Postcard from Houston

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.

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Space Center Houston

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.

Classic Texas Diner 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!

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, conveniently 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

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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