How much could you fit into a day if you only had 24 hours to spend in Houston? Maybe the better question is how much BBQ could you eat in just one day.
Houston is known as the Space City, as BBQ town, as the home of the Astros, and is celebrated for its museums and cultural institutions. We touched down in HOU one evening with an 18 hour layover and decided to make the most of our time, by seeing the best of what Houston has to offer. Obviously if you were planning a longer trip, you could spread these activities out a little bit out a little bit more, but all these things are doable to just a few quick day.
Spend a Jam-Packed Day in Houston
Barbeque
We tried two different BBQ restaurants while we were in Houston. Now, there is probably plenty of debate about which Houston BBQ spots are the best, because BBQ is serious business in Texas, but we had to narrow it down two to due to time constraints. Texas BBQ is known for its smoky, savory flavor and is made using a slow-cooking method with mesquite wood to smoke the meat in true BBQ pits. Texas barbecue is unique in that it is more common to see beef brisket as the main protein rather than pork, which is more popular in other areas of the south.
Because of the timing of our flight we got in later in the evening, and all of the traditional pit masters close their doors well before a late night dinner time since when they sell out its gone, so what we did was pick a local chain called Pappas BBQ to start, as they are open well into late-night dinner time, and it was still a good first impression of Texas BBQ. Pappas serves cafeteria style, but the meat was tender and the sides were good.
For our more authentic experience the next day we landed on Truth BBQ. They open at 11 am, and regularly draw a large enough crowd that forms a line out the door. We were there on a weekday, so we didn’t have to wait too long, but this is not a place that you’d just pop in for a quick lunch.
In addition to the standards like ribs and brisket and pull pork, Truth BBQ is known for the sides, which include traditional sides like coleslaw and mac and cheese, but also include some unique offerings like tater tot casserole and corn pudding. Our total was close to $70, which was a little higher than we expected, but we did take about half of the food to go and had a 2nd meal at the airport, so that makes it a little more reasonable.
Museums
The next day, and after a good breakfast, and lots of coffee for the day ahead, we headed into the Houston Museum District to visit the Museum of Natural Science. We don’t usually make museums a priority when visiting a new city, which is kind of ironic because I studied museum history in college.
There are quite a few note worthy museums in the museum district, including a Contemporary Art museum, a Holocaust museum, the Houston Zoo, and the Czech Center. We chose the Museum of Natural Science in Houston because it houses one of the largest dinosaur fossil collections in North America, and it is widely considered a do not miss when you are in town.
When we entered the Morian Hall of Paleontology where met with a docent who gave an introduction to the different specimens they had. He even helped us identify which fossils were real, and which were replicas, by looking for the ones with additional supports. The most celebrated specimen here is the Triceratops, which is the most intact Triceratops skeletons ever discovered.
Before heading to the rest of the museum, go up one floor and view the Hall of Paleontology from the balcony, its a really interesting perspective, considering how much different in scale the fossils seem from the ground level to just one floor up. The rest of the museum houses plenty of different impressive artifacts from collections to represent Texas, to gemstones and minerals, to the hall of ancient Egyptian artifacts.
Street Art
In addition to the Museum District, you will also find quite an impressive amount of street art and what I like to call roadside attractions.
We visited a unique piece nicknamed “Mount Rush-hour,” a Lone-Star-State-skewed version of Mount Rushmore at a notorious Houston bottleneck. The giant busts are “A Tribute to American Statesmanship.” according to the artist and gives you something to distract you from the endless Houston traffic.
The other iconic street art we visited is the famous Graffiti Park, a vibrant collection of murals on buildings at the edge of downtown. This art has become popular for locals and visitors alike for photo sessions, and snapping Instagram photos. We even saw a crew working on painting a new mural while we were there.
More Food Choices
Houston may be known for BBQ, but they are also known for a few other iconic good eats. The one being the kolache which is a sausage wrapped In a soft pillowy dough. The word kolache is derived from the Czech word, kola, meaning “wheels” or “rounds,” referring to the shape of the pastry. Arriving in Texas along with the thousands of immigrants from Czechoslovakia in the 1800s, the kolache, with such deeply rooted origins, is still a popular quick breakfast option for Texans.
The other iconic food found in Houston is the breakfast taco. There is a large Tex-Mex influence all throughout Texas, and this is most profoundly seen in the breakfast taco. On almost every street in Houston is populated with a Tex-Mex restaurant or food truck waiting to serve some combination of scrambled eggs, bacon, chorizo, cheese and veggies all piled on top of a homemade flour tortilla. Honestly, is there a better way to start your day than a taco?
Space
Houston, we have a problem.
Ok, but seriously, it is hard to separate the city of Houston from their ties to NASA and the Space Race of the 1960’s. Touring the Space Center Houston can be an all day event. Because we live so close to the Kennedy Space center in Florida, and our trip was so short, we skipped the Space Center this time, but we did get to see some really cool stuff in the Houston airport, and at the Natural Science Museum, so we felt like we got a good taste of the Space City.
If you want to see more of our short day in Houston, check out our YouTube video here:
The Savory Suitcase 