[stepper77]

One of my best friends, whose spent the last four years getting her PhD at UT Knoxville, just took a job at Texas State in San Marcos, 30 miles south of Austin. I helped her move last week and the price of my labor? The opportunity to explore a new part of the country!

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My friend got a really nice apartment/condo in the central residential part San Marcos near downtown, most of these are taken walking down West Hopkins from her place to downtown which is about a 20 minute walk.

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This is not in fact a church but was repurposed commercial office space

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Arriving at downtown

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Backside of Hays County Courthouse

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Looking towards the Texas State Campus

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I really loved the detailing of this building

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Popping up to the right are more buildings at the campus

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I really only skirted the outside of the campus as I was running short on time

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The end. I really liked this part of Texas and look forward to visiting some more.

This is my first time using Flikr for posting on here, so, if anyone who mentioned in the past my threads loaded slowly with imageshack can tell me if this was speedier, I'd appreciate it because it actually took me a lot more time using Flikr than it does imageshack. Thanks!

[arkitekte]

I'm loving that court house.

[DruidCity]

Holy crap ! SSP had a Tuscaloosa thread a couple weeks ago, and now a great San Marcos thread. When my brother moved from Tuscaloosa, where we are very deeply rooted, to San Marcos to accept a job as professor at Texas State, I planned to move to San Marcos shortly afterward. The whole housing sector crash made me stay in Tuscaloosa, instead, but I still have my eye on the possibility of moving to San Marcos full time.

One of my best friends, whose spent the last four years getting her PhD at UT Knoxville, just took a job at Texas State in San Marcos

If you don't mind my asking, what department ? My brother's in engineering.
If you get back to San Marcos, be sure to take the Aquarena glass-bottom boat tour.

[Alice93]

What a hidden gem.

[SLO]

Your threads are always beasts, but yes it did load quicker.
Great job, its fun to explore. Since weve been in Texas we go to that area fairly often and its always fun.

[LSyd]

sweet, thanks for the tour. i thought about stopping many times between san antonio and austin, but usually left san antonio too late to stop. it reminds me of Georgetown, but a little beefier.

-

[stepper77]

Holy crap ! SSP had a Tuscaloosa thread a couple weeks ago, and now a great San Marcos thread. When my brother moved from Tuscaloosa, where we are very deeply rooted, to San Marcos to accept a job as professor at Texas State, I planned to move to San Marcos shortly afterward. The whole housing sector crash made me stay in Tuscaloosa, instead, but I still have my eye on the possibility of moving to San Marcos full time.



If you don't mind my asking, what department ? My brother's in engineering.
If you get back to San Marcos, be sure to take the Aquarena glass-bottom boat tour.

It is a great little town for sure! She will be in the anthropology department, teaching and doing research. She's heard nothing but great reviews from other colleagues and of course the locals we talked to couldn't say enough good things about the college. I did see the signs for the glass-bottom boat tour, so, I'll have to check it out next time!

Thanks!

[DruidCity]

Another bit I'll add is that if you drive 10 or 20 miles west (Wimberley, Canyon Lake), you get into the Hill Country terrain that isn't that noticeable on I-35.

I'm loving that court house

There's also a good one in Lockhart, about 20-25 miles east.

(San Marcos) reminds me of Georgetown, but a little beefier.


Another comparison would be a smaller Denton, which also has a "courthouse square" type of downtown and a large university.

She will be in the anthropology department, teaching and doing research.

Good deal. One of my brother's engineering colleagues did a research project jointly with anthropology a year or two ago.

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures. San Marcos looks like a nice little city. It looks like it has a mini-skyline on account of the school.

It's nice to see you cover a different state. I'd like to see how you cover Delaware if you ever end up in my state.

[llamaorama]

I'm currently a student there. You got a picture of the dorm that's a twin(Sterry) to the one I had lived in, (Falls) now I live in an apartment off in the more "suburban" part of town.

You got all the interesting stuff, though not the natural areas. In San Marcos there is also the chain of parks along the river, which is kind of like a smaller and quieter version of what exists in New Braunfels with more locals/students instead of tourists in the water.

