Bryan & College Station, Texas

We recently went to Central Park in College Station. The grounds are very nice, and although the playground is fairly small, there were other things to do.

There’s a basketball court, pavillions, baseball fields, picnic tables, paved trails, a pond and ducks.

Lots of ducks. And geese. We took peanut butter and honey sandwiches, goldfish crackers and granola bars, and those ducks ate almost everything we threw at them. I mean toward them.

My kids don’t eat the crust of their sandwiches. My mom always made us eat ours, and for the most part we make our kids eat theirs, but not when there are ducks around.

There is one goose in particular that is pretty big, and apparently the scout, well, at least not afraid to come right up to you.

In fact, at one point, I found our 4 year old (who we call the “Bug Whisperer”) petting it…practically hugging it.

I’m not convinced ducks like peanut butter, but they ate just about everything we threw at them.

The pond was very pretty and well kept. Looks like it’s stocked with fish and you can actually catch them, so bring your rod. The regular Texas Parks and Wildlife limits for bagging apply to this pond. The Central Park pond has Trout and Catfish in it.

Here are some tips on releasing fish:

Quickly play and release fish.
Keep fish in water as much as possible.
Remove hook with pliers or cut line.
Gently place fish back into water.
Revive fish by holding upright in water and moving back and forth, gently forcing water through gills.

Enjoy

jorge

Tanglewood park is a great park in town. It’s one of three “Splash Pads” in Bryan and College Station (one at Tiffany Park, and another at Lincoln Center).

These Splash Pads consist of fountains and even a water bucket that fills up and splashes down. It’s great fun in the summer and spring. It’s about the size of a basketball court…maybe smaller, and there’s a controller to turn it on when it turns itself off. The cycle is about 10 minutes, and the controller is just a post with a round top that is touch activated.

I read this about the Splash Pads from the Eagle website:

Based on the popularity splash pads in Bryan/College Station, city officials are considering including more of these features in future projects, so be sure to keep the look out for new splash pads this Summer.

I called the City of Bryan Parks and Recreation, and they told me that the water is City Water, just like you’d get out of your faucet.

Tanglewood park has several covered pavillions, three playgrounds, a sand volleyball court and loads of picnic tables.

We really like this park. Not as much variety as Austin’s Colony (well, except for the Splash Pad) but great playgrounds, and although it’s a well know park, we’ve never had trouble finding empty picnic tables.

You can get there from Villa Maria, 29th or Texas Ave.

And just so you know, here’s a website that sells these Water Play Features. I don’t know if Bryan and College Station get them any cheaper, but we can assume that these are approximately the price our city paid as well. I guess that’s what our taxes are paying for. I’m OK with that. Parks are fun.

Go play.

Jorge

Our favorite Park/Playground in town is definitely Austin’s Colony.

The park is behind Harvey Mitchel Elementary School, but we’ve gone during School times and the park is big enough that we don’t bother the kids at recess.

There are actually 3 playground areas, so we have a choice when we go there. There are also basketball courts, tennis courts, and even a paved skating rink with hockey goals in it.

There are some paved walking trails at the far end of the park that winds around a pond or creek or something, which means mosquitoes in the Spring and Summer, and watch out for Poison Ivy around the trails. (look for three leaves with a red stem where the leaves come off the larger stem, and wash off immediately with Lye soap if you rub on the plant).

The bathrooms are usually pretty clean (considering they are those public park toilets), and since they are one one side of the park, there has been at least one occasion where a certain little girl couldn’t hold it long enough to make it to the other side of the park. We found a secluded place behind a tree close to the pond/creek and left our mark.

The ground around the playgrounds are that “poured-in-place” rubber stuff and it’s kinda falling apart, but it’s soft, which has cushioned my kids’ heads many times.

We’ve seen some teenagers come out and hang out at the picnic tables every once in a while, but not causing trouble.

The pavilion is a nice size for around 75 people.

Jorge