Touring Parts of Texas

Houston is quite the city.  Perhaps if I spent more time there I would eventually find short cuts and alternate routes to various destinations.  However, being as direction-handicapped as I am made navigating through the area a bit more difficult for me.  When you have large cities, you often have lots of traffic.  Again, no exception here - which added to the inadequacy I felt when I toured around the city.  Despite being turned around on more than one occasion, we eventually found our way to parks, concerts, restaurants, and more.

Before we left for our little Christmas vacation, to help get our minds off our apartment mishaps (see again I am finding a logical reason to justify spending money), we found our way to the Houston Symphony.  A few days later we were able to see the Rockettes perform their Radio City Christmas Show.  One of our last nights off before we flew home, we drove down to Galveston to see a Christmas Light display.  It was perfect for getting us into the Christmas spirit before we saw our families.







When we returned to Houston, we again were thankful that we were there during our normal winter months, as the temperatures were refreshingly mild and proved excellent for hammocking.  We wandered around different areas of the city, finding coffee shops and little boutiques...and occasional hearses - again Dad, for you...

Also much to my excitement, Texas is no stranger to country music.  As a result we were able to catch a few shows at a little nearby honkeytonk.  It served as fantastic people watching - oh and the concerts were enjoyable as well.  

When Becky and I had stretches off we explored some of the big cities outside of Houston.  One long weekend we visited one of Becky's friends in Dallas.  We were exposed to a couple of delicious restaurants and shown some hidden gems within the city.  After our visit with Julie, we ventured over to the John F. Kennedy Memorial and got a little history lesson of that dreadful day.

 

A few weeks before we left the great state of Texas, we had the opportunity to visit Austin and San Antonio.  While we were in Austin I experienced my first airbnb stay - I will most definitely use that to book future getaways.  One of the girls we were working with was originally from Austin so she was super helpful in filling us in on the "must see" attractions.  Again, that combined with Becky's research provided an ambitious list of activities for us to enjoy.

We stayed in a place just off South Congress, which proved to be the perfect location for the purpose of our visit.  Amazing restaurants, Home Slice Pizza and Hop Doddy to name a couple, were within walking distance and various shops and restaurants lined the remainder of the street.  Of course we found another Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives place and happily devoured our meals.  One of the days we decided to have no shame in playing tourist and took a Double Decker Bus ride around the city.  To me I feel like that sometimes is the best way to see multiple iconic parts of the city when you have a limited amount of time.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day as we cruised around snapping pictures, thoroughly enjoying our people watching/sightseeing experience.

 

 

We saw the original Chuy's and visited a delicious food truck station.

 

One of the afternoons we took our bikes for a spin and found a nearby pool, we didn't brave the cold water but it was a neat little area.  I never did quite get past the fact that people were swimming outside in the middle of February.  Our friend Nicole had mentioned a B-B-Q place called the Salt Lick about a half hour or so outside of Austin.  She said the experience would be worth the drive and I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint.  On our way out there however, we took a random little detour and found Hamilton Pool, a natural pool we had read about online.  As we were driving up to the entrance however, we noticed the park was closing in 5 minutes.  Of course it was...

The good news is, we've learned to make the most of these silly and frequent disappointments.  About a mile or so down the road we both noticed a sign for a nearby winery, why not see what that's all about since it was still a bit too early to head to dinner.  As we sipped some wine and chatted about our Austin adventures we made the decision to check out the pool on our way out of town.  It would add a few minutes to our drive, but we figured we had plenty of time.  It was definitely worth the stop.

 

 

After soaking up the sun for a little while we decided to make our way to San Antonio.  It was a fun area with a lively Riverwalk which was lined with hotels, restaurants, and businesses.  We toured around the city taking in as much of the culture as possible.  Later one evening there was an art projection show taking place downtown.  They used the facade of the church, projecting the history of San Antonio through a light show picture.  It was impressive, and my photos definitely don't do it justice.  The following day we paid a visit to the nearby village and the Alamo.  It was a sight to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure I'll eventually make my way back to Texas, as there is plenty of the state I have yet to see.  For now though, I'm content with our three month packed visit.