Trip to Austin offers barbeque, summer activities

While there might not be something going on in College Station, there is always the option of hopping in your car and going somewhere. So if you feel the need to get away and explore Texas, Austin is one city you should visit.

Despite the fact that it is the home of the "other school," Austin is a great place to visit friends, family or party on Sixth Street. The route I took from College Station is Highway 47 to 21, then to 290. It is around 100 miles, just under a two-hour drive, depending on traffic.

The road between Austin and College Station is not much for sightseeing, but there is an upside — barbecue. If you leave College Station before noon, you can get to the town of Elgin and chow down at Meyers' Elgin Smokehouse. The restaurant has only been around since 1998, but the Meyers family has been in the meat business since the 1940s. The inheritance of experience becomes evident when you walk in and see a shelf with a huge variety of sauces and a refrigerated glass case filled with all different kinds of sausage that you can buy to take home for later enjoyment.

Gregg Meyers, owner of The Smokehouse Restaurant, said the barbecue is prepared using a vacuum tumbler, a machine that tumbles meat along with water and spices. As the air is pulled out of the chamber, the water and spices are pulled through the meat, giving it an even flavor.

"When you use a dry rub, only the inside of the meat isn't seasoned," Meyers said. With the vacuum tumbler, the meat gets an even season all the way through."

Another option for appetizing barbecue is to wait until you get into Austin and take IH 35 south, which takes you to Franklin Barbeque in Austin. This place is one of the trailer-type restaurants that are taking major cities by storm. Waiting in line in 100-plus degree heat is definitely worth some of the best barbecue I have tasted.

"A friend took me here a couple weeks back, and I just love it," said Terry Cormin, a Franklin Barbeque customer.

The restaurant has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers such as Texas Monthly and the Austin Chronicle, an alternative newsweekly, and it lives up to the hype. The tangy espresso sauce is an innovative twist on traditional barbecue sauce that adds to the overall complexity of the tender meat.

After you have digested these carnivores' delights, I suggest cooling off in Barton Springs, a public pool located 10 minutes south of downtown. This three-acre pool is spring-fed and stays at a constant 68 degrees year-round. Jumping into the icy water on a triple-digit day sends a chilly jolt though your spine.

"I have been coming here since I was a kid, and it's a great place to swim," said Jim Pearson, a resident of Austin. But, as a fair warning, Barton Springs is one of the most popular places in town, so it is not uncommon to see a few hundred other people enjoying the summer day as well.

If swimming doesn't suit your fancy, Austin is a city that always has something going on. You can pick up the latest issue of the Austin Chronicle, which has a calendar of events for that week. From poetry slams to concerts, there's never a reason to be bored.