What to do on the 4th of July, 2008

Well, my parents are coming in from San Antonio, and thought I’d post some of the things we’re considering, as well as some ideas as to what might be fun to do. We love when our parents come and visit.

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George Bush Library – July 4th

The George Bush Library hosts an Independence day celebration every year, and we’ve heard it’s fantastic. There’s a symphony, a band, an Elvis Impersonator, a magician, consssions, a fly-by of WWII planes, and of course, fireworks in he evening. Here’s a schedule from their website:

Schedule of Events:
• Concessions open at 5:00 p.m.
• Entertainment begins at 5:30 p.m.
• Presentation of Colors at 6:00 p.m.
• Fly Over at 6:30 p.m.
• Texas High Life band performs at 6:45 p.m.
• Magician Sneaky Pete Rizzo performs at 8:00 p.m.
• Elvis impersonator Jason Adams at 8:35 p.m.
• Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra begins concert at 9:00 p.m.
• Fireworks begin at 9:40 p.m.
• Grand Finale at 10:00 p.m.

Looks like you’ll need to park down the street and take a shuttle to the grounds.

Texas World Speedway (TWS website) July 5th

This is actually on Saturday, July 5th, so you can have a second day of Independence day fun.

This year, the Texas World Speedway is hosting a 4th of July celebration with a car show, a burn out competition, food, and firworks. It’s a free event that starts at 2PM and will go on till 9PM. The speedway is South on HWY 6. You’ll see the signs.

This event is to benefit the Fire Department. If you want to show your car or take part in the burnout competition, there is an entry fee. Check out their website for more info (although there’s not much there as of this post…maybe later this week).

City Pools – July 4th

The city pools will be open and apparently they are doing something as well. I can’t find much info on what they are doing, but they are doing something.

Elizabeth Lutheran Church in Caldwell – July 3rd

12th Annual Celebration & Fireworks Display
Jul 3, 2008 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm
Hwy 21 E & CR 307 In Caldwell

Elizabeth Lutheran Church will host a Community Wide Celebration of Fireworks Display. Enjoy hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, watermelon, drinks, bounce & slide, adrenaline rush maze, bingo, games, face painting, duck pond, silent auction, raffle & fireworks.

Free dance music by Southern Roots Band.
Free Admission.
Park and ride from Caldwell High School.

H-E-B Fireworks on the Brazos – July 4th

Washington, Texas
(take Hwy 6 to Navasota, then 105 West toward Washington)

Jul 4, 2008 7:00 pm
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Join the Star of the Republic Museum for H-E-B Fireworks on the Brazos. Celebrate the Nation’s independence at the last capital of the Republic of Texas. Free Blue Bell ice cream and Coca-Cola will be served starting at 7:00 pm.

Aquablast – July 5th

Jul 5, 2008 All Day
Bryan Aquatic Center
Fun for the whole family

$3 Admission

New Baden Jamboree – July 5th

5PM to 10PM – Free
New Baden Community Center
New Baden, Texas (out on Hwy 79)

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JJ’s SnoCones

These guys will NOT be open. (I just found this out, but they will be open on Saturday and Sunday regular hours.) Remember, the kiddie size is just 75¢. They’ve got some new flavors (Coke, Coke Float, Passion Fruit). Maybe you can ask for a red white and blue sno cone, like Wild Strawberry/Coconut/BlueBubbleGum, or Raspberry/Rum/CottonCandy. I am seriously considering trying a “Banana/Coke”. I know, that sounds crazy, but I’m crazy like that.

Tanglewood & Tiffany Park Splash Pads

The Splash Pads will be open and running. My family loves these.

Fireworks Warehouse

In Brazos County, fireworks known as “skyrockets with sticks” and “missiles with fins” have been banned, but other fireworks, such as sparklers and firecrackers, are still allowed.

The fireworks warehouse on South Hwy 6 (down the road from the Texas World Speedway – between College Station and Navasota) is only selling what is legally allowed to be used. I believe the artillery shells are not banned

Food

As far as food goes, We’ll see if my parents want to go back to Fish Tacos at La Bodega, or maybe burgers at the New Baden General Store…that will be a nice little drive.

Weather

Fri – July 4
Partly Cloudy
94°

Sat – July 5
Isolated Storms (I doubt it)
95°

Sun – July 6
Scattered T-Storms (I doubt this too, although it would be great)
95°

Now, Monday, it might rain…maybe.

McCafe in Bryan and College Station,McDonald’s

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a McCafe coming to a McDonald’s on Texas in Bryan, well, there’s more to this story.

The first McCafe to open in the Bryan/College Station area is on University in Northgate close to campus. We went there today and had an Iced Mocha…which was really good.

I have to say it’s comparable to at least Hastings and Barnes & Nobles, and quite possibly Starbuck’s. Although Starbuck’s has it’s own distinct flavor, so I can’t say it’s the same.

Anyway, It was a very good tasting Iced Mocha. And the remodeling of the store was nice too.

They offer Hot Chocolate, Iced Lattes, cappuccinos. I’ll probably have a few more Mochas before I try those other guys, but I don’t know why they would be any different (quality-wise).

So, here’s what I know: Univerity at Northgate is open and running. Texas Avenue in Bryan will probably be next (they have been remodeling for about 2 weeks now). Southwest Parkway and Texas avenue will be after them. They told me that groundbreaking will happen in mid July for the McCafe remodel.

I am assuming the restaurant on 21 and the one on Villa Maria will happen soon…not sure when though.

I read somewhere that McDonald’s has around 14,000 restaurants in the US, and they are planning to remodel “most” of them with a McCafe.

