Visited February 21 - 26, 2021
By Marty
We wrapped up our four month odyssey of the southeast in the Florida Keys and made a beeline (okay, like a bee that's hitting the nectar a little too much) to Houston, Texas. We have already visited the intervening states so it was four consecutive driving days, totaling 1,311 miles, to Houston.
We pretty much never drive on consecutive days. When we plan our travels in a region we find there are so many things to see that we typically only travel 100 - 200 miles to our next destination. We usually spend 5-6 days in each location (sometimes more, sometimes less) and take in the sights and experiences within a 50 mile or so radius of our RV park. We found ourselves in a marathon drive session because of having to lock in the Florida Keys RV park almost a year ago (those spots are hard to get in the wintertime so you take any dates they have available.) This left us having to build our southeast itinerary around the Keys destination when we started working on that a few months later.
We stayed at this cute place in Pensacola for a night. Artsy and eclectic (for an RV park). The scene below was right across from The Beast. We have stayed in over 90 RV parks in the past 19 months. We stay at a fair number of KOA's but also a lot of "mom and pops". This was a mom and pop. It can be interesting to see how the parks differ.
About that severe cold front...
Boy did we time this well! As I said, our Florida Keys timing was locked in last April. As fate would have it we were basking in the sun while much of the country was in the throes of a severe cold system. We left the Keys just as the cold spell was abating in the south. On our journey to Houston we used our air conditioning all night in Gainesville, Fl and our heater the next night in Pensacola, FL. This photo is of I-10 in Louisiana: an uncommon scene hereabouts to be sure.
Janell took this. I had both hands on the wheel, honest. There was water dripping from the bed from melting snow in the truck bed.
We arrived in Houston early Sunday afternoon. We had called the RV park a few days ahead to make sure they had power and water. We didn't ask if the water was potable though... When we arrived the "boil water" requirement for all of Houston was still in place. A minor inconvenience compared to what so many people have endured with this weather. About two hours after arriving our phones went off with an alert to say that the boil water requirement had been lifted. As I said, we were very fortunate with our timing.
Houston is the 4th largest city in the country. The metro population is 6.5M people. There are a lot of freeways and toll roads. Like the ones over our heads.
Houston is known as "The Bayou City". There are 22 bayou systems and waterways in the greater Houston area. The Bayou Greenways 2020 initiative is creating 3,000 acres of green space and a 150 mile network of walk/bike paths utilizing and connecting major bayous.
We found a nice bike path along White Oak Bayou that took us directly into downtown Houston where it connected with the Buffalo Bayou bike path to the west of downtown. This gave us a 25 mile, round trip, "off road" bike ride in an urban area.
More about Houston Bayous:
"In Houston, the rivers are called bayous because they feature a slow, meandering, and murky current. In a city without mountains, oceans, or other distinctive topography, the bayous are the distinguishing natural feature of Houston and inspire its nickname—Bayou City."
Along Buffalo Bayou downtown. It's like the front of the building fell off, or was removed. Weird but cool!
What better way to cap a bike ride (aprés bike?) than with a thirst quenching IPA?
This is Astral Brewing. Another of Houston's nicknames is "Space City". We don't have a problem with that, do we?
This is my "memory lane" segment of the post. The seeds of my 34 year career in commercial real estate were planted in the building complex on the right.
I lived in Houston from 1981-1984. I moved there for my hotel career, having just graduated from UNLV with a hotel administration degree. A couple of years later I was looking to change careers and interviewed for a "property management" position with American General Life Insurance. American General (now owned by AIG) was headquartered in the complex of buildings on the right. I was completely unfamiliar with "property management" but learned enough through the interview process that I was intrigued by it. Did not get the job though.
The job I did get was with Gemcraft Homes, a relatively young and rapidly growing tract home building in booming Houston in the early '80s. Over the following two years that flew by I went from customer service to superintendent to construction manager to project manager. My promotion to construction manager brought me to the Creekshire community where five model homes (three of which are visible in this photo) were under construction. The construction manager responsible for building them apparently had poor people skills because the homes were vandalized (by a subcontractor with a chain saw) about halfway through construction. The model home opening date was set in stone, so my job was to repair the vandalism damage and finish building the homes in time for the grand opening. It was a very busy month.
I was pleased to see that the community has aged pretty well. The home on the left is the largest of the five models at 1,900 s.f and sells for about $225K (or $125 psf). If you are reading this in California, sorry to ruin your day...
This is across the street from the model homes. I was walking into the office one day during a storm and happened to see a lightning bolt strike the top of it. That was cool.
After moving there I was surprised to learn that Houston averages 45" of rain per year. Seattle averages about 38". It didn’t seem to me that it rains all the time in Houston, but when it rains, it really rains!
I have fond memories of enjoying the BBQ and Mexican food while in Houston. The Swinging Door was a favorite. It's been around since 1973 and still operated by the original owner (I asked.)
A two meat, two side combo plate is $15.95. Not a bad price and as good as I remembered it!
Janell and I also had a great visit one evening with my cousin Bill Ward and his wife Dee Ann. The Wards treated us to take out Mexican food (Tex Mex!) and margaritas at their home.
We visited the Houston Galleria, developed by Gerald D. Hines in 1970. The Galleria is a mixed use development with 2.4M s.f. of retail, two Westin hotels, and three office buildings. The Galleria was one of the earliest mixed use developments in the US.
Gerald D. Hines started his company, now called Hines, in Houston. Hines is a legend in the real estate development business. Hines passed away in 2020 at 95 years of age. The company owns or manages real estate assets in 25 countries worth $144B.
Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park, adjacent to The Galleria
11,000 gallons per minute spill over the walls of the 64' high fountain
For perspective
Williams Tower, a Hines development adjacent to The Galleria, was completed in 1983. It is 64 stories tall with 1.5M s.f. of space. This is about seven miles from downtown Houston, so it makes for quite a striking image on the skyline.
Houston is a big city. You didn't think they would have two breweries?
The brewery name is a concatenation of the owners' dogs names - Bailey and Jameson. The dogs were named after a favorite college beverage of the husband and wife owners: The Irish Car Bomb (Bailey's Irish Cream and Jameson Whiskey being ingredients.)
(Full disclosure: “concatenation” was taken from the brewery website. Fancy word. I had no idea what it meant so I looked it up. Feel free to do the same. I did have a nice conversation with one of the owners. She’s a big IPA fan too. So I don’t feel bad about stealing her word.)
