Houston, we have a problem — a lack of time!
Plan and attack. With only six-anda-half hours in Houston, that’s the strategy my 13-year-old daughter, Grace, and I embrace to experience Texas’ biggest metropolis.
Rather than eat, drink, shop, read and be bored at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on our long layover we decided to make the most of the day.
So, we hired a car and hit Houston like a whirlwind, visiting the city’s biggest tourist attractions — NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston Zoo and Houston Museum of Natural Science.
First, the zoo. It’s where Hasai likes his salad simple.
Romaine lettuce leaves straight up, no dressing, no croutons, no delicious Parmesan cheese shavings.
And Grace loves hand-feeding Hasai, the elegantly tall and thin male giraffe, his salad.
Giraffe feeding is the most soughtafter experience at the zoo. Twice-a-day a kiosk in the African Forest section of the zoo opens and sells three pieces of romaine to excited kids (and adults) for $5.
Of course, to come face-to-face with these gentle giants, romaine-wielding budding zoologists have to climb a flight of stairs to a platform where giraffes pop their heads over the railing for a snack.
From the zoo we walked across Hermann Park to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to ogle the full-sized dinosaur skeletons, the mummy of Neskhons in the Egyptian Hall and priceless Faberge eggs in the special Russian exhibit.
The NASA Johnson Space Centre, Houston’s biggest tourist attraction, is a half-hour drive south of downtown, so to take it in during a layover you really have to race through the place.
This is where American astronauts are trained and Mission Control is located, so it’s the real thing, not a theme park.
Yet, there’s so much for tourists to do from strolling under rockets that have been to space and touching a rock from the moon to touring Mission Control.
Everyone remembers the phrases, “Houston, we have lift off ” as space shuttles leave Earth; “Houston, the Eagle has landed” uttered by astronaut Neil Armstrong in 1969 just before he became the first man to step on the moon; and “Houston, we have a problem” when an oxygen tank exploded in 1970 on Apollo 13 and the mission had to be aborted.
On the drive back to the airport, we stopped at Buffalo Bayou Park for the best view of downtown Houston’s shiny skyline.
As an oil, banking and head-office hub, Houston has grown to a population of 6.5 million and is the fourth largest city in the U.S. behind Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
“Houston is primarily a business destination, but we’d love to see more tourists, especially from Canada,” said Visit Houston international marketing manager Celia Morales.
“For tourists we have year-round nice weather, golf, 20 museums, the space centre, Downtown Aquarium, great shopping and pro sports.”
Baseball’s Houston Astros play in downtown’s Minute Maid Park, basketball’s Houston Rockets call the Toyota Centre home and football’s Texans play out of Reliant Park There are non-stop flights to Houston from Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver with Air Canada, WestJet and United Airlines. Check out VisitHouston.com.