Weekend trip to Houston
Not every trip you will take will be to some sexy island location. Sometimes its just a trip to see family and friends. My trip to Houston was one such trip. It was meant to solidify the relationship I have built with my fiancé by allowing me to meet some of her family. There are a few things I have learned from this trip that I would like to share with you.
First and foremost, not every trip you take will be glamorous. If you have that expectation you will be wrong every time. Go with the flow and enjoy the ride.
Second, weekend trips are the best. For us over achievers at work, it gives you enough time away to relax and let your hair down but not enough time for your work life will suffer. Gotta be able to pay for those trips, am I right?
Third, no one needs to be out until 5 am. It completely threw off our time clocks. Especially me as i get up at 4:30 am on the regular basis. What was I doing out until 5 am you might ask? MINDING MY BUSINESS!!!!!! Thank you very much.
Fourth, Houston has a weird fetish with Hookah. I have never seen it literally everywhere. Usually, you must go to a place that specifically has it or specializes in smoking but everywhere we went had hookah available to you (i.e., Your local restaurant or gas station). It was a bit weird to see if you are not used to it.
Lastly, Houston acts as though no one ever heard of COVID-19. It was a little freeing but also a little scary how cavalier everyone was about it. Restaurants were open to capacity. Not a lot of social distancing. A far reach different from my dining experiences here in Chicago.
Now to the fun stuff. When arriving late for a quick weekend getaway, be mindful of your rental car situation. We had to wait forever for a rental car. Not sure if they were short staffed or if certain people were unqualified to work their system but the net was there were a lot of unhappy customers. They had more people handing out cars than they did checking people into them. It was rough after traveling. The upside of this was we got to ride around in a Chevy Camaro all weekend long. Downside of that is I’m 6’2, 300 plus and getting in and out the car was an exercise in body contortion.
We stayed in an Airbnb, which was a hidden gem in the heart of the city. It was basically an over garage apt which more than met our needs and was cheaper than a hotel.
Houston food there was legit though. We tried to go eat at the Turkey Leg Hut | Home of The World Famous Stuffed Turkey Leg (theturkeyleghut.com) but the line went up the block and around the corner and I was hungry…HUNGRY HUNGRY. So waiting 3 hours for a turkey leg wasn’t an option when they would be able to get us in. Let me set this scene for you. The line was so long to get in that they had food trucks in the parking lot basically offering snacks while you wait. I heard great things but nothing in my mind was worthy of that wait.
We did however get to eat Brunch at place called Phil & Derek’s Restaurant and Wine Bar, Houston, Texas, 77003 (philanddereks.com). This place was phenomenal. This is a soul food restaurant through and through except they aren’t out of the things you want. The food was great the atmosphere was awesome, and the staff was helpful. The booze flowed there too!!!! It was great we must have gone through 2 bottles of prosecco for a reasonable price. But you want to know what it looks like. Of course, you do. Well, I will not disappoint you. (learning from experience said take pics)
Everything about this place was dope. If you are in town check it out.
The second place I want to give props to was Breakfast & Brunch Food Restaurant – Snooze A.M. Eatery (snoozeeatery.com) we ate here the day we were leaving. The food is a more Tex-Mex feel but good. It was just what we needed that morning to get through the flight out and make it home. Worthy of digestion my friends!
Side note. When traveling during the winter be prepared to deal with the consequences of your northern home, we came back to an ungodly amount of snow on the ground. Lesson learned for me be prepared to shovel when you get home OR HIRE SOMEONE WHILE YOU’RE GONE.