It’s that time of year - time for swimming and tans! College Station is the perfect place for the pool lover, as almost every subdivision and apartment complex in town has at least one. However, if you’re not a part of a great home owners association and don’t have any generous friends with pool access, don’t despair! The city of College Station has four great pools available to you for a low cost!

Scattered throughout the city, College Station’s pools typically open Memorial Day Weekend and host thousands of visitors each season. Adamson Lagoon, located in Bee Creek Park off of Anderson St. is the perfect place to take children with tons of energy. With slides, lily pads and floating animals to play on, Adamson Lagoon is like a mini-water park.

Admission for Adamson Lagoon is $5 per person, with children under 3 being free. The other two outdoor pools in the area are $2.50 per person and the indoor natatorium is $2. Family and individual passes can be purchased at a discount rate and all come with a money back guarantee.

For a complete list of pools and operating hours, check out the City of College Station’s website at http://www.cstx.gov/index.aspx?page=1277

While many people think of North Gate as the bar district of College Station alone, it has more to offer in the realm of nutrition! Granted, most of the food found on North Gate isn’t exactly nutritious, but delicious none-the-less! Many of the best places to eat in College Station can be found on the busy strip and most of those happen to be in the bars! The Corner Bar, for example, has some of the best fried pickles in College Station. The Dixie Chicken, part of the Dixie Oil Company, has wonderful hamburgers, French fries and chicken fingers, just to name a few.

In addition to bar foods, North Gate is home to more than one pizza parlor, a potato shack with the biggest variety of potatoes concoctions in town, Mexican restaurants and sandwich shops. Most of these restaurants are inexpensive and if you’re into people watching, serve as the perfect place sit back, catch a glimpse of some interesting outfits and enjoy some great food!

For other great places to eat in the College Station area, check out this blog: http://blogs.tamu.edu/foodisfun/

Apotheosis is an accapella all-male singing group conprised of TAMU students and will be performing this Saturday, May 2nd in College Station! Created in 1997, the group has held as few as 6 singers and as many as 12. With two fully recorded albums available for sale, the group has become a huge hit not only on the A&M Campus, but nationally as well.

The group will be performing at 7:00pm at the United Methodist Church on Northgate (across from TAMU campuss). Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door. For a preview, check the group out on youtube or visit their website http://apotheosis.tamu.edu/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8-z1neofo&feature=related , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8vJgqpaOlE

The 4th annual Duck Jam will be held this weekend, April 24th & 25th at the Wolf Pen Amphitheatre in College Station! Each year, Duck Jam features tons of artists and activities for the whole family. DockDogs - Big Air Competition that features Labrador retrievers participating in various competitions will be a huge hit this year, as well as Kid Zone featuring the band Trout Fishing in America. A BBQ team cook-off will be in full swing both Friday and Saturday, as well as tons of Crawfish! Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Kids 12 and under are free and if you’re planning on only attending Friday night, tickets will only be $10. Tickets include admission to all of the events and concerts, as well as a free one-year membership to Ducks Unlimited. For more information and complete schedule of events, visit Duck Jam’s website at http://www.ducks.org/Events/BudweiserDuckJam/3018/BudweiserDuckJam.html . The following are a list of artists being featured at this year’s Duck Jam:

Friday, April 24th: Bradon Rhyer, Brett Crenshaw, Shawn Fussell

Saturday, April 25th: Clay Walker, Bad Company, Kevin Fowler, South Austin Jug Band, Band of Heathens, Seth James, Trout Fishing in America, Brett Crenshaw, Dr. Zog Zydeco Swamp Band

I apologize for this one being posted a little late, as there’s only a couple days left, but if you’re up for a small road trip to Houston, the livestock show and rodeo is the perfect place to go! With big-name entertainers everynight, a carnival for all ages and every rodeo event you can think of, the HLSR is great entertainment for the entire family. There are tons of booths selling everything from corn dogs to cowboy boots. One of the buidlings is home to tons of farm animals with educational videos and hands on stations for the kids. There’s even a birthing center with piglets, chicks, baby lambs and calfs! The cost to get into the carnival and shopping is fairly minimal, while tickets to the rodeo & concerts start as low as $10. For more information, visit the HLSR website at http://www.hlsr.com/