Today I’m sharing the last of my Houston adventures from two summers ago. In my last post, I shared our time visiting the Houston Zoo. Today I am excited to talk about a little day trip Allen and I took to Texas A&M, which is where I went for undergrad, where both of us went for our Masters degrees, and where we met, became best friends, and fell in love! So it holds a very sentimental and wonderful place in both of our hearts.
College Station is about 1.5 hours away from Houston (depending on traffic of course), so it’s the perfect destination for a little weekend getaway or day trip. Our very best friend from Texas (hi Stoian!) is getting his PhD there, so we thought it would be a travesty not to visit him at least once during the summer since I was so close (as compared with Colorado).
This will be the last of my Houston-based posts (beyond making a Must-See Guide at some point) from the summer of 2016. I still have a recap post from our weekend trip to Austin, TX, but I will post those pictures sometime in the Spring or Summer of next year. Thank you for being super patient with me on these travel posts! They take a little longer to put together, but it’s so much fun to have them here to look back on some day. And I hope you enjoy them too!
Alright, now let’s get back to our adventure in College Station!
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First things first…breakfast at the best place in town, Hullabaloo Diner.
The restaurant portion is housed inside a renovated 1940’s diner trailer that was transported here from New York. It’s a super unique and fun atmosphere, but as you might have guessed, seating can be limited so be sure to get there early to reserve a spot. If you do have to wait a bit before being seated, do not worry! There is a huge outdoor area with tons of board games to play with your friends, live music to listen to, and even a friendly parrot to talk with.
Hey there, little guy!
Once it’s time to be seated, the staff will seat you at a place in the trailer where you’ll get the real diner experience and an amazing meal. Whether you come for homemade cinnamon rolls or biscuits and gravy at breakfast, or a juicy philly cheesesteak or burger at lunch, you won’t be disappointed.
My favorite dish for breakfast at Hullabaloo’s is actually the breakfast pizza. Yes, you heard that right. Breakfast in pizza form! It’s amazing!
They actually have two different varieties of breakfast pizza and honestly both are amazing. I typically get the one that is made with sausage gravy, cheese and eggs but the other variety has green chili gravy with bits of bacon among the cheese and eggs. Yummm.
On this particular morning, Allen and I both got breakfast pizzas (he wanted to see what I was always raving about), Stoian got the giant breakfast burrito, and we all split a homemade cinnamon roll with warm, gooey icing.
I couldn’t not include this comical picture that Stoian took of me not letting Allen eat until after I was done photographing the food. Hahaha! Poor guy… 😛
After breakfast, we all jumped into one car and headed to campus. It had only been a year since I had last set foot on Texas A&M’s campus, but boy how things change when you aren’t around to see them transform gradually!
If you’ve never been, Texas A&M in College Station has a beautiful campus to walk around. I may be biased (it is my alma mater after all 😉 ), but even still I don’t think anyone could be disappointed walking around there. The beautiful brick buildings… the tree adorned sidewalks… the traditions in everything you do… it’s all so beautiful.
My Favorite Must-See Spots at Texas A&M:
Academic Plaza, Sully & The Century Tree
– the most beautiful and comforting place on campus for me.
Memorial Student Center & The Flag Room
– my favorite place to sit down, relax, and listen to students play the piano.
Aggie Football Stadium
– where the fightin’ Texas Aggies play football. (If you are lucky enough to be there the night before a big game, go to yell practice!)
Aggie Ring & Rudder Fountain
– a GIANT Aggie Ring, paying homage to one of my favorite traditions, and the most beautiful fountain to see at nighttime.
Bonfire Memorial
– a memorial to honor the 12 Aggies who lost their life in the bonfire tragedy.
Fish Pond
– the fountain where the yell leaders are dunked after a big Aggie win.
Northgate
– the food and bar scene just off of campus.
Obviously, this list is not exhaustive. But these are a few of my personal favorites. You can find a full interactive map of campus HERE with major points of interest denoted. You can also learn more about Aggie traditions HERE.
After exploring campus, we headed just off site to Sweet Eugene’s for some coffee. It’s a fantastic spot to get lots of work done, or to just catch up with friends. The atmosphere is so unique! And if you are into sweet drinks, I highly recommend the Mayan Mocha–a blend of chocolate and cinnamon and spices. It’s amazing. But they’ve also got all the classic drinks as well!
After coffee, we headed out to our other friend’s, Colleen’s barn to see her new horse! Only in Texas. I love it!
Isn’t he beautiful?! If I remember correctly, I think his dad was a race horse, but he himself was quite wild and needed the magical powers of Colleen to train him. (Colleen really is an animal whisperer. No exaggeration. She’s incredible!)
After lots of horse kisses, we headed back to Stoian and Colleen’s place to visit their sweet puppy, Twitch, and to just enjoy each other’s company and catch up. It’s funny how much time can pass before you even know it!
Later that evening, we went to Grub Burger Bar for dinner. If there is one thing Allen and I both miss most about College Station (beyond the people, of course), it is the FOOD. Gosh Texas has some of the best food. And after living in College Station for nearly 7 years, I became quite the foodie!
My Favorite Food Spots in College Station:
Hullabaloo’s Diner
– best breakfast and diner food.
Antonio’s Pizza
– best crazy pizza-by-the-slice. (the cheddar potato pizza and taco pizza are my favorites!)
Freebirds (on University)
– best build-your-own burrito or nachos with a crazy cool atmosphere. (don’t forget to sign the wall with your name!)
Fuego’s Tortilla Grill
– best tacos and white queso (yummmmm).
Fargo’s Pit BBQ
– best slow cooked BBQ (get there early for rib tips before they sell out!).
Grub Burger Bar
– best burger and shakes ever (I still have dreams about these).
Gumby’s Pizza
– best pizza rolls late at night.
Spoon’s Yogurt
– best build-your-own frozen yogurt bar.
Again, this list is not exhaustive, but it definitely hits my highlights. Ok, now back to Grub!
If it wasn’t enough that I was able to experience the gloriousness of Grub again, they also had my favorite special available that month–the mac and cheese burger. Oh. My. Gosh. It’s the best. (It’s like they knew I was coming! 😉 )
And their shakes are incredible! They have super crazy ones like the “Kitchen Sink” or “Worms & Dirt” (I’ve tried them all!), but I always come back to the mint chocolate shake that has bits of real Andes mints in it. To Die For GOOD.
P.S. – If you’re beginning to wonder if all we ever do when we travel is eat at amazing restaurants, then yes…yes we do! Haha. Food is life.
But then again, so are people! I love these people so much! The best of the best right here. Miss them so much!
…and the three goobers that started it all. We all met in the Aerospace Engineering Program at Texas A&M and you can read more about these two special guys’s influence on me HERE, if you are interested.
That evening we left to go back to Houston, our hearts (and tummy’s) so much fuller than when we began. It was the perfect way to spend my last weekend in Houston for the summer before returning back to Colorado for the year!
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