Houston...We Have Contact!
- Jan 13, 2022
- 5 min read
We started off strong in Houston. Upon our arrival, first stop, a Diners, Drive-In and Dives BBQ restaurant called The Pit Room. We thought it an appropriate start to our thirty day tour of Texas... and boy-oh-boy were we right. Untraditionally, we both ordered the same thing, pork ribs and brisket. We had slightly different sides but both entrees were fall-off-the-bone tender, with a wonderful smoke, and a barbecue sauce to die for. Rock on Guy!
We arrived in the city on January 3rd so there was still holiday decorations adorning the city. After dinner, we drove the River Oaks section, home to the rich and famous of Houston. These homes were amazing! Average worth between seven and seventeen million dollars each. The Christmas decorations were as magnificent as the homes were breathtaking.
We often start our visits with high energy and big plans. In Houston we had more than the usual. After our Christmas light spectacular we went to the Galleria. The Galleria is a mall that takes up about six city blocks. It was big, bounding, and bountiful. It had every store imaginable. From Louis Vuitton and Rolex to Macy's, Dillards and everything in between. Heck, the place even had an ice skating rink. We've mentioned it before. We're the type of shoppers that usually only go to a store when we need or want something in particular. This place was cool but we left empty-handed but impressed with the space.
The next day we toured the Montrose and Heights neighbourhoods of the city. We didn't get out of the car for the first leg of the tour in Montrose. The Heights were cooler and had lots more personality. We went to the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park. Better known simply, as, the Waterwall. It was awesome! See for yourself below. The Williams Tower was at the opposite end of the Park from the Waterwall and was a cool added photo opportunity to the visit.
When we visited the Heights we went to 19th St. It was recommended by a friend (Rick & Jan Minetti) as the happening place for parks, local art, shops, bars and restaurants. We had lunch and then stopped in to a cigar lounge for an Ashton and some chill. We called it a day and went back to our RV park. We did take advantage of the resorts hot tub.
Galveston, oh Galveston...thank you Glen Campbell! Yes, we took a trip to Galveston the next day. It was a little less than an hour car ride away and sure worth the time and distance. The first stop was the 28,000 square foot, four story, historic Moody Mansion. W.L. Moody was an American business man and a financial success story. The dude owned like 17 hotels in 5 different states and made his dough in cotton, banking, ranching, newspapers, insurance, railroads and of course the hospitality industry. They give you headphones to click onto a server to provide insight to each room you stop in. It was fun, engaging, educational and enlightening all at the same time. Next, we stopped at Bishop's Palace which was closed which has happened quite a bit in our cross-country-covid-ridden tour of America.
The cool thing about Bishops Palace being closed was this beautiful church across the street from it. The priests must have seen us coming. They said "lock the doors" there's a Jew-boy coming. Of course we're kidding, but the church was closed. Sacred Heart was beautiful nevertheless. See for yourself below. It's the white building that looks like a castle.
Next Galveston destination was to Pier 21. We took a boat ride down the Galveston Harbor and toured the oldest working sailboat in America. The one hour Harbor tour (As opposed to a two-hour tour, which we all know didn't end well) was a combination of engaging, enlightening and breezy. The captain/tour guide had a good sense of humour and was extremely informative at the same time. Above is a picture of one of the handful of oil-rigs, a shipwreck turned buoy marker and one of the inner harbours we saw. We were interested in learning that the shipwreck above was a ship made out of cement. They use to make them that way and floated due to the design, not the weight. He explained it’s about the buoyancy of the design. The other pictures were of our tour of the tall ship Ellisa, then, happy hour at Fisherman's Wharf. Then we walked the Strand which was a cool, eclectic street with nifty shops, stores and bars. We got a kick out of the fact you had to take two steps down from the curb in order to get onto the street throughout the Strand. The curbs were high! We had dinner at a place our boat ride tour guy said was the freshest seafood ever. It was good but not worth the price.
We went to a couple places in Houston the next day that were covid closed. So we went to Whitmeyer's Distillery as a substitute destination. Wednesday day drinking was a little crazy but we sampled some whiskey and if the bartender had half a personality we might have had a second. One was enough. Brad's daughter's boyfriend recommended Lupe Tortillo's for eats. There were quite a few of them so we googled the closest one and had a wonderful dinner.
After five days in Houston Kathy once again decided the city-life wasn't for her. Between the traffic and hustle and bustle she prefers the more laid back beach and country life. We still had three days left so we slowed the roll. Here's what we wound up seeing. One day we went to Buffalo Bayou Park which was a twenty minute drive from our campground. When we got there we realized we only had one key for the bikes. It's rough growing old! No bike riding around Buffalo Bayou so we took a short walk instead. We went to the Holocaust Museum, Smithers Park and a new wave interactive art gallery called Seismique. We would recommend visits to all three.
The Holocaust Museum experience was engaging, sad, and compelling. We knew it was going to be a heartfelt experience and it surely was. The museum often tapped into Holocaust survivors in the Houston area's life-forming and life-changing first-hand experiences. Both in written and video form. Everyone in America should attend. Most would learn something about one of if not THE, most damning persecutions in worldwide history.
On a more upbeat note the next two visits we're going to share are artsy stops. We went to Smithers Park and Seismique, a contemporary interactive art museum...kind of. Both places were cool, unusual, different and fun. We're going to let the pictures tell the story. Please see below and you'll know what we're talking about.
Houston...It's time for lift-off. Thank you for a wonderful week, (hold the highways), we're off too Corpus Christi, TX. next stop. Thanks for reading down this far. Peace, love and happiness. Kathy and Brad ...Rock'n On!
Bummer about the missed Covid stops but sure looks like you made the best of it! Great pics and fun stuff. Holy mansion, tall ships, expensive houses, oh my! Keep on having fun you two. We love the stories! Lock the doors... haha! 😅
Cool photos of that funky art park. Funny about the stepping down from the sidewalks. Years ago I was in Vegas, the old downtown section. There was no curb between the sidewalks and streets - it was all flat. We hit a crazy downpour of rain - everything flooded! We then started appreciating curbs. :)
Love hearing about it all!