My friend, Niels, had mentioned that his parents were headed out of town for the weekend and offered that I could stay at their house to watch their dogs and water their plants. I spent my Spring Break at their house about 3 years ago and fell in love with their home, dogs, and the fact that I don't feel like I'm living in the city. They live in the suburbs outside of Houston and their property is covered with incredible trees that must be between 75 and 125 feet tall. You can't see anything but blue skies and lush green trees when you look up at the sky, its beautiful. They have a gorgeous pool, as well. It felt like a luxurious vacation spot! I spent my first 3 days in Houston laying out at the pool and swimming with their dogs. It was just what I needed to feel relaxed! Here are some pics of their adorable dogs and beautiful backyard:
I have been eating well since I got here as well. Niels, took me and some of his other friends to his one of his favorite spots in Houston, Benjy's on Washington Ave near downtown Houston. He told me that they had the best scallops there, so of course I had to try them. They were cooked just right and served with steamed green beans over black Japanese "forbidden rice". They tasted like butter, just thinking about them now makes my mouth water again. They were so amazing that I ordered the same thing when we went back later in the week! For someone who appreciates good food, Houston is the place to be. I have yet to have a bad meal here honestly. I am loving all the fresh seafood the most probably. I had crab cakes my first night in town, scallops the 2nd night, homemade lasagna the 3rd night, and freshly grilled sockeye salmon the 4th night. No wonder so many people say they have a hard time not gaining weight when they move to Houston, I totally understand it now. It's hard to leave anything behind on your plate when the meals are so delicious!
The heat and humidity didn't seem all that bad the first few days that I was in town. It has rained everyday since I got here. Absolute downpours in the evenings with lightning that lights up the entire sky. I love Texas rainstorms so much, so I guess in a lot of ways I would choose this type of weather. The mornings have been generally sunny and gorgeous and then it clouds up in the afternoons. The evening rain really cools things off thought, so its really refreshing! Today was supposed to be a the day that Hurricane Alex hits Mexico and part of Texas, but as of now it is just overcast. I am actually kind of nervous to be this close to a hurricane, since I've never experienced any severe weather like it in my life. From what all the locals tell me, the worst that would probably happen is some rain and a bit wind here. All the alert signs along the interstates read "STORM IS COMING FILL UP YOUR GAS TANKS", which is only slightly disconcerting for someone who hasn't been near a hurricane. Hopefully it really will just result in rain and wind!
After spending my first 3 days in Houston, Niels and I drove up to Austin on Monday morning. We planned to take his parent's porsche, but Sunday evening we realized the convertible top wasn't working. After spending 3 hours at the dealership with it Monday morning, they determined that they didn't have all the parts necessary to fix it. The only way to put the top on and take it off was manually, which isn't really all the difficult. So off to Austin we went with the top down and the dark rain clouds brewing above us. It was already like 95 degrees as we left town and any time we slowed down we started roasting in a matter of seconds. The wind and heat of riding in the convertible reminded me of riding in my parent's boat on Lake Powell when I was younger. There is something about the combination of wind on my face and heat that puts me into full on nap mode. That isn't really the best thing to have happen when you are trying to stay awake to look at all of the rollings hills and small towns between Houston and Austin. After getting a frappuccino and a big bottle of cold water at a gas station, I was able to keep my eyes open again fortunately. The drive was actually quite quick, we arrived in less than 2.5 hours, because there was no traffic in Houston as we left or Austin as we arrived. From the outskirts of Austin to Downtown took no time at all, it was the easiest city to get into that I've ever seen. Nothing like the horrors of Houston traffic or even the traffic on I25 to get from Boulder to Denver.
We stayed right next to the Capitol in downtown Austin, just a few blocks from 6th Street in Austin. We got there around lunch time and I was on a mission to get some good Texas BBQ. We figured out that Stubbs (like the BBQ sauce you get at the store) was located just 2 blocks away from our hotel. It is in this really cool old historic building. I had a delicious shredded BBQ chicken taco with fried okra. I had never tried fried okra, but figured since I was in the South I had to try it. It was really interesting. Kind of like a tater tot mixed with vegetable tempura. I even got a local texas beer to go with it to complete the whole meal, which was fun. I am not a beer drinker at all, but with a meal like BBQ, its hard to choose anything but beer. There is an outdoor auditorium in the back of Stubbs that is pretty neat, below are some images.
