So I am one week until take off and I'm finding myself becoming a little nostalgic about Houston. More specifically, I'm feeling nostalgic about the Houston I've experienced as an adult, not necessarily the Houston I was exposed to as a child. By the time we were in high school, we were all ready for adventure in some exotic out-of-state location that wasn't humid, polluted, boring, humid, crowded, humid Houston. We found ourselves in Virginia, Wisconsin, Ohio. We figured anything in these rural, cold towns just HAD to be better than some tired Texas city with the climate of a mouth.
Returning as an adult, I found Houston to be busy, diverse, quirky, romantic, cheap and yes, still very humid. But all of a sudden there were places to go, delicious food to eat, cheap drinks and long happy hours, and many, many venues for music, dancing, art, and sports. And here go my unpaid plugs:
U of H has poetry readings at Poison Girl every month, and each Wednesday at 10 Agora faithfully provides belly dancing. There's sangria and margaritas in Rice Village, ethnic and vegetarian fare in Montrose, karaoke and dancing in midtown. Rothko Chapel has poetry/music happenings, and the art scene can be as formal as an MFAH members' only reception to the very casual house-parties at the Joanna by St. Thomas, complete with Christmas-tree bonfires in homage to Heath Ledger. You can go hang on the President's busts at the David Addicks studio and watch the sunset over the downtown skyline. You can have brunch picnics on the Menil lawn. You can buy Mexican dresses for $20 at the supermarket. Adulthood has even offered insight into this humidity issue: Houstonians may have terrible hair, but we have fabulous, ageless skin.
How did I miss all of this when I was growing up?
Fiesta! Where you can buy limes and avocados and jalepenos by the barrel...
..and then you can go around the corner and pick up a new pair of boots.
Montrose; I've seen this delightful friend stopped at many a street light, banjo at the ready.
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