Thursday, December 6, 2012

DOWNTOWN HOUSTON

Thursday, December 6 –  We walked around downtown Houston Tuesday. We began at City Hall where we picked-up a tourist map and some suggestions at the Visitor's Center. This is a very nice visitor's center in the heart of downtown. The ladies working there are extremely friendly and helpful.

Sam Houston overseeing the running of the Visitor's Center.Sam Houston

They have just about anything you will find in Houston.Visitor's Center

From there we headed to the Underground. A mere 20-feet below downtown Houston is a maze 7.5-mile-long tunnel system for 150,000-employee workforce. There are doctors' offices, banking, shopping, post office, salons, tons of eating establishments, etc. Anyone can access the network via street-level stairs, escalators, office-building elevators or head to Wells Fargo Plaza, which offers direct street-to-tunnel access. It is entirely air-conditioned which is pretty nice for a city that can see 100+ temperatures and high humidity.

It is so clean everywhere.underground

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We then headed down Main Street to the Chase Tower.

Chase Tower

Here you can take a free express elevator up to the 60th floor observation deck. That elevator flew! We enjoyed a marvelous view of the city and the maze of the famous (or is that infamous) Houston highway system.

downtown Houston

downtown Houston

This view is only half of the freeway roads. This does not include I-45 and all its feeder roads.

downtown Houston

We then walked to Discovery Green, home of many outdoor activities in Houston. It borders the Convention Center, The Toyota Center, home of the Houston Rockets NBA basketball team, and some exclusive downtown living centers like One Park Place where apartment style homes sell in the million dollar range.

There is a beautiful pond in the middle of the Green.lillies

With temperatures in the high 70s and low 80s, this ice skating rink isn't getting much use…yet.
ice rink

Can you guess which is One Park Place? Yep the tall one with the peaks. An amazing place.million dollar high rise

From there we walked to the Houston Pavilion, one of the many, many nightlife sections of Houston.

Houston Pavillons

The 24,886 sq. ft. Lucky Strike Lanes and Lounge, aka bowling alley, is one of a kind. Lucky Strike Lanes features 14 state-of-the-art lanes including a Luxe Premium Suite complete with four private lanes, a separate bar, and a 20′ x 12′ HD projection screen perfect for exclusive parties and events.You enjoy bowling from a living room style lounge area....no plastic chairs here!

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Luxe Premium Suite DSC01900

We then walked back toward our starting point.

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Houston has a free bus service in the downtown area. The bus covers most of the downtown area. Since we wanted to see the city "up close and personal," we opted to walked the 100s of miles…just seemed like 100s. All kidding aside, Houston is a very easy, clean city to get in a nice walk.

 free houston bus

We then scurried back to the truck managing to get out of town BEFORE the famous rush hour began....whew!

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

15 comments:

  1. Sounds like you are really staying busy. Are you getting your Christmas shopping done? Is that why you're downtown Houston? I'll send my mailing address for my gift soon.

    Don't you just love being south and enjoying the warm weather instead of being housebound in Ohio?

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  2. Thanks for the nice tour of downtown, that will save me risking life and limb.

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  3. Nice tour of the city. I like the free buses.

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  4. We've never visited downtown. Perhaps someday but usually we just can not wait to get out of the horrendous traffic and off those Interstates.

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  5. It's been years since we have visited Houston and it looks like things have changed a bit. Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane. :)

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  6. I've never been to Houston so thanks for the great tour and views of the city.

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  7. Great pictures and everything looks so clean. The sight of all those huge buildings and freeways makes me glad I could see it through your blog and not have to see it in person LOL!!

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  8. I have through Houston many times, but have not stopped to visit the downtown area. Thanks.

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  9. Thanks for the tour of downtown Houston! Loved the underground 'city,' and the views from the top. We need to make another trip to Houston!

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  10. The freeway system is all we have seen. We don't like big cities at all anymore.

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  11. We have not made it to Houston yet...but sure looks like you had a blast!

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  12. Another place for our to-do list.

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  13. Thanks for the tour; have not been to Houston so it's nice to see a bit of the sights from where we are on the east coast.

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  14. I am ashamed to tell you that like most locals, I have not been to all those places. . .now, I must go. . .thanks for sharing!

    Janice
    ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing Blog
    FaceBook.com/ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing

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  15. Are you paying over $5 / pack of cigarettes? I buy all my cigs from Duty Free Depot and I'm saving over 70%.

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