Best things to see/do on Texas College Roadtrip

Parents Forum
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We will be visiting Texas this spring to visit some schools our D23 is interested in applying to next year. Our tour starts at UT Austin and ends at TCU with visits to: UT Austin, Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech and TCU. Originally SMU was also on the list, but it just doesn’t seem like the best fit for her.

Day 1 - Arrival - late late
Day 2 - UT Austin Tour and Travel to College Station (looking for maybe 1 awesome don’t miss in town, anything not to miss on campus, and 1 awesome eating place) - Evening travel to College Station staying on campus.
Day 3 - 9 A&M start with Tours most of the day. Evening open
Day 4 - College Station all Day - Travel to Waco Evening (looking for anything interesting in the College Station area including Best Eats/Shopping/any really cool activities?) This is a Saturday
Day 5 - All Day Waco - Magnolia is the plan. Hopefully open on Sundays?
Day 6 - Baylor Tour - Evening to eat and explore more of Waco area. Anything other than Magnolia not to miss in Waco? Where should we eat here?
Day 7 - Travel to Lubbock & explore the area. (good eats? what is there to do in Lubbock?)
Day 8 - Texas Tech Tour 8-12. Eat and travel back to DFW
Da 9 - Open Day for DFW area - Plan shopping for senior pics (Cool boutiques/shopping area? I know Galleria in Dallas anywhere else?) Fort Worth Zoo? We are staying in the Sundance Square area.
Day 10 - TCU Tour - Take a former teammate to lunch that is a current freshman. Afternoon/Evening open. Will do Stockyards for sure. Anything else we missed?
Day 11 - Flight Home at 8am.

Thanks for any tips and tricks to help make our Texas College Roadtrip interesting and hopefully a little mini vacay for my D23 and me.

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That’s a lot of time and money to visit schools just to find out whether to apply or not. You can apply to schools without visiting , narrow the list after acceptances and then go visit some targets.

Are these schools affordable full pay? Would a school like Texas Tech be an upgrade over your state flagship? Would it be cheaper?Depending on major some could be reaches depending on your D’s stats.

If you’re there why not visit SMU? TCU is on the list.

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Not helpful, but thanks. I didn’t ask for opinions on why we were doing what we are doing. Not up for debate or discussion. Just hoping to make the best of the time we spend there and hit some excellent Restaurants/Shopping/etc.

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I agree. That trip sounds absolutely exhausting to me, and I love Texas! I would pare down the itinerary.

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@kcoug26 When we went to Waco, we really enjoy checking out the Dr. Pepper museum as well as the Texas Ranger museum. Magnolia super fun and they had great food trucks on property as well as the bakery for dessert.

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Excellent ideas! Thank you. I will look into Dr. Pepper museum.

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You are missing the best most scenic part of Texas — the Hill Country. If you can swing it, check out Fredericksburg.

I don’t know of anything to do in Lubbock outside of the university. I have often wondered how they get out of state recruits to commit there.

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Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

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You should check out Barton Springs while you’re in Austin. It’s a spring-fed pool with concrete sides but a natural bottom. 68 degrees or so all year round. I practically lived there when I was a kid.

Drive out Loop 360 and see the 360 Bridge. It’s where I take visitors who think that all of Texas is flat.

I like County Line on the Hill, which is right off 360. Some might argue you can find better BBQ elsewhere, but I like it and the view is wonderful. It’s been around since at least 1980, maybe earlier.

I also take people up to Mount Bonnell, which has beautiful views of the river and hills.

I just enjoy walking all over the Texas campus. The Blanton Museum of Art is awesome. From Wikipedia: “The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin is one of the largest university art museums in the U.S. with 189,340 square feet devoted to temporary exhibitions, permanent collection galleries, storage, administrative offices, classrooms, a print study room, an auditorium, shop, and cafe.”

The Bullock Texas State History Museum is near there and also a great place to visit.

My other favorite thing to do is drive around Westlake Hills, just outside Austin. Beautiful houses on very steep hills! That’s where I went to high school. Drew Brees, Justin Tucker, and Nick Foles also graduated from WHS, just a few years after I did, ha.

I agree that the Hill Country is worth a trip. I try to get to Fredericksburg on a lot of my trips home. :slight_smile:

Not a fan of A&M, so I can’t tell you much there.

