Impressions of TX (Houston, Corpus Christi, Galveston: how much, hotels, tax)

[jm21]

Arrived in TX yesterday afternoon at IAH, and thought I'd start a bit of a journal with my observations of TX (and update the thread a bit as I move along...with how cold it is here I'll probably be staying in hotels more than I would like, heh). So here goes...

But before that I gues, I grew up in small-town OR, lived in Orange County for a bit, then living in Portland now, just so you know what I'm comparing TX too. I've only visited a few places to any real extent - washington mostly, most of the hawaiin islands, mexico, florida...touristy spots mostly. Anyways...

My first surprise was how little traffic there was. I got off the plane around 4:30pm local time and was expecting the worst, but it was really not that bad. Sam Houston HWY (hopefully got that name right) seemed huge for the amount of people on it...but maybe that's planning for the future. I walked around quite a bit after checking in to a hotel (was waiting for this morning to get a car...I have horrible night vision and didn't want to be driving around a strange city at night in rush hour) and didn't see the traffic backed up at all really. It's a very difficult area to walk around in...few sidewalks, poorly maintained walk signals...but I'm sure other places are better.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how much greenery there was. It's not Portland or small-town OR, but it looked about a billion times better than the LA/OC/SD area. The flatness seems weirder than I thought it would.

Another surprise was the selection of restaurants. I quickly found a Japanese grill, Chinese, and Greek, but most seemed to be Mexican or some sort of American. Had Chinese just out of curiousity...pretty mediocre, but I've had worse. Prices weren't that different from OR, but there's tax here, so maybe a little more expensive.

Weather was great when I came in, but seemed to drop like a rock after the sun went down. Still not that bad though. Coat weather, but no rain and the sun was out until well after 5pm which was a nice change.

Ah well, I'll try to update this a bit more as I go on if people find it worthwhile to read. I think I'll be going mostly East/SE TX and skipping the gulf coast south of Houston, at least for this trip, as I don't think I would consider moving there (too hot).

If anyone has some small things they're interested in learning about, maybe I could check them out, and it might just be something I'm interested in too b ut hadn't thought about . Anyways, I'm off, have a good day y'all.

[Bily Lovec]

what area of town are you in ?

we have a lot better places to eat than your usual messican food, and Tex-Mex is to be avoided at all cost.

houston is one of the most diverse citys in america, let us know what you're wanting to experience and we'll fix you up

[jm21]

Ah, just in Houston for a few hours, then I'm out. Was checking out the restaurant threads on here to jot down some names before leaving. It's definitely a diverse city...I thought there wouldn't be much of an Asian population here, but I've heard Chinese more than I've heard southern accents, heh.

I'm looking to get out of the cities though, so I won't be spending practically any time in any of the big TX cities. I know city people go on and on about how each city has a unique character, but they don't seem all that different to me...and not my choice for a vacation spot. No offense to the city folk here intended. Hopefully I'll be hiking most of my trip.

I'll be staying in North Houston (I guess that's the area's name?) again near IAH the evening before I leave though. Not sure what hotel yet, but one with a shuttle to the airport. I eat just about anything as long as it's good, but I might have (hopefully will) had my fill of Cajun and BBQ by the time I get back to Houston .

[tstone]

Houston is massively sprawled out and not a walking city. The inner loop has its walkable areas, though it can be uncomfortable walking amongst drivers who don't get it. We are not LA-courteous to our pedestrians.

The traffic in Houston is ununsual for 4:30 this week, because not everybody decided to go back to work the 3 day week. It will get backed up, but only during certain hours, never anything close to LA-clogged. The Sam Houston Tollway is a toll road and isn't as backed up as the ''free'' freeways.

The temperatures are a bit on the low side, too. The past few days it's been about 50/30 when the average is about 62/42.

Tex-Mex is essentially king in this city, is my favorite, is many people's favorites here, and don't avoid it. Check out Taqueria Del Sol, close to 45/610S.

Also don't avoid the coastal areas. If you can squeeze in a day of Clear Lake/Galveston Bay/Galveston Island while you're here, I'd do so just to say you've been. It's about 60-90 minutes south of IAH. Come down to the south half of the area (down 59, 288 and 45) and you'll notice the greenery quickly disappears. Lots of deciduous brush here. Crossroads of south and east TX. North side is east TX-evergreen. If you like that, you'll love the piney woods for sure.

[CurrentlyinSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by Bily Lovec

what area of town are you in ?

we have a lot better places to eat than your usual messican food, and Tex-Mex is to be avoided at all cost.

houston is one of the most diverse citys in america, let us know what you're wanting to experience and we'll fix you up

Why would a person visiting Texas for the first time want to avoid Tex-Mex at all cost? Maybe you should stop getting your Tex-Mex from Taco Bell...

[tstone]

Ugh, Taco Hell... I do like their basic taco supremes, though. But I got minor food poisoning (12 hours) from them when they had their E. Coli scare a couple years ago. Never again!!!!!

[jm21]

I'm definitely hitting up the coast...just I was thinking about heading south to Corpus Christi and SPI for a day or two, but seems like a bit of a trip, out of the way, and I don't think I'd move there permanently, so it's at least temporarily off my list of things to do.

Fun in Southeast Texas -- Fun365Days.com has some good info on SE TX it seems like. I liked their list of hiking trails, though it wasn't very descriptive.

I saw Taqueria Del Sol in a couple other posts, I'll try to check it out.

Thanks again to everyone who's provided so much good info on this forum.

[CurrentlyinSanAntonio]

Yeah driving all the way to SPI would be a pretty long trip.

[Bily Lovec]

Originally Posted by CurrentlyinSanAntonio

Why would a person visiting Texas for the first time want to avoid Tex-Mex at all cost? Maybe you should stop getting your Tex-Mex from Taco Bell...

maybe you should stop eating at pappasito's...

i have never eaten at a taco bell, i dont know what to compare it to. I generally eat at true mexican and real latin restaurants, which houston is overly blessed with. The tex-mex which you seem to adore, is usually overpriced, fried in fat and covered in cheese. I guess if thats what you're used to, bon appetite

I guess Im just spoiled from living in brasil, bolivia and areas of mexico.

have a nice day, *****hat...

[love roses]

Oh, you're so cosmopolitan then Nothing could be yummier than greasy fried fat! Sounds like a horizon expansion is in order.