Last week, we made a side trip to San Marcos (here, they say MAR-kus) to see Jennifer’s favorite artist, Blue October. Since we arrived intentionally early, we checked out the exciting options this true college town offered. For those not familiar with my adopted state, San Marcos is the home of Texas State University. Although it has only had this moniker for…what? Eight years! Could’ve sworn at least a decade!
Anyway, poor San Marcos does live in the shadow of its older and younger siblings; Austin’s UT (since the 188os) and San Antonio’s UT-SA (since I think the late 1960s) which are cities. San Marcos reminded me of Bloomington-Normal in its scale and just how tiny the “university area” wrapped around a town square. Given it’s the Twenties of the 21st Century, nested in with various pizza joints are cell-phone repair shops and vape stores. One nearby place called Davenport’s was a pleasant surprise, a martini bar that also sold food. I was shocked. I thought the Cocktail Nation craze fueled by Generation X died out at the turn of the century alongside the Squirrel Nut Zippers’s career. In the photo above is one speciality I wanted to try, an Almond Joy. The glass is coated in coconut and chocolate to prevent scurvy? It was good. Then I followed it up with a Dreamsicle, no need for a photo…no, I forgot. Can’t remember what Jennifer had. She got through the first one and I finished her second. All delicious despite the taste of booze.
So if you’re in the area because you got suckered into the town’s lame-ass outlet malls (there’s no real savings) or you’re doing some research on LBJ’s early career as a teacher, look up Davenport’s.
It’s been Texas State since 2003. From 2003-2013, it was officially “Texas State University-San Marcos.” Literally not one human ever actually said the “…San Marcos” part because there were no other Texas State Universities. In 2013, they realized this and dropped San Marcos from the name.