Going to Houston for a week

Nakatomi2010

So, my wife has to go to Houston for 4 days for training at her job, and we're thinking about taking the baby and calling it a vacation.

We'd be staying http://maps.google.com/maps?q=12655+Southwest+Fwy+Stafford&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=12655+Southwest+Fwy,+Stafford,+Fort+Bend,+Texas+77477&gl=us&ei=tWeeS6OJGoP58Aa5y4C7Cg&ved=0CAcQ8gEwAA&z=16 Right there...

So I was wondering, to you Houstonites, what is there to do within 30/45 minutes of that hotel for a father and 9 month old baby.

Why 30/45 minutes? I have to pee frequently (Medical problem) and I'd rather avoid having to take the baby in and out of the car each time I make a pit stop... If it's totally awesome, then yeah I'll do it, otherwise meh...

And Friday would be a whatever day since my wife would be around, so if you were spending one day in Houston what would you do?

Spacemilk

Hmmm, well the thing about Houston is that 30-45 minutes is about the right amount of time to make it halfway through the city. :P Houston is HUGE and sprawling. However, from where you are, 30-45 minutes is about perfect to make it to downtown and other fun areas, with or without traffic. (heads-up: you will be shocked at how bad the traffic is, in spite of the fact that most highways are 4-6 superwide lanes going one way)

Houston actually has quite a bit of stuff so it really depends on you. Do you like museums and art collections and artsy things? What about outdoorsy stuff? Would you be all right with relaxing at a bar watching live music or something like that? If you like the beach, you can always hit up Galveston, though if you are used to quality beach - like most Florida beaches, say - you are not going to be impressed. But it can be a fun time, and there are cool places to visit in Galveston itself.

Compared to other cities Houston does not have a lot of "must-see" landmarks but it is still a fun place!

Nakatomi2010

Gotcha...

I've seen bad traffic... I've been from Ottawa, Ontario to Salt Lake City in a car, from Ottawa to Niagara Falls, from Ottawa to Tampa/Orlando, and I've been to Toronto, I've driven through Atlanta and my wife and I live near Tampa, which was most recently rated #1 for worst traffic in a city in the US, and in all of those trips I have yet to see a city with traffic as bad as Montreal, Quebec...

I'll have to look into Museums... 9 month old kid I imagine would be all about looking at stuff...

Spacemilk

Check out the Menil Collection. It's free, the only downside is that it's not actually in the "Museum District" if you wanted to spend time doing that.

Also the zoo is supposed to be pretty neat! Almost two years and I haven't made it there yet... but it's very cheap (free on some days, too, apparently) and they have a lot of cool animals!

Wassermelone

Really the only things to do in Houston (or near Houston) are:

- Museum district
- Shop (the Galleria is a very large, upscale mall)
- Space Center (I havn't been here since I was a wee bairn - I've heard you can't see as many things any more)
- Go to Austin

Don't go to Galveston. The beaches there are awful. But maybe its as Spacemilk said, I was used to California beaches. Then I moved to Florida after Houston. Galveston is a post apocalyptic wasteland in comparison.

Nakatomi2010

Thanks to your suggestions of museums and such I did research and found out they have a kids museum!

But more importantly they offer what's called a Citypass which basically gets me admission to:

•Space Center Houston (NASA):
General Admission including the Giant Screen theater

•Downtown Aquarium:
General Admission to Adventure Exhibit

•Houston Museum of Natural Science:
General Admission to exhibit halls

•Houston Zoo:
General Admission

•The Health Museum:
General Admission
OR
George Ranch Historical Park:
General Admission

•Museum of Fine Arts, Houston:
General Admission
OR
Children’s Museum of Houston:
General Admission


So, as a whole I'll probably hit those and just try to find some stuff to do with the wife at night...

Tempting to see if I can get her mother to tag along to have some help, but then there's the whole dealing with the in-law thing....

Spacemilk

NASA actually has some really cool kid-centered exhibits and fun things to do. When I went, it was actually kinda tough to find the adult-centered stuff because there was SO MUCH kid stuff. There is still a lot of adult stuff, it's just... tough to find when you first go there.

However the zoo is to the NW of downtown, about 20 minutes or so, while NASA is 30-45 minutes SE of downtown (depending on traffic - a lot of people head to the Galveston beaches on Saturday/Sunday and NASA is on the way to that, so you could end up getting stuck in all that crap). So just keep in mind that some of these places are scattered allll over Houston, but if you have a couple of days I would definitely recommend hitting up all those places.

p.s. If you go to the Aquarium don't eat at the restaurant there. Hugely overpriced tourist trap with barely decent food. :x

Nakatomi2010

As a seasoned traveller I know the rules of food places...

It's where the money is at... They're great for "Damn I'm starving" but you should always plan to bring your own meals/snacks...

Wassermelone

I went to the Zoo about a year and a half ago, and honestly I thought it was pretty poor.

Cramped habitats and a lot of animals that looked really unhappy. My brother and his girlfriend commented on the same thing when they went. There was construction going on at the time, so I don't know if it has improved or not.

Either way, I thought it was pretty unfortunate.

prfntbtr

Do not NASA. Seriously. It is a not a terrible drive from the city, but with traffic is still is not great. If you are really into space things then maybe it would be different, but the center itself is pretty run down. Half of the indoor attractions were not working. The tour of the NASA facility is pretty boring, it really just looks like some buildings, mostly. The one cool part of the tour is that they take you through to where they have a rocket sitting in a giant warehouse/bay thing, and the sheer scope of the thing was kind of mind-blowing. But that alone was not worth the price of admission.

Nakatomi2010

I'll look into the NASA thing then, if it's just a clone of the Cape then I'll just avoid it as I've been there, and I can go back any time...

How's parking downtown though, like at the museum district, is parking nearby, paid for, is there a light rail system I should be trying to use...

Also, when making recommendations, think of them from the standpoint of a person who's going to need to pee when he gets there, cause I've got a medical problem that makes it quite true...

Spacemilk

There is a light rail system that runs through downtown, but it's very limited. It can be useful if you're going to several places in downtown, but if not I wouldn't bother with it. There's a metro bus system that runs through all of Houston, not just downtown, but I would skip that if I were you. Most places have paid street parking by the hour, but those fill up fast - most likely you will want to look for a parking garage, there is generally one every few blocks in the downtown area. Another thing about downtown: If you have any kind of GPS, bring it. Downtown is a maze of one-ways, it's easy to navigate once you're used to it but it's a bitch for newbies.

I don't know much about the museum district, sorry!

One last note: Where you are staying, it's pretty much out of the question to use public transportation (it'd be the metro bus) to get to places without taking hours. Houston sucks for public transportation. :?