| nowhere is the expression “everything’s bigger in texas” more prevalent than in its largest city: houston. no matter where you’re headed you’ll find yourself in the biggest and most significant place of its kind. if you want a taste of true, down-home texas flavor, you can attend the houston livestock show and rodeo. with an average yearly attendance of over 2.5 million, it is the largest livestock exhibition and the world’s largest rodeo event. for three weeks in march visitors and natives can tap into their inner cowboy by watching or participating in bull riding, livestock judging, concerts, carnivals and a slew of shopping, art auctions, and food and wine tasting.
texans are known to be big on fun and big on hospitality, but thanks to the cultural metropolis of houston, texans are also big on the arts. downtown houston is the host of the museum district which includes the houston ballet, the houston symphony, the houston grand opera, and the museum of fine arts—which is, not surprisingly, the largest museum in texas.
if retail therapy is your favorite activity, houston’s galleria is the largest shopping mall in texas with upscale stores such as neiman marcus, nordstrom’s, saks fifth avenue, gucci, and louis vuitton—just to name a few. for the sports-nut, reliant stadium, minute maid park and the toyota center are all home to houston’s professional football, baseball and basketball teams.
for a truly otherworldly experience, one can visit houston’s most famous attraction: nasa’s lyndon b. johnson space center. the birthplace of mission control and space camp, you can spend an entire afternoon viewing moon rock, experience a shuttle simulator or take a tram tour through nasa. with such an important institution in our nation’s history located in the heart of texas, it is no wonder that houston's nickname is “the space city”.
a place where houston definitely doesn’t have a problem is at the texas medical center. seated on 1,000 acres in downtown houston, the texas medical center is the largest medical center in the world with 13 hospitals, 2 medical schools, 4 nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, public health, and pharmacy.
while houston is the forth-largest city in the united states and has some of the tallest buildings in the country, houston still can’t give up texas’s wide-open spaces. for the nature lover, memorial park is located right in the middle of the city. with 1,466 acres at its disposal, memorial park has facilities for tennis, softball, swimming, golf, volleyball, cycling and a three-mile running course. in case that wasn’t enough, the buffalo bayou runs right through downtown. with opportunities for fishing, canoeing, and kayaking, the great outdoors is just a few feet away from all the big city pleasures.
being big has its advantages. whatever you’re looking for, houston has enough room to contain it. whether you want all the comforts of modern life or want to feel like an authentic texas cowboy, houston truly is the biggest and best. As one of the largest states in the Union, Texas, the Lone Star state, is big on tourism and huge on fun. Two thirds of the over 20 million folks who call Texas home live in its major metropolitan cities, like Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Aside from the typical things most big cities have to offer, like great food and exciting nightlife, folks in Houston can also sign up for space camp. In Dallas, nothing beats catching the Dallas Cowboys football team in action during a home game, or witnessing a true cowboy ride a live, bucking bull in a Dallas rodeo. And, in Austin, the city dubbed “Live Music Capital of the World”, there is always a good band playing and many other types of live entertainment, from theater to orchestras. If relaxing by the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico is more your speed, then head down to the state’s hundreds of miles of coastline. Aside from its many small, quaint beach towns, there’s also Corpus Christi, where you can enjoy a delicious seafood meal while watching the boats sail in and out of the harbor past the barrier islands located just off the mainland. Texas also has several water parks and amusement parks, including the famous Six Flags Over Texas. Whatever you decide to do in Texas, you’re bound to have a good time. And, before you leave, there are two things you definitely don’t want to forget, your luggage…and the Alamo. Dallas, Austin, Arlington, Houston, Cowboys, football, live music, Gulf of Mexico, Corpus Christi, Six Flags, Alamo houston rockets, space center houston, texas medical center, minute maid park, downtown aquarium, forbidden gardens, houston zoo, rice university, port of houston, university of houston, museum district, houston ballet, houston symphony, houston grand opera, buffalo bayou, interstate loop 610, houston livestock show and rodeo, bayou place, galleria, reliant stadium, george bush intercontinental airport, sam houston park, memorial park, reliant park, hermann park, metrorail, houston texans, museum of fine arts, antique pavillion, holocaust museum houston, art car museum, the alley theater, bayou city art festival, houston hip-hop, skywalk, jp morgan chase tower, funplex, adventure bay water theme park |
