Thing To Do In Houston When You're Dead.

[Jester]

Hi, Houstoners. I'm heading your way. Which may make some people exclaim, "Houston, we have a problem!"

In June, I will be heading to my niece Dragon's high school graduation, which she assures me, is on June 7th. Or June 9th. Or June 6th. She'll let me know when she gets back to school in January. But damn it, it's one of those dates. Allegedly.

In any case, I told her, to her delight (she's clearly brain-damaged) that I will be there for her graduation. So I plan on spending a few days, including my birthday (June 8th, not allegedly) in Houston. A place I have spent a total of 3 days of my life previously, long before Dragon ever got there. So, I have some questions.

Specifically, what can you suggest for my down time? I have already considered baseball and basketball games, and if the schedules work in my favor, I may well attend one or both of those. Especially if, by some stroke of luck, the Diamondbacks or Suns are playing there when I am there. Football will be in off-season, and there is no NHL team in Houston. (And I have zero interest in NASCAR.) So, suggestions? I love food. I love beer. I love rum. I love partying. I love music (of the rock and non-country variety). I love women. I love women in bikinis. I love amusement parks. I love strangeness. (And yes, I already know about NASA....I have full plans of doing whatever tour/fun shit they offer.)

One important side note to this: every year on my birthday, I have my birthday dinner at a local sushi restaurant which absolutely rocks. Due to the graduation, I will have to reschedule my Key West birthday dinner to a week or so before or after my actual birthday. But damn it, on my birthday, I want sushi. So, any suggestions as to a good, or better yet, GREAT, sushi restaurant in the Houston area?

My niece lives in Baytown, which is an Eastern suburb of Houston. I will be staying in downtown Houston, in Baytown, or somewhere in between, though I lean towards near downtownish, as I will have a rental car. I do want to be able to get around, but I also want to be able to drink, have fun, and walk to my hotel.

And I almost certainly will be staying in a hotel, because I have three other options:
--stay with my 18 year old niece and her 24 year old boyfriend (and his cousin). Besides the obvious tenseness of such (since I will probably end up grilling the boy), my option there is a couch. Not a bed. A couch. I am 41. I CAN stay on a couch, but do I really WANT to?
--stay with her mother. And her mother's husband. And their infant daughter. I repeat....INFANT daughter. I am NOT staying in the same place with an infant. I have nothing against infants, mind you, but I do intend on enjoying the night life, and that means I may be coming home late (not good for the infant) and sleeping in late (not good for me if I am in a house with an infant).
--stay with my niece's grandfather, who lives somewhere in the Houston area (not sure where) and who, while I like a lot, I believe has his mother living with him. He is in his 60's, and a cool guy, but that means his mother is in her what, 80's? 90's? Need I say more?

So, entertainment suggestions for downtown Houston/the eastern suburbs? Y'all have 5 months to help me out on this.

[kaherbert]

Baytown is 30 minutes from Downtown Houston with NO TRAFFIC. Double or triple that for traffic.

[Sapphire Silk]

My one visit to Houston was something of a disappointing bust Went there for a travel assignment, but because it was a Per Diem contract, I didn't get a schedule in advance. So planning to do anything was pretty much impossible, because I always had to be ready to go to work.

Don't know what the Gulf is like that time of year. Living in Key West you are probably tired of the beach.

[Jester]

Actually, I don't get to the beach that often, but I am not going to Houston for the beach. If I feel like hitting it, I might, but my focus tends to be restaurants, bars, night life, and sports. Though of course I am open to other forms of entertainment. As I said, my one definite plan outside of the graduation and spending time with my niece is to visit NASA. They might be looking for some fresh ideas, and I hear their benefits are pretty good.

[lupo pazzesco]

I'm a former Houstonian, but I don't know how much you like science and arts, but they've got a pretty good museum district. My particular favorite is the museum of Natural Science.

As for bars, this site lists a good majority of the highest ranked bars/pubs/grills, etc, etc, with descriptions.

There's also Miller Outdoor Theater, that does a lot of free, or low cost ticketed performances, that range from movies, to classical concerts to everything in between. the boyfriend and I went with his dad and his dad's wife to a Taiko performance that was phenomenally amazing.

As for sushi restaurants, my favorite in town is Kaneyama. I love it. A lot. I would drive 3 hours to Houston to eat there, given the opportunity.

[Jester]

Lupes, noted, noted, and noted. And thank you. I will make a point to check back to this thread as June approaches. And I think you just picked my birthday dinner spot with that glowing recommendation of the sushi restaurant. So again, thanks.

And of course, any more suggestions from anyone would be most appreciated.

