Been with this girl for awhile and wanted to see if anybody had a playbook for The Woodlands. Thinking about this weekend.
This was pre Covid and early Spring so the weather was nice. Girlfriend wanted to see a concert and they happened to be playing at the Cynthia Woods Pavilions so I had a trip based around that. Opted for the Hilton Garden Inn over the Marriot or Westin as I wanted to save some money on the hotel but still wanted a short Uber ride away from the concert and the town center where the bars and restaurants were. There's definitely enough bars and restaurants in the town center to make a day of eating and drinking if you are into that type of thing and we were. We were both a bit outdoorsy and so we rented kayaks on Lake Conroe and hiked some of the trails in Sam Houston Forest which was like a 20/30 minute trip from The Woodlands. Afterwards we stopped by a brewery in Conroe, Southern Star Brewing. You can also rent kayaks on the small lake in The Woodlands. Basically, The Woodlands has a bit of everything. Variety of "nature options" plus "food and drank options". Maybe getting a bit too hot to do some of the outdoor options unless it's early in the day.
Woodlands is a destination? Am I grossly misunderstanding The Woodlands as anything but an upper-middle-income suburb of Houston?
We had a Hotels.com credit we wanted to use but didn't want to drive anywhere, so we took the kids and stayed a few nights at The Woodlands Resort. It was fun. Good pool with a lazy river and a good restaurant on site. (The host at the restaurant was less than excited to see me walk in with two tiny kids, but they found a table for us in the far corner, far away from everyone.) But the best part about that vacation is I was alerted to a nice Weber grill that was being clearanced out at like 80% off and there was 1 in stock at a Woodlands Target. So I was able to pick it up, drive it home to Cypress, then quickly go back in vacation.
I grew up in Houston south of I-10 so the tall pine trees are enough of distinction to where it feels more like east Texas to me. I couldn't imagine spending more than two full days in the Woodlands area, but it works. Even Lake Conroe is a nice weekend getaway, grab some amigos... rent an Airbnb.... buy a bunch of beer....
I wanted a concert but the only thing was buzzfest and neither are down with that. Im looking at the Westin and just maybe some of their local art exhibits. Ill look into the hiking and stuff as that could be fun but hot. Drinking and eating is going to be the main reason for the trip, so precciate that. To preface everyones "concern" of the woodlands being a destination: I needed something within 2 hours away from Nacogdoches and weve done a lot of Louisiana stuff already. Shes from San antonio and I havent been to the woodlands in many moons. I just wanted a quick getaway from the norm and figured the Woodlands has enough waterway, lights at night, bars and restaurants for that.