In 2015, I made a promise to myself that every year I will travel to at least one place (state, city, or country) that I've never been before. I've kept my promise and have traveled to a different country each year ever since. This year, funds have been tight and I've been trying to save more; so I decided that I'll travel domestically. Last weekend, Labor Day weekend, my friend and I decided to travel to Houston for a vacation. Neither one of us had ever been and I was really excited because that is where Beyoncé is from. Corny, I know but I am a huge fan of hers so of course I'd want to explore the city where she was born and raised! We did our research and put together an itinerary for our 5 day stay. While researching, my initial thought was that it didn't seem like there was much to do, but I figured I was being biased since I was born and raised in Las Vegas and currently reside in South Florida. We stayed at a place called Haven Inn and Suites that had awesome amenities (free breakfast, fridge, microwave etc.) for a decent price. We decided not to rent a car for the weekend because neither of us felt like driving so we used Uber and Lyft everywhere. Houston is HUGE and everything is so spread out so the Uber/Lyft costs started to add up really quickly. Everything is bigger in Texas right? So we ended up renting a car for the day that we planned the most activities.
Houston is a beautiful city but very hot! Although I was often drained by the sun I honestly enjoyed my time there. It was a nice change of scenery. My initial impression when I arrived to Houston was that it felt like home. There are so many African Americans there and it was so nice to be around my people. Living in SoFlo I don't encounter many African Americans so when I do I'm really excited about it.
People say that Houston is known for their food so we wanted to make sure to eat at some local food spots. We visited Esther's Cajun Cafe and Soul Food and Rays BBQ since they had excellent reviews but neither of us were impressed. I am very particular when it comes to potato salad and mac and cheese and sadly neither of these places did those dishes justice. I ended up eating delicious potato salad and mac and cheese at a local food truck festival we checked out on our very last day. That was about the only good thing about the food truck festival. There was barely anyone there. There were only 4 food trucks and about 10 different vendors, no place to eat your food, and no shade to get relief from the sun. We were very disappointed since we had ubered so far to get there. One of the mornings we decided to have brunch at a place called Snooze and it was so good! It was very well priced and the food tasted fresh! I'd definitely recommend brunching at Snooze if you ever decide to visit Houston.
When we researched popular places to go and things to do in Houston several parks and museums came up. So if that's your thing, Houston is the place for you. I enjoy doing those things but not for an entire 5 days. We went to the Buffalo Bayou Park to ride bikes there but the Houston sun tried to kill us. We were so drained by the sun that we only lasted about 10 minutes in the park and ended up not renting the bikes. It's a beautiful park though. We also checked out Hermann Park where there was a nice but very small Japanese Botanical Garden inside. Also, Herman Park is the site of the museum district where there are about 4 different museums to explore.
My absolute favorite part of the trip was going to The NASA Johnson Space Center. We went on the NASA tram tour that's included in general admission. This tour gave us a behind-the-scenes look at human space exploration. The stops on the tour included The Astronaut Training Facility and the Mission Control Center. I learned so much and it was such a cool experience. Another highlight of the trip was the Museum of Natural Science in the museum district. This museum is four stories high and absolutely HUGE. We spent so much time exploring this museum that we ran out of time and didn't get to explore the other few museums nearby before they closed. This museum includes a Planetarium, Butterfly Center, and several exhibitions where you can explore and learn about dinosaurs, wild life, jewels etc.
Another great experience I had in Houston was a successful night on the town in Market Square in downtown Houston. Now I say successful because we tried going out one night to a popular nightclub called Belvedere where it was supposedly Afrobeat night but no one was there. They charged both of us $20 to get in and it was whack! We didn't hear any Afrobeats, the few people that were in there had a table reserved, and no one was dancing. We stayed a couple hours hoping that it would get better, but unfortunately it didn't. Such a waste. But anyway, we had a successful night downtown bar hopping. There are so many cute spots to hang out at down there. Some bars had hidden rooms upstairs that gave more of a lounge feel and others had an upstairs patio where you can overlook the city. The best part was that there was no cover charge for men or women to enter! We hung out at various bars played pooled, listened to music, and sat on a patio to talk and catch up with my boyfriend's friends from college. It was such a good time.
My overall impression of Houston is that you have to live there to fully enjoy it. I wouldn't say that it is a tourist destination unless your main interest is visiting parks and museums. Although we had an itinerary, there were many times we felt lost as to what to do since we didn't care to visit another park. We went to the places on our itinerary but our experience was no where near what was described in the reviews online. We did have some positive experiences though. It was nice to visit Texas since I had never been, but I feel like I need to check out San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin to get more of a feel for Texas.
Have you ever been to Houston? What was your experience like? What places did you visit? What's your favorite part of Texas to visit?
Houston is a beautiful city but very hot! Although I was often drained by the sun I honestly enjoyed my time there. It was a nice change of scenery. My initial impression when I arrived to Houston was that it felt like home. There are so many African Americans there and it was so nice to be around my people. Living in SoFlo I don't encounter many African Americans so when I do I'm really excited about it.
When we researched popular places to go and things to do in Houston several parks and museums came up. So if that's your thing, Houston is the place for you. I enjoy doing those things but not for an entire 5 days. We went to the Buffalo Bayou Park to ride bikes there but the Houston sun tried to kill us. We were so drained by the sun that we only lasted about 10 minutes in the park and ended up not renting the bikes. It's a beautiful park though. We also checked out Hermann Park where there was a nice but very small Japanese Botanical Garden inside. Also, Herman Park is the site of the museum district where there are about 4 different museums to explore.
My absolute favorite part of the trip was going to The NASA Johnson Space Center. We went on the NASA tram tour that's included in general admission. This tour gave us a behind-the-scenes look at human space exploration. The stops on the tour included The Astronaut Training Facility and the Mission Control Center. I learned so much and it was such a cool experience. Another highlight of the trip was the Museum of Natural Science in the museum district. This museum is four stories high and absolutely HUGE. We spent so much time exploring this museum that we ran out of time and didn't get to explore the other few museums nearby before they closed. This museum includes a Planetarium, Butterfly Center, and several exhibitions where you can explore and learn about dinosaurs, wild life, jewels etc.
Another great experience I had in Houston was a successful night on the town in Market Square in downtown Houston. Now I say successful because we tried going out one night to a popular nightclub called Belvedere where it was supposedly Afrobeat night but no one was there. They charged both of us $20 to get in and it was whack! We didn't hear any Afrobeats, the few people that were in there had a table reserved, and no one was dancing. We stayed a couple hours hoping that it would get better, but unfortunately it didn't. Such a waste. But anyway, we had a successful night downtown bar hopping. There are so many cute spots to hang out at down there. Some bars had hidden rooms upstairs that gave more of a lounge feel and others had an upstairs patio where you can overlook the city. The best part was that there was no cover charge for men or women to enter! We hung out at various bars played pooled, listened to music, and sat on a patio to talk and catch up with my boyfriend's friends from college. It was such a good time.
My overall impression of Houston is that you have to live there to fully enjoy it. I wouldn't say that it is a tourist destination unless your main interest is visiting parks and museums. Although we had an itinerary, there were many times we felt lost as to what to do since we didn't care to visit another park. We went to the places on our itinerary but our experience was no where near what was described in the reviews online. We did have some positive experiences though. It was nice to visit Texas since I had never been, but I feel like I need to check out San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin to get more of a feel for Texas.
Have you ever been to Houston? What was your experience like? What places did you visit? What's your favorite part of Texas to visit?
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