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A Visitor’s Guide to Houston
Posted by Joel on March 24, 2008
I have been a resident of Houston (for better or worse) for 5 years now. No, I am not a Houstonian or even worse, a Texan, but this is a helpful guide for you fans of Michigan St., Stanford, or God’s team, Memphis, that will be coming here to cheer your team at beautiful Reliant Stadium. For once, someone will actually win something at reliant Stadium, seeing as though it is also the home field for the NFL’s Houston Texans. Yes I know I omitted the Texas Longhorns, but as much as they play in Houston and considering this is their home state, essentially it is a homecoming. Plus, the dope boys are excited because Matthew McGodhesgay will be here to root on his Longhorns, meaning an instant boost of the sticky icky sales for this year…
Travel
*There are 2 main airports here: George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport & William P. Hobby Airport. Hobby is the much smaller airport and less overall hassle, but from my experience, Bush is a little bit more efficient. I just have issues with the airport’s name.
*Avoid if at all possible all major interstates and highways between the hours of 6 am-7 pm Monday-Friday and especially I-45S towards Galveston and I-10W towards Katy on weekends. The more side streets that you can find, the better.
*The cabs inside the loop are pretty efficient, but just as in New York, Chicago, and LA, you might need to carry at least a foreign language dictionary. Pick one.
*Metro Bus System absolutely sucks. If anyone is big time enough to stay downtown, there is a light rail system that will transport you from downtown to Reliant Park, but a word of caution: The light rail is super quiet. What this means is that if you are either walking or driving your car and you are not paying attention, you will get run over.
Accomodations
*If you are only coming down for a day or two, stay either downtown, near Reliant Park, or the Rice Village/University of Houston area. You will play a pretty penny, but the areas are nice. Do not venture too far away from Reliant Park, because the Sunnyside area of town is close by. I know the name implies a friendly area, but names can be very deceptive.
*The Galleria are is not too far from Reliant Park, however, you will be warned about traffic in the Galleria area shortly.
Entertainment
*The Galleria area includes the Galleria Mall, home to several floors of shops, both regular stores and exclusive boutiques. Everything from Macy’s and Foot Locker, to Tiffany & Co. and Neiman Marcus. It is a shoppers paradise, complete with a hotel. Titans owner Bud Adams still has his offices in the mall’s office section. The whole area around the mall is very pleasurable if you love shopping.
With that said, traffic is hell during normal rush hour periods during the week and the whole entire weekend.
*Ironically, just a mile west of the high class of the Galleria mall, you will find pawn shops and strip clubs galore. Houston is one of the nation’s centers for “adult entertainment”, and to be honest, I am not sure if the locals are proud of that or not. It is kind of a mixed bag. So if you are into that type of thing, Westheimer is sort of “one stop shopping”.
*As for food, I highly recommend the following restaurants: Any Pappa’s restaurant (They have a Cajun, Mexican, and Seafood in their chain), Niko Niko’s, Ninfa’s, Kim Son, China Garden, This Is It, and Saltgrass.
*The club scene is also pretty good. There are lots of clubs, depending on what you are into. Most clubs are concentrated either downtown, somewhere near the Galleria, or SW side of the city. There are others spread out further than that but those ares have the biggest concentration.
*If you have time, The Houston Zoo/Memorial Park area is absolutely beautiful this time of year This area is also where you will find museums. Also, the Kemah Boardwalk is good wholesome family entertainment.
*Galveston, TX is about 30-45 minutes away but be warned: On weekends, it is crazy going there. But if you go during the week and/or are loca en la cabeza, check out the beach, Moody Gardens, and Schlitterbahn Water Park.
*The Houston Rockets play Wednesday against the Timberwolves and the Houston Aeros minor league hockey team play Friday night. That’s about it for sports this weekend outside of the tournament.
If anyone has any questions or need more info, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to ymswwc@gmail.com. Go Tigers Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
zigzag said
Congrats, it takes a man of steel to live in Houston. Is that Museum named for Ima Hogg still functioning? I assume that you can still travel down Telephone Road to Hobby? By the way, the Tigers are a lock against MSU, those 6-0 guards that do the scoring have their work cut out for them against Rose at 6-3, CDR at 6-7 and Anderson at 6-6. Dorsey is out of his coma and will knock their big guys around ala Rhodes and Varnado. Rose, of course, is the key as he steathly goes about his business, had 17 pts, 9 rebs and 7 asts yesterday. He plays far beyond the college level and actually has to throttle his game so the others can keep up.
Joel said
Zigzag, yes you can still travel down Telephone Rd/Hwy 35 to get to Hobby Airport. However, Telephone Rd is also a Red Light District on certain parts so if there are any visitors that are into that type of thing, there you go…
The only problem that I see with Michigan St. is that the whole entire team is physical and Izzo is a better x’s and o’s guy than Calipari. And they have that kid that looks like Powder that can shoot the lights out…
Oh, the museum is now the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and is going strong. I have not been there yet but probably will sooner or later…
zigzag said
Calipari is a far better recruiter than bench coach. I am still appalled that he did not bring someone in to address that free throw mess. They shot 47% yesterday, 70% makes the score 84-74 instead of 77-74. He had all season and they still throw up bricks. The Tigers will need to knock that kid Neitzel around like they did Lofton who got just seven against Memphis. As I recall Rose did a good job on him and when he rested, Calipari put Allen on him to rough him up. It just appears to me that MSU does not match up well with Memphis.
MoonDog said
OK. Got home a little while ago and posted a link to this. Nicely done.
Gina said
I’m a Memphis fan who lives in Memphis. Go Tigers!!!! I have been to Houston once–nice city. Loved NASA. Wish I was coming for the game. How about Rose? How many freshmans go pro?
Joel said
Rose is good, great even, but Kevin Love, O.J. Mayo and most definitely Michael Beasley are better…
With that said, Rose is still a top 5 pick. God I hope he can keep up with D.J. Augustin…
Thomas the Terrible said
Funny how O.J. Mayo was so hyped up at the beginning of the season, yet Love is the PAC 10 player of the year.
HoustonTexan said
Houston is the BEST CITY IN THE WORLD! Everything is bigger and the cost of living is much cheaper down here.
Joel said
@8 The cost of living is cheap and I appreciate that. However, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that Houston is the best city in the world…
But us Memphians sure are comfortable here in Houston. 18 points comfortable…