Now, I am assuming that the service will not change. By that I mean that what we’ve come to expect from places like Starbuck’s, with their “happy, everything is great” attitude, and Sweet Eugene’s with their “I’m glad you are here, hang out for a while” attitude, will probably never spill over to the McDonald’s experience.

I worked there many years ago, and I really had no motivation to do much more than what would get me a raise. Now, if they had a program where I could be an owner (you know, like own some shares or something), then I would welcome the football rushes and the new gourmet coffee phenomenon that is sweeping the nation.

I’m saying this because the cashiers that I’ve encountered at these McDonald’s have the same attitude they’ve always had. Quick to complain, not knowledgable on the happenings of the store or their company, and really just doing the job. There are exceptions of course, but I’m not talking about them.

See, if that drive-thru cashier was a part owner of her store, she would have told me that she would be happy when the McCafe was finished, and would love if I told everyone about it and came back often, instead, she said, “It’s really just more work for us.”

The other day, I knew more information about the McCafe’s coming to town that the cashier I spoke to. She was under the impression that her store was the only one in town that was going to have the McCafe. She also had no idea that we were not going to need to learn a new language to order a beverage. Man, wouldn’t it benefit everyone if the store owner…

Oh, whatever. It’s not important…the McCafe coffee is good. Put your perceptions of McDonald’s aside and go try it out. It’s cheaper than Starbuck’s.

I’m going back.

$6000 Worth of Savings in a Bryan and College Station Coupon Book

I was called the other day, about 3 weeks ago, and they were offering one of those coupon books. I asked them to give me a week to think about it and I went to their website.

I wanted to find out what the restaurants and services were being offered. Turns out, it’s a great variety, not just a bunch of Jack-In-The-Box and Chik-Fil-A coupons.

Basically it’s a bunch of buy-one-get-one-free coupons for restaurants around town, as well as some pretty good coupons for services and entertainment stuff around town. And it was only $40.00. That’s pretty good.

There are 370 offers from 200 businesses, including 180 “2 for 1″ offers from 90 restaurants, “2 for 1″ entertainment & golf, free & 50% off merchandise & services, and all 370 offers are valid through July 31, 2009.

Here are some of the restaurants:

Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar
Cafe Eccell
Caffe Capri Italian Restaurant
Carino’s Italian Grill
Carter’s Burger
Cenare Italian Restaurant
Chef Cao’s Restaurant
Chicken Oil Co.
Cowboy Cafe
Dixie Chicken Saloon
Doc Green’s Salads & Grill
Edge Cafe, The
Filling Station Restaurant
Fitzwilly’s Bar & Grille
Fredrickos
Garpez Authentic Mexican Food
Gatti Town
Haiku Sushi Habachi Grill
Hampton’s Cafe
Harvey Washbangers
J-Cody’s Steaks & BBQ
Johnny Carino’s
Junek’s Barbeque Grill
Ken Martin’s Safari Grille
Kettle-American’s Kitchen
Kyoto Japanese Sushi Restaurant
La Bodega Baja Taco Bar
La Riviera Restaurant & Bakery
Lakeside Ice House & Grill
Las Lomas Mexican Grill
Laurie P’s BBQ
Los Molcajetes Mexican Food
Los Nortenos Cafe
Margarita Rocks
Margie’s Bar & Grill
Martin’s Place BBQ
Pyro Mongolian Fusion Grill
Seafood House
Shannon’s Cafe
Square One Restaurant
Tampico Taqueria
Taquerias Arandas
Texas Road House
Veritas Wine & Bistro
Vintage House Restaurant (At Messina Hof Winery)
Wrangler Steak House

See their website for the full listing. It’s a pretty good list.

So, I suggest you call them up and get one. It not only benefits you, but it also benefits the Bryan High School Viking Band Booster Club and the A&M Consolidated “Young Farmers” FFA Booster Club.

Their phone number is 979-774-3890.

We just received ours in the mail this week…woohoo!

12 Things to do at Lake Bryan

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

Best Burger in (another) Town

I met some friends way out in the middle of nowhere (actually about an hour North of Bryan – Hwy 6 to Hearne, then Hwy 79 through Franklin), and there, was a little store, right on the corner, called New Baden General Store. We went inside, through the “country store” area, and to my surprise, there were tables, the smell of grilling burgers, and the place was packed with people.

They had daily specials, but my friends said I needed to get the burger.

Here’s what the Historic New Baden Website has to say about the place:

Opened in 1884 and operating out of this building since 1906, the New Baden General Store Store is still operating in 2003 as a grocery store (selling locally grown fresh produce), meat market, deli counter, hamburger and short-order grill (with several tables for seating), feed store, hardware store, & gas station. Operated for years as “Mrs. E. Schultz & Son”, the store was run by the Schultz family for many, many years. The original building is a one-story structure with rolled tin canopy and brick parapet.

What a cool place. Finding the bathroom was interesting. Go back into the warehouse and look around, you’ll find it. Well, I actually kinda got lost back there. Turns out it was more obvious than I thought. I get distracted easily.

The burger was fantastic. As you’d expect, greasy and yummy. Service was super friendly. Just a bunch of country folk having a relaxed lunch.

The whole place was cool. We looked around in the store and if you haven’t been in a general store, it’s basically just a really, really small grocery store. Postcards, some local handicrafts, bread, peanut butter and the like.

This place reminded me of a similar place in Percilla, Texas (in East Texas) where I ate lunch with my pastor friend. He made sure to sit so he could see the door, and he knew just about everyone who walked in the door. Most of them came and sat down at the table with us. How friendly.

This is the same feeling I got at the New Baden General Store. Just friendly.

We’re planning on going to the New Baden Jamboree this month (every 1st Saturday of the month at the New Baden Community Center), and I believe the General Store supplies the burgers. I’ll let you know in another post.

Enjoy

jorge