San Marcos might fit your bill! It is a GREAT little college town. It has a very small town feel, but the campus has about 20,000 students.
It is 1/2 hour from Austin - the GREATEST (well, imho) in Texas. Austin is awesome and EXTREMELY dog friendly. Live music every day/night, in many many venues. The city as a whole is very laid back, the motto is, "Keep Austin Wierd" I don't think you would ever regret being close to Austin.
You can drive right down to the Texas coast and if you want, on down to South Padre (more than 2 hours though) to the prettiest beach in Texas.
Corpus Christi is on the coast, and is within 2 hours of San Antonio. You might really like that too. Corpus is a great little city!
I would check the crime rates in these cities - I've heard that it is very high in Biloxi and New Orleans - but I could be wrong, and someone living there will surely know better than me. The violent crime rate in San Marcos/Austin is extremely low. I feel very safe here.
Good luck with your decision.
__________________  Rex & Rowdy's Mom  |