In January I had the opportunity to travel to Houston, Texas for a conference. It was my first time visiting the city, and I had an afternoon on the front end of the conference for exploring, and a few opportunities to eat out around town. Here are some of the highlights of my stay in Houston.
Stay
I stayed in the Marriott Marquis Houston conveniently connected to the George R. Brown Convention Center. It’s a beautiful hotel, and features a Texas-shaped lazy river. I hadn’t brought a bathing suit thinking it would be too cold in January, only to see people swimming in it and find out that it is heated! Next time. The hotel also has several dining outlets, including a Starbucks, which was nice so I didn’t have to venture outside for my morning iced coffee fix.
Getting Around
There are two major airports in Houston, George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in northern Houston, and William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) in southern Houston. HOU is a smaller airport with only one terminal, primarily for domestic flights, whereas IAH is the larger international airport. I flew into IAH on a direct flight from Philly. Getting to the hotel, we took a Lyft, which was about a 45 minute ride. Once downtown, I was mostly able to walk to get where I needed to, but also took some Ubers/Lyfts based on weather or to get to dinners a little further away from the hotel.
See
On my first day in Houston, I had a little bit of time for wandering. Houston is a pretty sprawling city, and some of the attractions I had looked up ahead of time were quite a bit outside of the downtown area where I was staying. I didn’t have a ton of time to venture very far, but found my way out to Buffalo Bayou Park. There’s a beautiful walking path that runs along Buffalo Bayou, affording city skyline views across the water.
I bought a ticket to the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern, a 1926 underground cistern that once was a major source for the city’s public water system until it sprang an irreparable leak. The cistern is open for tours on a regular basis, but when I was visiting, there was a special exhibition going on featuring a light show illuminating the cistern. I was the only one there during my time slot and had the whole place to myself, taking a slow saunter around the perimeter of the cistern while mystical music played – it was very relaxing! The pillars reflecting on the water made the room feel like it was twice as tall, but according to the guide that led me in, there is realistically only a few feet of water.
Right near the Marriott Marquis is Daikin Park (formerly Minute Maid Park), home of the Houston Astros. Baseball was not in season when I was there, but as part of the conference I was attending I got to check out the stadium by means of a private reception and Gwen Stefani concert!
Eat and Drink
Upon arrival in Houston, a few colleagues and I headed to Space City Birria for a lunch of delicious birria tacos. I was approaching hangry after an early morning flight, so I failed to take any food pics, but the tacos hit the spot!
That night one of my colleagues and I headed to Bungalow Downtown Dining for dinner upon recommendation from one of our local contacts. It’s located on Main Street, which has a cute little lively strip of bars and restaurants. The restaurant has a mix of steak and seafood dishes, with elegant ambiance. Though my colleague and I were tastefully dressed in business casual, we felt grossly under-dressed! It was a Saturday night and the restaurant was packed with people dressed to the nines and celebrating special occasions. We decided to split several dishes, with the star of the show being the whole fried snapper, which was so incredible it literally made my colleague shed tears.
Later on in the week, we had a team dinner outing at Ninfa’s, an iconic Tex-Mex restaurant started by Mama Ninfa Laurenzo, who introduced fajitas into modern Tex-Mex restaurant cuisine. I enjoyed a dish of enchiladas suizas and a mango margarita.
After dinner, I peeled off from my tired colleagues and went for a nightcap flight at True Anomaly Brewing a few blocks from the hotel, which was a nice chill hangout.
Post-Gwen Stefani concert on our final night, some colleagues and I ended up at Eighteen Twenty Lounge, a low key bar near our hotel attached to an arcade.
On my last day, I had a little bit of time in the afternoon before my flight and it was a dreary rainy day, so I headed to check out another brewery, 8th Wonder Brewing, which doubles as a cannabis dispensary and offers THC-infused beverages.
I didn’t have nearly enough time to fully explore the greater Houston area, but had a great time with what I was able to do and hope to return in the future to venture out further!
C to Shining C 
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