Houston area geography

[Malvie]

Originally Posted by Tdiddy0027

Hi everyvody, my name is Copeland and I live in Newnan, ga (south of Atlanta) and I'm about to visit my friend in the Houston area next week for the first time. I'm curious as to what the geography of the area is like. Is it forest, plains, prairie, what? I know it's not desert since it's east Texas, but I'm guessing it isn't as lush or hilly as Atlanta is. If it's not located in the texas prairie, how far away is it from the prairie and where can I go to get a feel of the whole rural texas cowboy thing? I probably sound really dumb to you all. I certainly don't think that Houston is full of redneck cowboys- I deal with the same kind of stereotypes where I live in metro Atlanta- I've been asked if I regularly wore shoes before- anyway, any info would be appreciated!

Northern suburbs look like Atlanta without the hills (pine trees, forests, lakes). The Woodlands = Alpharetta. The Coast is...the coast. Flat, grasslands (the parts not covered up by subdivisions, etc). I love them both.

Houston is bigger than Atlanta but has many of the same chain restaurants, malls, suburbs, etc. Mexican food definitely better here. Soul food = about the same. Excellent selections of Asian food (all varieties). Big freeways just like you're used to (Katy Freeway is bigger than anything in Georgia, or the rest of the free world, for that matter). Better drivers. Cowboy hats, boots, western shirt in the Houston metro = overhauls, bare feet and a straw hat in Buckhead---somebody's going to a costume party.

However, all is not lost. If you will drive about 80 miles or so west on IH10 from Katy, you will get to the area of S. Central Texas that has towns like Flatonia, Schulenburg, Weiner, Waelder, Shiner. These towns feature actual cowboys---who bear a striking resemblance to their cousins in South Georgia---big belt buckles (that they may have actually won), cowboy boots (ubiquitous), big bellies, big diesel duallys with which they pull their $50,000 horse trailers, etc., "Texas friendly". Shiner is home of the Shiner Brewery, an excellent road trip. Watch for troopers on the road (especially after touring the brewery). Some good roadhouse eatin' places out there, too: City Market Cafe in Flatonia (order the chicken fried steak) is a great place to eat.

IMHO, some of the prettiest ranch land in Texas is between Houston and College Station (home of Texas A&M). I would love to own some land out there, it's very nice.

Too bad you couldn't visit during the rodeo, when (aside from the River Oaks set in their zillion-dollar cowboy outfits) you can see actual cowboys doing actual cowboy things---inside Reliant Stadium, which (imho) makes the Georgia Dome look like crap. There are a fair amount of real Texas ranch folk at the rodeo, too, scattered among the rest of us.