Postcard from Houston
April 7, 2012 by Heather Cowper
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This is a quick virtual postcard from our visit to Texas where I am right now with my family – our first day was in Houston where we arrived from London. Thanks goodness that we were booked in to the Park Inn North Houston Hotel that was just 15 minutes drive from the airport – after a long flight you just want somewhere convenient, modern and comfortable to flop. It was our first experience of the double queen bed set-up that is pretty standard in the US but not so common in Europe and is ideal when you have 3 children who can share a room.
After a good night’s rest, although waking in the early hours due to the jet lag we decided to visit one of the number 1 Houston attractions, the Space Center Houston. The tram ride was mainly a tour of the working buildings although the commentary was fascinating and we spotted an astronaut in training. There was plenty of other cool stuff – we learned how astronauts go the the bathroom (it’s all done with suction), experienced a Blast Off and tried on a few space helmets.
After we’d seen and done it all in the Space Center we headed out of town on the road for San Antonio and enjoyed seeing the endless succession of processed food outlets and garages thin out to make way for green fields but were determined to find more of a classic diner to stop for a late lunch. We spotted a sign for Tony’s Family Restaurant and hoped that might be the place, so pulled over to a square building that had mirrored glass windows and no sign of life on the inside but with plenty of action on the inside when we entered.
The waitress who served us was thrilled to find some visitors from the UK who had cool accents just like Harry Potter – I’m still getting used to the Texan way of “How y’all doing?” and “Yes Maam!”. I had the fried catfish with okra in batter and the others tried some other South Western and Tex-Mex favourites but I was full by the time I noticed the large selection of sweet pies that Texas is also known for.
Next Stop San Antonio!
PS Don’t worry – I’ll be writing about the things we did in much more detail when I get home!
Check for the best hotel prices in Houston and book here.
Useful links for visitors to Houston
- We booked our hire car in the UK through Argus car Hire
- We stayed at Park Inn North Houston Hotel, convenintly close to Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport
- We visited Space Center Houston about 30 minutes south of Houston
- We ate at Tony’s Family Restaurant in Sealy on the Interstate 10 headed for San Antonio
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Barbara Weibel on Sun, 8th Apr 2012 2:08 am
So cool that you posted a photo of your whole family – now I feel like I really know you! Looking forward to your stories about Texas. Austin (for the music) and San Antonio are both on my wish list, and maybe you’ll show me other places as well.
Heather on Sun, 8th Apr 2012 2:22 pm
@ Barbara Yes the reason we chose Texas is beacuse there are few places that the whole family agreed they wanted to go and the USA was one of them. Now that my oldest is at Uni we wanted to be sure to have some family time together
Sherry Ott on Sun, 15th Apr 2012 7:33 am
I love the picture of all of you at Tony’s – and the HUGE plates of food! Did you think that everything was oversized in Texas?! Looking forward to reading about your adventure in my home country…yet I must admit – Texas is pretty foreign to me!
Sherry Ott´s last [type] ..Amalfi Coast in Photos
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@Sherry Yes we’ve come back from Texas and are all on a strict diet after the mountains of food!
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