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I am going to research these! Thank you! Austin seems like a fun place. Wish we had more time there. Maybe next year!

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I used to go to College Station for work. Nice town. But not much to do there. You might enjoy the day In Houston instead.

When I first went to Lubbock, I thought what a dump. I called my client who went to TX A&M and he laughed and said I was being too nice. Second time I went, I confirmed it was a dump. I’m sure the school is nice tho. New Mexico isn’t far. Not sure what’s there tho.

Since you’ll be in DFW but not Dallas, make sure to do the JFK Museum and grassy knoll. Super cool. I like Mia’s Tex Mex but you likely won’t be that Far East. If you are a football historian, it’s where jerry jones and jimmy johnson met to talk about replacing the legendary Tom Landry with Jimmy Johnson.

Unfortunately I’m afraid you’ll find yourself with a lot of time on your hands it’s this agenda.

But there’s always the hotel pool :slight_smile:

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For college station, you could look at Napa Flats, Yaz, and Solt for restaurants (mid/level and nice).

For activities, you could try grand station entertainment, if you like laser tag and mini golf type of activities.

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Unfortunately I have to tell you that all the Magnolia stuff in Waco is indeed closed on Sundays. We always intended to stop during one of our trips back/forth through the area visiting our D but we seemed to only ever have time on Sunday so we never did!

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What kind of food do you like? And, do you want upscale or casual? This would be for Austin.

I’m currently addicted to Old Thousand Chinese generally referred to as Dope Chinese. There are two locations, one of which is close to campus on 11th Street.

Salty Sow is more upscale in terms of food and prices but with a casual vibe.

South Congress has a bunch of good restaurants and Amy’s Ice Cream. Guero’s is TexMex with a really nice outdoor seating area. Hopdoddy has great hamburgers along with veggie and gluten free options.

Let me see. Lubbock has some good BBQ. You could do a drive through of Caprock Canyons State Park if you aren’t too tired of the car.

I went to graduate school at U Texas and still live in Austin. Austin is super fun with interesting stuff going on all the time. My husband graduated from Baylor. Waco isn’t all that but he still liked it.

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If you end up sort of near a Buc-ee’s, then you need to go. It’s quite an experience.

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I disagree. The QT - also in Texas is better. Sure they don’t have 500 gas pumps and urinals on every single wall in the men’s restroom. But - they always have at least 8 flavors of fresh brewed iced tea - and Buc-ees can’t touch that!!! :slight_smile:

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Stop at a Buc-ees.

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Awesome answer :rofl: I was thinking the same thing :joy:

Regarding DFW for shopping ….

1)Northpark Center - the Galleria contains pretty standard mall stores, Northpark is a little higher end. There is a new “Eataly” Italian department store that can be fun if you haven’t been to an Eataly before.

2)Highland Park Village - very high end outdoor mall in the nicest area in Dallas. Several great restaurants. It is the oldest shopping center in the United States.

These are both in Dallas, not Ft. Worth, which I assume is ok since you mentioned the Galleria.

You also mentioned the Ft. Worth Zoo … it is very nice. It is small and well run. Because you have a busy schedule, it may be a good fit for you since you won’t have a ton of extra time. The Dallas zoo is great but it is very large and it would require an entire day.

There is a fantastic restaurant near the Dallas zoo, Lucia. It is a small, moderately priced Italian restaurant and definitely the most difficult reservation to get in all of DFW. You have to book about 30 days in advance with very limited availability. I am successful in getting a reservation approximately 10% of the time.

Another very worthwhile visit if you have time to go to the Dallas side of the metroplex is the Dallas Arboretum … it is lovely.

My favorite restaurants in Ft. Worth are Lonesome Dove and Reatta.

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In College Station, you may want to do the Bush Presidential Museum. You will also want to visit the Northgate area in College Station. The Dixie Chicken is the classic place in Northgate.

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For Fort Worth, stockyards are fun to walk around. But I would eat at clear fork. Tons of great restaurants and lots of good shopping/window shopping. Disagree with above post about Reata restaurant. Neat atmosphere but the food was so average and expensive for the quality. The Fort Worth zoo is very cute. If taking a friend to lunch off campus, HG supply is great. Right on the river.