South by Southwest wasn’t on my list of things to do, but I’ve accidentally stumbled onto it. Seeing Austin was on my list though and I feared I’d have to pass it up due to the festival starting up tomorrow. But, I found a spot at a COE campground 30 miles away, perfectly acceptable.
So I’ll have a couple of days to see Austin, check out several promising bookstores, and take in a tad bit of the festival.
I did well at a couple of bookstores in College Station today; college towns are always a good bet for used books, and this was the best shopping I’ve found in the South.
Texas A&M is huge, I took a driving tour and was amazed. Architecturally, it has the look and feel of institution built yesterday, simple lines and lots of brick, education at industrial levels. The campus is far too large to walk, and the neighboring shopping district is more chain outfits than head shops and quirky coffee houses. The medical college is large, but the Veterinary college is the feature here. I presume it’s the biggest and most prestigious in the country, at least it sure looks like it.
On to Austin tomorrow.