Texas? (Travel Advice)

[rubecube]

Looks like there's a music festival in Austin that weekend as well (shocking!).

http://funfunfunfest.com/

[BlurstOfTimes]

As a Houstonian and Aggie I recommend Austin, College Station, Dallas. Houston doesn’t have much to offer other than NASA, or a sporting event (not much going on when you’ll be there). Then again, Dallas doesn’t have much to offer either other than sports. Unless you like shopping, they both suck for tourism. NASA is awesome but you’d basically have to skip on one of the football games to do it.

Option 1
- Fly into Austin and check it out Friday night. Could be some interesting shows going on with FunFunFun Fest happening.
- Drive to College Station early and enjoy some tailgating. You’ll want to get there at least 3 hours before kick-off. Traffic can build up quick and the public pay parking also fills up. Auburn travels well so expect some fun trash talk. Be prepared to walk and have some beer with you for the walk, it can still be quite warm in November. You'll have no problem getting offered free food and beer just stopping by people's tailgates and saying you’re visiting from Canada. Good tailgate spots on west Campus near Reed Arena and Rec Center, the other big spot is Spence Park on the east side of the stadium. Go to the game and witness crazy traditions as others have posted. Do bring a seat cushion as someone suggested. Check FlashSeats for tickets. Go to the North Gate bar district after the game. It’s an easy walk the stadium, just follow the crowd.
- Head to Dallas early and plan on getting to Jerryworld early. Friends went a couple years ago for the Green Bay game and it took them 2 hours to get to the stadium from their hotel < 10 miles away. Traffic is a disaster, parking is a disaster. I believe there are shuttle busses from some of the nearby bars.


Option 2
- Fly into Houston and drive to College Station immediately. Avoid the Houston traffic and sprawl as much as possible.
- Check out campus, North Gate bar district, Midnight Yell (experience the crazy traditions and new stadium). Dixie Chicken and Dry Bean are the “traditional” bars that have been around for decades everything else is relatively new (2006 or newer).
- Drive to Austin early on Saturday. Have some BBQ along the way. Go to the UT-KU game and check out 6th street and downtown.
- Head to Dallas Sunday for Cowboys game

The Guadalupe River in New Braunfels is a lot of fun, but it’s at least a half day to float plus extra driving time. You’d have to skip a college ball game.



Tips
- Traffic can be terrible in each city you want to visit, including little College Station on game day. Plan extra time for it especially if there is any rainy weather. 35 getting to Dallas/Arlington can be a nightmare. There are toll roads in every city so make sure you have change or your rental has a toll tag. The toll tags work statewide.
- A lot of the hotels in Austin and College Station will have 2 night minimums on game weekends. VRBO, Air BNB, or Craigslist are good options but book now as game weekends fill up and may already be hard to find any room anywhere in Aggieland.
- Make sure you have your drivers license and passport. Bars can sometimes be jerks about foreign drivers licenses.
- Weather could be anything from hot (80-90) and dry to cool (40s) and drizzly. Most likely on the warmer side.


If you have to narrow it down to two stops I suggest College Station (SEC, tailgating, easier to get around) and Dallas. There is more to do in Austin and that could be a whole trip on its own, including checking out the rivers, Hill Country, etc.

Good luck

[Swayze11]

Highly recommend flying into Austin. Smaller airport, shorter lines and much better city. Check out UT campus, one of the nicest I have been to. Also, other people have mentioned they have great seafood and mexican.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Bumping a very old thread.

It's no secret that I grew up a HUGE Nolan Ryan fan, and as such am a massive Texas Rangers fan.

Was toying with the idea of using points to fly down to catch a game at the Ballpark at Arlington this summer.

Thing is... what the heck is there to do in the Dallas-Fort Worth area aside from going to the ballgames, and a day at 6-Flags?

[CofR]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Bumping a very old thread.

It's no secret that I grew up a HUGE Nolan Ryan fan, and as such am a massive Texas Rangers fan.

Was toying with the idea of using points to fly down to catch a game at the Ballpark at Arlington this summer.

Thing is... what the heck is there to do in the Dallas-Fort Worth area aside from going to the ballgames, and a day at 6-Flags?

Was in Dallas last year in the fall to watch some football... It's actually a city I enjoyed a lot more than I expected to. Plenty of nice trendy areas with lots of great BBQ to eat and beer to drink.

Check out the Book Depository, really interesting place:

https://www.jfk.org/the-museum/

[JD]

Originally Posted by CofR

Check out the Book Depository, really interesting place:

https://www.jfk.org/the-museum/

Yup, I enjoyed that museum far more than I thought I would. The area around there is pretty interesting to wander too.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Hotels are a waste of money. I'd rather stay in a hostel, but there don't appear to be many in the area.

Hotels in Arlington on Cowboys game day are nuts. Any other day, Arlington is super cheap.

If you are into rides and rollercoaster, there is a 6 Flags Over Texas across from the football stadium that is awesome. Not sure if it’s open year round though.

..... didn’t realize this was a bumped thread.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Bumping a very old thread.

It's no secret that I grew up a HUGE Nolan Ryan fan, and as such am a massive Texas Rangers fan.

Was toying with the idea of using points to fly down to catch a game at the Ballpark at Arlington this summer.

Thing is... what the heck is there to do in the Dallas-Fort Worth area aside from going to the ballgames, and a day at 6-Flags?

Quite a bit. A lot of stuff is in this thread. I travel quite a bit for work and Dallas is one of the cities I thought was vacation worthy and brought my wife to.

If your main purpose is baseball, make sure to stay in arlington. It’s a long ways out from Dallas and traffic is brutal.

[Strange Brew]

The new exhibit of a shuttle model on back of 747 at NASA is awesome. Worth the trip if you're into that kind of thing. But not convenient to Austin or Dallas. Austin is way more interesting than College Station. In fact, if I was a tourist that's where I would spend majority of my time. It's pretty there too.

Great restaurants in Houston, Dallas and Austin. Just skip any of the chain restaurants. And if it was me, I would skip Galveston.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

The new exhibit of a shuttle model on back of 747 at NASA is awesome. Worth the trip if you're into that kind of thing. But not convenient to Austin or Dallas. Austin is way more interesting than College Station. In fact, if I was a tourist that's where I would spend majority of my time. It's pretty there too.

Great restaurants in Houston, Dallas and Austin. Just skip any of the chain restaurants. And if it was me, I would skip Galveston.

Except Whataburger. Those are great!

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Sounds like a pretty sweet trip. Any opportunity to watch a HS game on the Friday?

I went to Texas about 5 years back, because I lived in Dallas back in 1989 when I went to school.

I made a point of going to Odessa on a Friday Night and going to a Permian Panther's football game.

If you're any kind of a football fan, going to a high school game is almost a bigger experience then going to a college game.

You also might never know if you're seeing the next NFL or CFL star playing.

Also eat as much BBQ as you can, yeah you're shaving years off of your life but so worth it.

[MRCboicgy]

Old Town Fort Worth is surprisingly nice. For food in the metroplex, big fan of Twisted Root burger locations.