Exploring Downtown Houston: A Day for Curious Learners

We had Washington friends visiting and wanted to show them around our new stomping grounds. When you think of what to see in Houston, we’ve lived here for six months and we are still not sure what the top ten things are – we still like seeing new things. We wanted to enjoy the sunshine and good conversation so we stayed fairly local.

Waterwall

One of the new places we explored was the Waterwall Park. It is sitting on about 2 acres lined with oak trees and a big grassy field. The Waterwall is just that, a 64 foot wall standing in a half-circle that has water falling down and recycling every three and a half hours. The inner circle has many photo ops with a cool mist coming off the wall due to the 11,000 gallons of water falling each minute. The outer circle has a gentler cascade of water, is less populated which makes it really good for photos. At the opposite end of the park is Williams Tower, also a magnificent piece of architecture. My husband enjoyed that view the most!

Galleria Mall

We walked from the Waterwall to the Galleria Mall since we had been told multiple time that it was a must see. With our walking directions, we entered a side door of Neiman Marcus and took a quick stop at the potty. Just for fun – we took a look at the prices of a pair of sparkly pants…$1300! What!? I guess you have to charge that much if you only have four items hanging on a rack. It seems that we entered the mall on the fifth avenue of shops and the people watching was just as interesting. The ice skating rink on the floor below us was a fun treat too! We didn’t explore the whole mall as our gaggle of eight tourists, was a little much to get through the crowds and stick together. My daughter said this was on her revisit list for sure.

Pinkerton BBQ

I had been hunting for a really good, authentic BBQ to take our friends to and Pinkerton’s didn’t disappoint. We sat at a long picnic table outside and enjoyed a few pounds of various meats and sides including coleslaw, baked beans, Texas toast, and good old Mac-n-Cheese. They had a Texas honey cider that was outstanding to drink! I don’t love red meat – and I was especially pleased with the smoked turkey – I felt like I got to participate in the oohs and aaahs of the smoked flavor. When we compared this to the Pit BBQ we went in the fall, the kids a I thought this was comparable, but my husband said Pit wins but that just might be because it was his first taste of Texas BBQ.

Buffalo Bayou

We are in the middle of a typical Texas winter where it can be 80 degrees one day and pouring down rain the next. Timing our outdoor adventures to the warmer days, we decided to stop at Buffalo Bayou for our Texas version of hiking and parked at Lost Lake which was challenging because of the restaurant. The Bayou was pretty low and the water muddy, but we enjoyed a 2 mile walk in the sunshine and good conversation. The kids were definitely not impressed, but my friend and I enjoyed seeing the sights of the water, skyscrapers and walkways. You could definitely see where the water had been over its banks recently in the rain storms we had! After looking at the website, I’d like to come back for the Cistern Tour and to see the Waugh Bridge Bat Colony.

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