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A few important tidbits
Aug. 1st, 2011 02:56 pmToday I am officially Exhausted. The drive to Texas took about 23 hours. The drive back took 21 hours. There wasn't much sleep involved over those time periods, or during the "camping" night at Lake Bryan.
Some crucial details:
Houses in older parts of Bryan appear to be ramshackle.
There's a bar/music venue to match the coffeeshop. The coffeeshop is called The Village, and serves beer and sandwiches made from locally-sourced ingredients. The bar/music venue is called The Revolutionary, and they had a couple of decent beers on tap and good bottled beer. Listened to a local band that made for an incredibly enjoyable evening. It's a pleasure to watch good musicians.
Lake Bryan will be interesting. It's a real lake, unlike Tempe Town Swimming Pool. Maybe even longer race distances possible, though I'll have to map things out to be sure because it will be close. The boating facilities are primitive - a fenced-in area on the grass without any shelter from the weather. I counted at least four singles, a wherry, a double, a four, and an eight, with an additional sectional 8 stored outside of the storage area. I will put in a few phone calls to see about bartering coaching services (once a week?) in exchange for using boats. In the long run, there is PLENTY of space in the boat storage area, so I shouldn't have a problem getting storage space. On top of that, I don't think anyone would object if I volunteer my time to make improvements to the facilities. Two downsides - the lake is a few miles from town, and there will be powerboats.
Other than that, Lake Bryan is hickville. There's some kind of bar right on the lake (really also a plus, in my book), but it looks like people mostly go there to "camp," drink Coors Lite, smoke, and go skinny dipping. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those activities...it just isn't my idea of camping. I am hoping the lakeside bar is tolerable. Still. Seriously, I have zero complaints. The fact that there's boat storage (*and* some sculling shells! Even if they're old and crappy!) is HUGE. I know I can use my rowing pedigree to my advantage as long as I'm not a complete idiot about it (because, you know, rowing politics are ever-present wherever there's rowing).
We didn't reach Bryan in time to visit the natural foods store, produce store, or farmer's market. Still, they exist. I have a feeling that I can survive between those three without having to visit HEB (which I'm going to call Heebie-Jeebie).
We spotted a tall-bike while driving through the neighborhoods. There's also at least one active biking group. Not many bike lanes, though, and it will take a little while to figure out how to navigate around.
We talked to a guy who moved to B/CS but who has lived in all the major west coast cities. The things he said made me think that life in Bryan will remind me of the transition from Seattle to Tempe: there's a small pocket of liberal DIY-type people in the town, so there will be a frame of reference for my alternative lifestyle. But I will definitely be an outsider. I think it's going to be interesting to see discrepancies/overlap. I'm looking forward to finding other people who garden and do crafts.
Some crucial details:
Houses in older parts of Bryan appear to be ramshackle.
There's a bar/music venue to match the coffeeshop. The coffeeshop is called The Village, and serves beer and sandwiches made from locally-sourced ingredients. The bar/music venue is called The Revolutionary, and they had a couple of decent beers on tap and good bottled beer. Listened to a local band that made for an incredibly enjoyable evening. It's a pleasure to watch good musicians.
Lake Bryan will be interesting. It's a real lake, unlike Tempe Town Swimming Pool. Maybe even longer race distances possible, though I'll have to map things out to be sure because it will be close. The boating facilities are primitive - a fenced-in area on the grass without any shelter from the weather. I counted at least four singles, a wherry, a double, a four, and an eight, with an additional sectional 8 stored outside of the storage area. I will put in a few phone calls to see about bartering coaching services (once a week?) in exchange for using boats. In the long run, there is PLENTY of space in the boat storage area, so I shouldn't have a problem getting storage space. On top of that, I don't think anyone would object if I volunteer my time to make improvements to the facilities. Two downsides - the lake is a few miles from town, and there will be powerboats.
Other than that, Lake Bryan is hickville. There's some kind of bar right on the lake (really also a plus, in my book), but it looks like people mostly go there to "camp," drink Coors Lite, smoke, and go skinny dipping. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those activities...it just isn't my idea of camping. I am hoping the lakeside bar is tolerable. Still. Seriously, I have zero complaints. The fact that there's boat storage (*and* some sculling shells! Even if they're old and crappy!) is HUGE. I know I can use my rowing pedigree to my advantage as long as I'm not a complete idiot about it (because, you know, rowing politics are ever-present wherever there's rowing).
We didn't reach Bryan in time to visit the natural foods store, produce store, or farmer's market. Still, they exist. I have a feeling that I can survive between those three without having to visit HEB (which I'm going to call Heebie-Jeebie).
We spotted a tall-bike while driving through the neighborhoods. There's also at least one active biking group. Not many bike lanes, though, and it will take a little while to figure out how to navigate around.
We talked to a guy who moved to B/CS but who has lived in all the major west coast cities. The things he said made me think that life in Bryan will remind me of the transition from Seattle to Tempe: there's a small pocket of liberal DIY-type people in the town, so there will be a frame of reference for my alternative lifestyle. But I will definitely be an outsider. I think it's going to be interesting to see discrepancies/overlap. I'm looking forward to finding other people who garden and do crafts.