[KevinFromTexas]

Great tour. I rarely actually visit San Marcos, but we go through it a lot on the way to San Antonio. It really is a bit of a hidden gem. Nice small town feel, but it is growing fast. There's around 45,000 people there now. Texas State University I believe has around 20,000 students. The main building (1905) in your photos pre-dates Austin's famous UT Tower. The Hays County Courthouse is nice too. It was just recently restored. And it even has a small skyline. The tallest building is 150 feet tall. There's also a 220 foot observation tower inside Aquarena Springs Park. That area of Texas is beautiful too. Lots of rivers, springs, cypress trees, rolling hills covered with live oaks. The area is popular for river tubing and kayaking.

[OhioGuy]

Yay! A Stepper photo thread in which I can actually view all of the photos! :) For me, they loaded rather quickly, particularly in comparison to ImageShack which typically times out with only 10-20% of some images visible and the rest are red x's.

For someone from the Bay area, I would think the heat & humidity of Texas in the summertime (though the humidity's worse further east) would be rather difficult to deal with while out & about taking photos. I probably would have stayed inside in air conditioning all day and I've dealt with weather extremes all my life! lol

Thanks for the photos!

[HooverDam]

I was recently in San Marcos and you did an excellent job capturing the town. I like the river front park they have and how all the college kids were out playing and sitting by the river, it made for a fun atmosphere.

I was there to do some comedy with my buddy, but unfortunately since school was out of session the comedy/doing stuff at night scene was more or less dead. Here's my friend telling jokes to a mostly empty room that looks more like a living room than a comedy club:

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Ah well, still a cute town anyhow.

[ski-man]

I always thought that the white building on campus with the small windows looked like a jail/prison building.

[jowens]

The "skyline" view of the Texas State campus from IH35 is decieving because it sits on the edge of the Hill Country escarpment. San Marcos along with Kyle is growing rapidly.

I've had trouble keeping my wife away from the south side of San Marcos. :D

[Raining Inside]

I've had trouble keeping my wife away from the south side of San Marcos. :D

That would be the outlet malls I'm guessing.

[TexasPlaya]

I miss San Marcos, that part of Texas is awesome. San Marcos isn't humid (I'm from Houston) but it is hot like all of Texas. Hopefully going up there in two weeks to float the river.

[stepper77]

On the day I flew home, my friend and I did make it down to the river and had a great time. We didn't do any tubing, nor did I bring my camera, but, to have all that right there within walking/short driving distance, I am very jealous!

As for the weather, spending two days in East Tennessee with 105 degrees and oppressive humidity loading her moving truck acclimated me quickly, so, my time in San Marcos and Austin was pleasant by comparison. Though when I left Austin it was 95 and I landed back home in Oakland to find 64 degrees!

@xzmattzx, I have never been to Delaware, but, would love to visit someday. With my friend now living in Texas, I will definitely be back as well to check out other areas nearby (including San Antonio).

Thanks for all the comments!

[wayward_prince]

great pics....thanks for sharing!

[DruidCity]

I was recently in San Marcos and you did an excellent job capturing the town. I like the river front park they have and how all the college kids were out playing and sitting by the river, it made for a fun atmosphere.



Another bit I'll add is that, in addition to the park system along the San Marcos River, there's also a new park on the very north end of town along the Blanco River that not many people seem to know about.
The spring-fed rivers in that part of Texas are so comfortable on hot days.

[jetsetter]

It is amazing just how depressing the architecture at the university is when compared to the rest of the city. Reminds me of the situation at my local university.

[Ex-Ithacan]

Looks like a nice solid college town. Love the variety of residential, and there's some great old commercial buildins downtown. Beautiful pics, thanks for the tour.

[kcexpress69]

Nice thread!! Never seen San Marcos before, although I drove by it once on the highway. Downtown looks small, but decent. I guess being a college town, it's grown quite a bit. Thanks!! :cool:

[hookem]

It is amazing just how depressing the architecture at the university is when compared to the rest of the city. Reminds me of the situation at my local university.

