck’s clerk. After 10 drinks, you get one free.

Oh, and if you wanted to, you could always load my Starbuck’s card using these instructions. I’ve contacted Starbuck’s with a request to make a widget or something that would make it easy for people to load Starbuck’s cards, but no news yet.

Enjoy

Jorge

Being brought up in a Latin household, I got used to eating a certain way. Then when I married my wife, new foods were added to my preferences, but over the years, she too has been won over to the Latin way of eating…well, some of it.

So, if you are like my family and need a place to find not just jalapeños and Mole, the H-E-B on Villa Maria is the place to go.

There are three H-E-B’s in town. One is usually inundated with college students (on Texas and Holleman), one is on Texas and Villa Maria, and the other is a smaller “Pantry” version over on Hwy 21.

The College H-E-B (Texas and Holleman) has a great Healthy section where you can find herbs, vitamins and natural stuff and a bulk section, the other two stores do not have these sections of the store. In fact, other than the Brazos Natural Foods store (on Texas and Rosemary), there aren’t many other places to go to get herbs and healthy stuff. (Although the Koger on Boonville and Hwy 6 has a good Healthy section).

Anyway, back to the Latin food.

The H-E-B on Villa Maria has one of the largest Goya Product section I’ve seen. From Beans (both the blue and the red can) to Guava Paste and Mariquitas, Malta to Mojo Criollo and Sazon.

They’ve also got a fairly large Frozen Goya Section too, with Tostones, Platano Dulce, various fruit pulp, Discos to make Empanadas, and even pre-made Cheese and Meat Empanadas.

The sections are always stocked. Which is interesting because I don’t know anyone who eats Pasta de Guajaba, or drinks Malta. I guess there’s enough of a demand for these things to keep them on the shelf. Even when I lived in San Antonio (where there is a very large Puertorican and Cuban population) I had trouble finding these items at the regular grocery stores. I would have to go specifically to one of the various Latin Grocery stores in town.

You’d think there’d be a Cuban restaurant in town with all this selection, but no, there’s not. I’ll be the first to take my family if one opens up.

The Super Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Albertsons also have Goya products, but the H-E-B on Villa Maria is the largest section, with more varieties.

So, if you are in the mood for something different, I suggest trying “Malta Goya”. It’s a Malt Beverage…non alcoholic which you’ll find usually in a six-pack on the bottom shelf. Most people I know say it stinks and taste like it smells. I love it.

Something else to try is Plantain chips. There are a few brands that make them (Goya, Chiefles, Mariquitas), so check it out.

One of my favorites is “Pasta de Gauyaba” with a salty, bland white cheese (see the picture below). You can go to the Mexican cheese section and look for a panela or a cotija with around 130 sodium. Slice the cheese and the Guava Paste in little strips and eat them together. It’s a dessert.

You can also take the guava paste and place them inside Puff Pastry Sheets (Look for them in the freezers close to the frozen fruit and the cool whip), bake using the directions on the Puff Pastry Sheet box and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Yum.

I actually found a Guava Jelly at the Kroger on Boonville that is not sweetened with sugar (or artificial sweetener), but fruit juice. It is wonderful.

I’m hungry.

Jorge

Have you seen Google’s Street View thingy yet? It’s a way for you to look at a 360 degree view of certain streets in certain cities.

Major cities like San Fransisco, Houston, and Miami are available, and Google said they would add cities in the future.

Well, my wife was driving in town and saw one of the Google Maps vehicles. That means that our minivan might be on the Google College Station Street View. That would be fun. I’ll let you know when College Station Street View becomes available. The day the vehicle was spotted was December 6th, 2007, around 2:00pm, on Texas Avenue between Villa Maria and University Drive. I read that there’s 6 vehicles out there at any given time.

There’s been some legal issues with all this and privacy. I guess people don’t like the idea of not having a choice if their property or their picture are publicly displayed. Looks like Google is working to conceal faces and license plates in the future, at least in Europe, and possibly in the US. Apparently there were some people photographed walking into adult book stores and strip clubs and they could actually be identified.

I’m assuming Google doesn’t reveal where they are going to be so that there won’t be people doing things in front of the cameras. If I knew they were going to be in town, I’d probably make a sign or something. Maybe rent a mascot costume and chase the van around to try to get into multiple shots. That would be fun.

I found another picture of what one of the camera mounts look like (below), so keep your eyes peeled, and your mascot costume in the trunk of your car.

jorge