Headed out on an SEC road-trip, college visit, baseball camp trip with my teenage son. Any must-do (eat, see, experience) items in Tuscaloosa, Starkville, or Baton Rouge?

I've been to Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge both for football games.

We did the Waysider in Tuscaloosa but nothing else that was too typical.

Highly recommend staying at Hotel Capstone in heart of Bama campus, and walking the campus - esp Greek Town. Hotel is very reasonably priced.

We loved all the Greek presence when we were there for football. Definitely something we will check out again this time.

My son's staying in a dorm on campus. Not sure exactly where.

In Tuscaloosa the original Dreamland BBQ in south Tusc.

For breakfast or lunch (only, no dinner service) City Cafe in Northport across the bridge.

There is an excellent German restaurant downtown and the whole downtown area is pretty nice.

Strongly recommend the Bear Bryant museum, doesn't matter if you are not a Bama fan, if you are a college football fan you will love it.

Thank you! We'll check those ideas out!

dr_java said:

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Highly recommend staying at Hotel Capstone in heart of Bama campus, and walking the campus - esp Greek Town. Hotel is very reasonably priced.

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Agree on Hotel Capstone. Eat at River or Evangeline.
Starkville stay at Hotel Chester and eat at Restaurant Tyler,
Baron Rouge sucks. If the baseball camp is at LSU I would stay at the Sonesta ES suites or the Cook hotel.

Booked all Hilton-branded for points, but always good to have some ideas.

We saw River when we were at Moonstone earlier. Will check that out!

Thanks for the Starkville recommendationI wasn't finding much.

Yes, we don't love Baton Rouge, but that one is at LSU. At least it's short.

Jolie.gray said:

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Booked all Hilton-branded for points, but always good to have some ideas.

We saw River when we were at Moonstone earlier. Will check that out!

Thanks for the Starkville recommendationI wasn't finding much.

Yes, we don't love Baton Rouge, but that one is at LSU. At least it's short.

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Hotel Capstone has been bought by Hilton and will become a Graduate. See if you can get it on points.

Their Greek life is too-notch.

Ohhh! I'll check!

Title sounds like lyrics in a Lyle Lovett song.

Baton Rouge you could go to the capitol and get a tour or go to the top and get an awesome view of the Mississippi.

Close to Starkville is Sam D. Hamilton Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, if you like hiking in the woods or gator spotting. And Bulldog Burger Co. is great.

And I always enjoy walking around campuses. Find a self-guided tour online or book one through the visitor centers. I find tours given by the visitor's centers are often geared toward prospective students, so I don't usually do official tours. I usually go to the visitor center, ask for a map, and ask the folks there for a few tips on what I should see while visiting campus. But if you're looking for colleges to go to for your son, an official tour might be good.

One of the camps does the tour but the other doesn't, so we'll do that one on our own. The other we are just going to check out and tour. I love to explore different campuses; it's one of my favorite things to do with my students at school as well. If it were up to my son, he'd land himself right there in College Station and call it good, but trying to plant plenty of seeds for other opportunities as well.

I hadn't thought about the Capitol. That's a good idea.

Jolie.gray said:

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Headed out on an SEC road-trip, college visit, baseball camp trip with my teenage son. Any must-do (eat, see, experience) items in Tuscaloosa, Starkville, or Baton Rouge?

I've been to Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge both for football games.

We did the Waysider in Tuscaloosa but nothing else that was too typical.

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Starkville is a pit. A real craphole of a town. Been there, done that. The worst SEC venue … and I've been to all but one. Never again.

What? Starkville was nice and Dudy Noble is the best SEC venue. (I've also been to them all.)

ensign_beedrill said:

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What? Starkville was nice and Dudy Noble is the best SEC venue. (I've also been to them all.)

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Agree. I like Starkville.

When in Baton Rouge, take the scenic drive to New Orleans, The Great River Road. Then I would venture into New Orleans for food/sites. It's not that far.

I found it. It's booked for our time.

I'm not a New Orleans fan at all, but I did look at trying to get there to take him by Tulane. So far I haven't found a way to fit it in, but I've been known to cram too much in at any given time.

Dudy Noble is on our list to see.

MSU on campus cheese is worth the stop.

We brought home some Edam.

https://www.msucheese.com/

Jolie.gray said:

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I'm not a New Orleans fan at all, but I did look at trying to get there to take him by Tulane. So far I haven't found a way to fit it in, but I've been known to cram too much in at any given time.

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We looked at Tulane for our soon to be freshman. She hated it. For a southern school, too many from the northeast and they looked at her weird when she went on her tour in a sundress. Did not even apply.

This looks awesome!

I'm going to call that one more point for not needing to stop in New Orleans.

Shipley Donuts Bread Pudding for desert at Bulldog Burger in Starkville.

That sounds a lot like something my son would be into!

When you're in Tuscaloosa, it's only about an hour up to Birmingham. Go check out Rickwood Field and they'll do a tour. Oldest ballpark in the country- opened in 1910. Babe Ruth, Shoeless Joe, Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and all the Negro League stars played there. My oldest got to play there a couple weeks ago for the WWBA in Hoover. He pitched the day before so he only DH'd and walked twice on 8 pitches.

twk said:

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Shipley Donuts Bread Pudding for desert at Bulldog Burger in Starkville.

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The bread pudding is no longer. Our burgers were good, though.

I read about that field , either during the SEC Tournament or some time recently. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go back that direction, but I really liked Birmingham last trip, so I would have liked to have gone back.

Jolie.gray said:

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twk said:

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Shipley Donuts Bread Pudding for desert at Bulldog Burger in Starkville.

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The bread pudding is no longer. Our burgers were good, though.

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Well, that sucks.

You can go see the tiger at LSU. The enclosure is just sorta.. there. You can walk right up to it. When I went a couple years ago, the tiger was napping right by the gate.

That's about all I can suggest for Baton Rouge.

DePalmas in T-town has always been a favorite

BwdAg said:

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MSU on campus cheese is worth the stop.

We brought home some Edam.

https://www.msucheese.com/

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They gave them an ice cream voucher with their tour. Guessing it's the same spot.

https://parrains.com/. Lunch or dinner


https://louiescafe.com/about-us Breakfast

Both Baton Rouge