After Stubbs, we made our way down to see 6th Street, which was surprisingly uneventful in the middle of the afternoon. It took me by surprise, because I was expecting something like Pearl Street in Boulder that has retail shops for daytime entertainment and bars and restaurants for the nighttime visitors. Niels had a friend who went to school in Austin and knew of some places to go to, so we got the names of where we should go from her and continued on our way. It was blue skies and so hot and sunny though, which made it nearly impossible to be walking between places for more than 30 minutes. We made a stop at a nice little coffee shop/bar called Halcyon and had some delicious iced coffee drinks and refilled our water bottles for our next adventure in the heat. Niels wanted to go to Mellow Johnny's, Lance Armstrong's bike shop in downtown Austin, so that was our next destination. It was an easy place to spend an hour for us, as we found some nice t-shirts, admired all the amazing bikes, and browsed through some interesting books on cycling. Downstairs they have a training center with stationary bikes and TV screens that are for virtual training, it was pretty crazy. There is another coffee shop at the bike shop, so we got some hibiscus iced tea and relaxed in the air conditioning for another half hour before heading out.
By that time, it was already almost 6PM and we decided to head back to the hotel to look at the menus at the concierge stand and make a choice and reservations for dinner. We decided on another seafood place called Truluck's in downtown. We got there around 8, and it was pretty quiet. There was a piano player in the bar, so we decided to sit in there instead of in the dining area. Unfortunately, this piano player was not so dedicated to playing and took several 20 to 30 minute breaks. At least while he was playing it was enjoyable though. I had a wonderful greens salad with apples, incredible goat cheese, and a deliciously peppery vinaigrette. The salad was to even out the unhealthiness of my entree, the fried king prawns and fries. You only live once though, so I had to try the shrimp and fries. It was as good as I expected, if not better. After dinner I had a great french pressed coffee and we ended up closing down this exciting restaurant at like 10PM. We were walking down 6th Street and the bars were all filled with live music. We ended up going to a bar called Friends that had a great blues/jam band playing. They were fabulous and we ended up spending a few hours there watching them play. The crowd was all obviously just enjoying the music as much as we were. They ranged for mid-twenty year olds all the way up to a couple who was celebrating a 60th birthday. It was really neat to hear such good music in the "live music capitol of the world".
We got up the next morning and headed out to get breakfast at this coffee shop/cafe that Niels had been to before. It was quite a hike from our hotel, but well worth the walk. I just had the traditional scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes and rye toast. The bacon had a smokey flavor about it that was wonderful, the rye actually had caraway seeds in it to give it that rye flavor, and the potatoes had sauteed onions and bell peppers in the mix. I also got a latte there, which was also good. Jo's is near Ladybird lake in downtown Austin, so we went down after breakfast and had a look. It has a nice trail for running and walking along the water that is covered by lush trees. Our last stop in Austin before heading back to Houston was to tour the Capitol building. Again, the walk in the heat across all of downtown was a bit much, but like everything else is Texas, the Capitol building was overly air conditioned once we arrived. The actual building is beautiful with very elaborate wood and marble work everywhere you look. There are walnut chairs and desks that have been restored from the 1850s and artwork that dates back to around the same time as well. It was a tour that I am glad I went on for sure. We decided to keep the roof up on the porsche for the drive home, which was much more enjoyable in the heat and rain of Tuesday. We made it back in no time at all and our little mini vacation was over.
Yesterday, I spent the day at Niels' house near Washington Ave in Houston, just working on the blog and trying to decide where to plan my next adventure to and when to leave. It was raining all day, which spoiled my plans for walking anywhere. I met up with my friend, Sam, who is from Durango, for dinner and grabbed some incredibly cheap and delicious fish tacos from El Ray's taco stand on Washington. Apparently they are famous for their fish tacos and at $2.50 a piece I just had to try them while I was here. They were as good as I had hoped, just simple and good. Grilled white fish fillets, shredded cabbage, and cheese wrapped in corn tortillas. Afterwards, we went to see his girlfriend and his new condo just outside of downtown Houston. It was a really nice little place and their two dogs are adorable. Sam has a cairn terrier who is 6 and his girlfriend, Alina, has a fluffy 2 year old havanese. We enjoyed catching up over some delicious cardamon tea, while we were entertained by their dogs playing for a few hours. It is always so nice to enjoy great conversation with great friends while you are on vacation!
Today, I have spent my morning at a cute little coffee shop called Catalina in a historic building on Washington Ave. Niels is leaving town for work tonight, so we are going to grab lunch and wander around the Galleria and Museum Districts this afternoon. Tomorrow will be my last day in Houston, but I haven't quite decided where to go next. Unfortunately it is 4th of July weekend, so flights out of Houston are extremely expensive. I am looking into stopping by New Orleans for a day or two, then Nashville for another few days, then maybe leaving the South. The heat and humidity makes it hard to explore the cities on foot, but I feel like renting a car and driving everywhere won't allow me to take in the full experience of each place either.
Miss you all lots and lots! Hope everyone is doing well!
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