Houston, Texas

---

Day One:

Now to be completely honest I never had any true desire to go to Texas, at least not with so many other places out there to go but when a friend texted me if I wanted to go I said why not. After searching through travel site after travel site we found ourselves a rather cheap deal and booked it.

When the first weekend of October arrived it was rainy and disgusting here in New Jersey and the two of us were ready to head out to some gorgeous Texas weather. The quick flight brought us right there and it really was some amazing weather. We grabbed our rental car and headed out to our hotel.

We stayed at the Baymont Inn which is right off the freeway, or some freeway because everything seems to be off the freeway on these roads that are parallel to whichever main road you happen to be on. It was in a nice location, just fifteen minutes away from downtown Houston which is what we figured out once we had checked in.

Our first stop was dinner at the Armadillo Palace. Can you really pass up a restaurant that has a giant metal armadillo outside of it? We sure couldn't. We sat at the bar and ordered some awesome TexMex food. With a beer in hand and some awesome nachos the two of us realized we might just stand out a bit. We had out lovely New Jersey accent and everyone seemed to notice, but that was fine with me.

After dinner we headed to Downtown Houston. On Saturday we were going to an Astros game so we went in search of Minute Maid Park. It wasn't to hard to find because the park was massive and looked absolutely amazing. We drove around a bit, but after a day of traveling we were tired and headed back to our hotel.

Day Two:

The next morning the two of us woke up bright and early to head out to Armand Bayou. We grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and headed off. My main goal in the Bayou was to check out some Bison, I guess I didn't really understand that Bison weren't one of those creatures you saw just roaming around. The nature centre was filled with reptiles and amphibians around the area and outside they had two hawks. The trail lead by a small pond that apparently had a baby alligator in it, but we couldn't seem to find it. Past the prairies we walked through a small working farm and got to the bison. The two bison were in a fenced in area just munching on the grass. Not exactly what I had in mind but it was still pretty cool to see them.

On our drive home we felt we had to stop at Whataburger. Unsure as to what to order the two of us just grabbed a number one and headed to the hotel. A Whataburger is an interesting experience. When they say everything is bigger in Texas that includes the fast food. The cheeseburger was HUGE and I must say rather tasty.

After our delectable lunch we got ready to head downtown to the game. We parked our obnoxiously gold colored car and headed toward the park. We wanted to get in early because we would be getting a bobble head. Now I'm not exactly an Astros fan. In fact I'm not even a baseball fan, but my friends a hardcore fan so we HAD to get those bobble heads. So we waited in line and got those bobble heads. Once in we watched some batting practice and as we stood watching we decided to wave to some of the outfielders. Again I am no fan so I know nobodies name, but as we walked away the one told us to come back. At the end of practice he actually through a baseball up to us! After such excitement the two of us went to the store and Alison got a few souvenirs and then it was time for beer and the game.
It didn't go very well, the first two innings the Astros let up a few runs and didn't get any of their own. In fact the Astros didn't get any runs until the 6 inning and by the end of the game they lost 8-3. Oh well it was still exciting to catch the game and it was a beautiful evening in the park.

Day Three:

With a car with unlimited miles we decided to head out to a park to do some hiking. We went to Galveston Island State Park. When we made it down there we grabbed our pass and headed onto the beach. The Gulf of Mexico was beautiful, the water was still warm and their were plenty of shore birds to check out. After taking a few photos and walking into the water we headed to some of the trails in the park. There were plenty of wading birds that we got to see and the trail was nice an easy. The park is really beautiful and after some time of walking around we headed back to Houston.

From there we got dolled up and ready to head out. Unfortunately it was a Sunday so that limited our options, but we did find one place The Wild West. How can you really turn down a Texas place called The Wild West, but when we got there we realized one thing we were by far the youngest people there. We also learned that everyone was dancing swing, waltz and all those other fancy dances that we had no idea how to do. I learned both Cha-cha and some other fancy dance. We didn't stay long from there we headed out and tried o find a new place which was unsuccessful. Instead we headed back to the hotel and packed up for our flight the next day.

Houston was cool but I probably will never return. It was to built up and city for me and the oil rigs all over the place aren't the most charming of scenes. Downtown is nice and the park around it as well but still not completely my scene, but it is cool to say that I've been to Texas now!!! 😊

"It's where we go, and what we do when we get there, that tells us who we are."~Joyce Carol Oates

---

Photos

Whataburger
Amazingly just a few months ago I was a vegetarian!

The Pond
Can you find the alligator? We sure couldn't