Houston

HOUSTON

Houston is likely the only city in America who's namesake is rendered in giant statue form, hovering over the freeway leading into town from the north. Houston is the biggest city in Texas. If one's focus on Texas is North Texas, with the big city in North Texas being Dallas, one occasionally hears dismissive remarks about Houston. Bad air, Bad traffic, Bad humidity. These remarks get worse when something happens, like when Houston beats out Dallas on an Olympics bid. Or, God forbid, in a football game. However, on two Houston visits, these Eyes on Texas found Houston to be a very pleasant surprise. Houston's freeways were not the hodgepodge of varying quality one finds in the D/FW Metroplex. The Houston skyline is impressive. Houston rush hour traffic is bad, but not all that bad. Houston's downtown is lively and pedestrian friendly. And Houston is only a short distance from Galveston and saltwater. Two attributes which are hundreds of miles from D/FW...

Sam Houston Statue | Houston | Houston Art Cars | Moody Gardens | Galveston

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We'll start our tour of Houston at night. At a McDonald's near the Johnson Space Center.

Houston, we've got a problem...the ice cream machine isn't working....

The Astrodome appears to be a nicer looking building than the now deceased Seattle Kingdome.

Like the dead Kingdome of Seattle, the Astrodome is being replaced by a new football stadium. However, unlike the Kingdome, the Astrodome will not be blown up. Baseball is no longer played in the Astrodome. A new stadium has been built downtown, formerly called Enron Field til that name became associated with losing on a grand scale. Enron Field has been re-monikered into Minute Maid Park.

You would not guess from this photo that Houston has the worst traffic in the country. Here we are heading towards downtown Houston after seeing the Astrodome.

The aforementioned former Enron Field. The retractable roof appears to be much more massive than the one on Safeco Field in Seattle. Of course, it rains much more in Houston, obviating the need for a much more substantial roof. Which leads one to wonder why there is no retractable roof on the Ballpark in Arlington?

The entity formerly known as Enron Field prior to being reborn as Minute Maid sits amongst an interesting collection of buildings. The building shown here was, or is, a home for wayward girls. It is not known if it has now been converted to a home for wayward accountants.

Here you can see the home for wayward girls with the former Enron Field clearly as its close neighbor. Minute Maid seems like a good name for a home for wayward girls, more so than a ball park...

Houston's Convention Center is a couple blocks from Enron/Minute Maid. It looks very futuristic, like something designed for a Space City.

Downtown Houston has a very interesting mix of old and new buildings. The black box skyscraper you see here, with big holes in its top, seemed particularly interesting.

Don't know if this skyscraper is now the tallest west of the Mississippi, but it appeared to be very very tall.

A mural created an odd scene looking down the canyon of skyscrapers.

Houston's Hard Rock Cafe, in what they call their Arts District. Seems a much more sophisticated name for such a district, unlike Fort Worth's Cultural District.

Had never seen a Have a Nice Day Cafe before. Probably will never see one again.

It's time to leave downtown Houston

Let's go to the west side of downtown for the Car Art Parade.

Sam Houston Statue | Houston | Houston Art Cars | Moody Gardens | Galveston

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