Well, the university has grown immensely from rather modest roots. It was Southwest Texas Normal School, then Southwest Texas Teacher's College, then Southwest Texas University, and now finally Texas State University (flagship of the Texas State University System). As Texas grows, universities like this are filling a dire need in Texas for more large, academically diverse public universities.

Here is a better pic of the campus from Wikipedia that doesn't make it look quite so bad:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Elmcreek67.jpg/800px-Elmcreek67.jpg

And stepper77, thanks for the great pics! Nice little college town. As Austin grows into a legitimate mid-sized metro, a new Austin is growing 30 miles south...

[Chicago3rd]

Well, the university has grown immensely from rather modest roots. It was Southwest Texas Normal School, then Southwest Texas Teacher's College, then Southwest Texas University, and now finally Texas State University (flagship of the Texas State University System). As Texas grows, universities like this are filling a dire need in Texas for more large, academically diverse public universities.

Here is a better pic of the campus from Wikipedia that doesn't make it look quite so bad:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/Elmcreek67.jpg/800px-Elmcreek67.jpg

And stepper77, thanks for the great pics! Nice little college town. As Austin grows into a legitimate mid-sized metro, a new Austin is growing 30 miles south...

First great photos of San Marcos! Thanks for sharing.

When I went to Southwest Texas State University (n/k/a TSU) the library was located in the building at the extreme upper center. The 1st 2 floors were administration and the rest was the library. Back then the library had odd shaped windows....kind of liked it better then.

Also, campus for the most part ended where the new library (large white button in the middle of the photo) is now...there were a few dorms (nasty nasty).

The area between the middle and bottom was nothing really....until the very bottom. SWTSU had just purchased some buildings from some Christian School or Academy. My political science classes were over there....we had to take a laidlaw bus over to that area to get to class. But it was easier parking...lol.

Again thanks for the San Marcos photos!!! San Marcos.....is much more of a treat in person....and yes...it is hot there in the summer but that is why they have the river there. Plus there was the Eskimo Hut!!!! Drive thru Daquris!

[DruidCity]

As Texas grows, universities like this are filling a dire need in Texas for more large, academically diverse public universities.


Exactly. UT already has as many undergraduates as it wants, and UTSA is also concentrating more on growing its graduate research program than adding undergraduates, so Texas State is right there in the middle of fast-growing Austin and fast-growing San Antonio, with a strong undergraduate focus. Texas State enrollment is already over 30,000, and growing quickly. My brother was a founding member of the electrical engineering program three years ago, and in that time has grown that program from zero students to about 250.

[stepper77]

Thank you for including that photo of the campus. We drove around the whole periphery, but, it really gives you no indication how big it really is.

And it makes me even more happy for friend hearing about what a great campus this is and how it's grown. She is a forensic anthropologist and they brought her in specifically to help boost their anthropology research efforts. They apparently have a facility off campus where they do body decomp studies similar to what she was doing at UT Knoxville. Anyway, I'm very happy for her and can't wait to go to visit again.

She's since told me after I left it's only gotten hotter, so, that river has definitely come in handy!

[John R]

Thanks for posting the photographs. I have always liked San Marcos. A buddy of mine from high school went to college there and every few weeks when we were at different universities, I would drive down with my bicycle and we would head out from his place and ride in the Hill Country. We rode through many of the low water crossings on the Blanco River. We also hit the areas around Canyon Lake, Wimberley, southward toward New Braunfels and Boerne. I still have a passion for cycling in the Hill Country. My friend stayed in San Marcos and I went back to visit last year and I was very surprised on how much the campus had grown. I also have been swimming in the river by the school many times in my younger days.

[flar]

Great looking town!

[migol24]

San Marcos is a cool little town. It tends to grow on you too. It may be small with only a population of under 50k but it's got quite a density for a small town. It's like a mini-urban town. Is there such a thing? :)

Anyways, I think these are some of the best pictures I've actually seen of Austin-San Marcos area. Pretty dope yo!