As per my email and with numerous mentions in this thread, Nasa and the Kemah Boardwalk are both within 10 minutes from my house. Don't forget the world's finest dog track, Gulf Greyhound Park.
Houston has lots of shopping, eating and museums! Shopping down 19th Street in The Heights The Galleria Dinner at the Original Ninfa's on Navigation St. (Mexican Food) Any of the Goode Co. restaurants - BBQ, Seafood, Mexican we have so many good restaurants it's so hard to list them all... Tour of St. Arnold's Brewery - Houston's only microbrewery See if anything's going on at IBP Drinks at La Caraffe - Houston's oldest building and a very charming, historic little bar Get on the 610 loop and go around the city in one big circle!! we got lots of parks Texas Outside's guide to Houston we got lots of museums! The Menil Collection and across the street from the Menil is the Cy Twombly Gallery Contemporary Arts Museum Houston Museum of Fine Arts Houston Museum of Natural Science Art Car Museum some more links Houston Guide HistoricHouston Links Art Car Museum links IBP links
Kemah Boardwalk (coming from Australia you probably won't be impressed) Pappas Bros Steakhouse Fogo De Chao Shopping at the Galleria Houston Rockets of course Damn Houston does SUCK!
I live 15 minutes' drive from this: I think the Kiwis are doing OK for beaches, thanks. Kemah is cute but go for the food, not the view. That restaurant with the giant aquariums is fun!
If you are going to go to one restaurant in Houston I (and several dining guides) would recommend Brennan's. It is a truly unique place--the meal is really like something you can't get anyplace else. Try the turtle soup and the bananas foster.
Some places I like: If in Galveston, not far from the Strand- Eat an evening meal at "Saltwater Grill" - on Post Office - off 21st street across form the Opera house. The Rockets used to have their camp nearby at Galveston Ball High school during the championship runs. Sit at the bar and watch the cook fix gumbo from scratch with a special heating / cooking system with steam. Have a drink at the Tremont house hotel bar in Galvestone on the Strand- very nice atmosphere. In Houson- eat at Trulucks for Seafood - with nice atmosphere. Also check out the Cokrell permanent exhibit in Museum ofNatural Science- butterflies in a nice large greenhouse structure. Shop and eat in the Heights - 19th at Yale - cool antique and junk shops give a good view to past American Pop culture- reminds me of looking in my grandmother's attic. Downtown is cool- pick up a Houston Chronicle newspaper to check entertainment- a nice venue is theVerizon theatre. Also the Continental club for good regional music acts. For Karaoke - my wife and I always have fun at Spotlight Karaoke on Westheimer. Have fun and a good trip!
The Museum of Fine Arts is great. They have a fantastic and constantly expanding permenant collection. Make sure you go to the new building. I had some friends that went to the museum and went into the old building, looked around and left without knowing there was the new museum building with about 85% of the permenant collection right next door (take the underground tunnel from one building to the next, its a work of art in itself). They have a huge collection from a bunch of 16 and 17th century gothic, to a massive collection of imprssionism and expressionism. Another pretty cool thing to check out is Old Town Spring if you like art, crafts, and shopping, and be sure to eat at Wunsche Bros. Cafe and get a burger with some Whisky Cake for dessert. http://www.oldtownspringtx.com/
I lived in Houston for 8 years (Houston and Austin, I now live in Washington D.C.) so I know one thing or two about Houston. I must say that Houston is not really a touristy place. All the places other people mentioned are fine, but if you come all the way from another hemisphere, why not check out Austin, the best city in Texas IMO (it's only 2 hours of drive from Houston). The state capitol is nice, the Covert Park on Mount Bonnel has a nice overlook of the Colorado River (not the same Colorado River that goes through the Grand Canyon) and the city. 6th street is known for the live music and night life, Lake Travis which is only 30-45 minutes out of town provides ample opportunity for water sports. If you come in April, you will be in for a treat as the hill country will be an ocean of Bluebonnets, Indian Paintbrushes and many, many other wild flowers. Also San Antonio is nice too, the River Walk is very quintessential (sp), the Alamo and the missions (Mission San Jose, Mission Concepcion) has a lot of histories about Texas and the Spanish Southwest ... BTW you can check out the following website too (www.imagereservoir.com) which has some pictures taken in Texas.
<ol><li>Hang out with the locals and buy them beer. <li>Take the locals on a road trip to New Orleans and buy them bloody mary's and oysters. <li>Take the locals to an Astros game and buy them beer, peanuts and hotdogs <li>Go to the local's favorite Mexican restaurants and buy them margarita's <li>Place some frisbee golf all day with the locals Sabine Street first, buy them lunch at Treebeards in Market Square, then head to Rice University for another round of golf and get a 12-pack, then cool out at Valhalla afterwards for 60 cent beer on the lawn to meet some crazy graduate students and locals. <li>Meet the locals at Brazil for lunch and discuss your plans to go see NASA and shop at the Galleria, then decide to by a round of beer as more locals show up to chat and end up staying there for more rounds then walking to the Menil to catch some Surrealists art, and going out for some more mexican and local bands at Rudyards later. </ol>
and of course, who could forget the ......The Beer Can House 222 Malone St. Houston, TX 77007 50,000 plus beer cans!...
Watch: Steve Francis Yao Ming Eddie Griffin Cuttino Mobley Mo Taylor James Posey Kelvin Cato Moochie Norris Terrance Morris AND Rudy T
Aside from all the buying of drinks, I propose the locals buy the visitors the drink all sounds good!!!