[trailerparkmedic]

PM me closer to when you'll be here and I'll tell you about local events. Most of my favorite events have been things that I find out about shortly before they occur, like a local zombie walk or art festivals.

Houston has a good AHL team called the Aeros if you're into hockey.

Fitzgerald's (you'll see it referred to as Fitz) has fun music. It varies, but tends to be either hipster or punk-ish.

There are lots of local breweries that do tours, if that sounds interesting. I'd avoid St. Arnold's just because I like other, smaller ones better. St. Arnold's tends to be very hoppy--even their non IPAs.

I'm so frigging OVER sushi right now so I'm not the person to ask. I would mention that since Houston doesn't have a ton of clubs, lots of the sushi places basically turn into clubs on Friday & Saturday nights.

Do you want trendy bars or good beer bars? The strip of bars on Washington Ave is the trendy area but might be a little young for you. It's young for me and I'm in my late 20s. I think I included my current favorite beer bars in the Houston food post? My current short list is Petrol Station (very IPA heavy), Liberty Station, Boneyard (actually a bar and dog park, so avoid it if you don't like dogs), Flying Saucer and Ginger Man. Check back with me because I wouldn't be surprised if new places open up. If you want wine bars, let me know and I'll get some recommendations for good places. Right now I only know a few places to avoid.

[Greenday]

Um, get buried would probably be towards the top of the list.

[strawbabies]

Baytown is 30 minutes from Downtown Houston with NO TRAFFIC. Double or triple that for traffic.

My dad lives in the Houston area. I spent 4 days there last February visiting him, and there was ALWAYS traffic! In fact, it was the scariest traffic I've ever seen.

[CorneliaMarieRocks]

as someone who up until 3 yrs ago lived about an hour from Galveston, I can pretty much tell ya, forget it, it's crap anymore. Too much garbage on the beach/in the water etc. Six Flags (Astroworld) doesn't exist anymore, so unless you make a detour to the Ft. Worth area for Six Flags over TX then no amusement parks.

What I can say is if you have time Jester, head to the Kemah Boardwalk, they've got lots of restaurants, shops etc down there. I think they even have a few games & stuff there too IIRC

Have fun

[Jester]

Houston time approaches!

So now I am trying to find myself a hotel, and a friend has recommended one, but it appears to me to be decently west of downtown.

Here's the deal: the hotel he recommended, which he can get me a good deal on via his job (don't ask--I didn't), is right by the Galleria. Which even I've heard of. But it is clearly not downtown, and it is on the opposite side of Houston from Baytown, where my niece lives and goes to school, and will be graduating.

Now, by many accounts of people I've talked to, there really is nothing to do in Baytown, and it's not the best place, so for those days when I am not occupied with my niece, I would be bored off my ass. So I figured I'd stay in downtown, but now this whole Galleria thing has reared its head.

Here's what I want: for days I am not in Baytown, I want to stay in a hotel where I can walk to bars and restaurants, especially at night, so I can get my drink on and not worry about driving or taking a ridiculously expensive cab ride to get back to my hotel. So...do I want downtown or the Galleria area? And if I go with the latter, what kind of driving time am I looking at for driving from there to the Baytown area? I don't keep a normal schedule, especially on vacation, so I won't be driving at rush hour in all likelihood.

Thoughts? And any particular hotels that any of you might recommend in either of the aforementioned areas?

[Jester]

Landed today. In Houston, at my (awesome) hotel that a friend of mine booked me into at his company's corporate rates, sitting at the bar eating and drinking. Gonna take in the Cardinals-Astros game tonight. Not sure who I should root for....

[AccountingDrone]

Landed today. In Houston, at my (awesome) hotel that a friend of mine booked me into at his company's corporate rates, sitting at the bar eating and drinking. Gonna take in the Cardinals-Astros game tonight. Not sure who I should root for....

Flip a coin?

And [early] Happy Birthday just in case I forget tomorrow!

[Teefies2]

Happy happy birthday Jester!

You have the same birthday as my brother and my favorite co-worker. Geminis rock! My brother is 54 and my co-worker is 28. I assume you fall somewhere in between?

I can't really add much to the Houston debate at this point, seeing as how you're already there, but NASA is definately worth the trip - be willing to pay for the extras (behind the scenes tour etc, but they are well worth the money!)

Again, happy birthday!

[Jester]

You have the same birthday as my brother and my favorite co-worker.

June 8th? Obviously they are both wonderful, awesome, good-looking, and charming people.

Geminis rock!

Yes we do. We're TWICE as cool as everyone else!

My brother is 54 and my co-worker is 28. I assume you fall somewhere in between?

Yep!

I can't really add much to the Houston debate at this point, seeing as how you're already there...

Sure you can. Give it a shot!