Next Stop Texas! On August 17th, we finally flew to Texas! We were really looking forward to that. Our first stop was Houston! We had booked the Hotel Western Inn. The room was nice and big and we were close to the centre. There was also a bus stop right down the street and we were able to drive directly until downtown Houston. It wasn´t exactly the safest place and a man on the bus actually told Phil to keep care of me, because this isn´t a safe place for young girls… well I am so glad that we booked our hotel in that area… Not! The hotel was between Independence Heights and Greater Heights. Only later, during our trip, did we learn from a friend that most rival gangs live in American neighborhoods named something with “Heights”. Houston has over 30 official gangs and some were very close to us…We decided to stay in Houston for a few days anyway. We spent all day out in the city and tried to come home before it got dark. Looking back it wasn´t too bad and we hardly noticed the gangs or the unsafe place. Every night, we walked to a pizza place a few streets from the hotel and had the best pizza! And after dinner, we walked back in the dark. It really wasn’t that scary, but maybe we were just lucky.
After our four days in Houston, we finally started our road trip!!
Below you can see how long we were in the different places:
Houston: 4 days
Austin: 2 day
Walburg: 1 day
Enchanted Rocks: drove past
Fredericksburg: 1 day
San Antonio: 1 day
Corpus Christi: 1 day
Galveston: 1 day
Houston: 1 day
Houston
- Houston Centre for Photography
Of course Phil really wanted to go here! They had beautiful pictures from great photographers. - Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
Straight to the next museum. Wow! I have never seen such crazy and colourful art anywhere. We can only recommend it!
- The Williams Tower Waters Wall
It really has something unique and impressive when you stand in front of a big wall and just watch the water run down it. - Museum of Fine Arts Houston
That was the last museum, but definitely worth seeing! - Hermann Park
A beautiful park in the middle of the city. We even walked past a theatre where they usually have performances or concerts.
- Space Center
Houston – we have a problem! Wow what an experience! We loved it and are glad we found some time before we had to pick up our rental car at the airport the next morning. We went there relatively early because we had read on the internet beforehand that it can get very crowded at lunchtime. Indeed. When we were finished at 1 p.m. and left the Space Center, many families and tourists were in the queue to enter die Center.
Where did we eat in Houston?
Next! Off to the airport. We booked our rental car with sunnycars via billiger-mietwagen.de. On August 21st at 10 a.m., we picked up our Ford Focus and drove straight to Austin. It took us about 3 hours from Houston to Austin. The next 6 days, we spent about 361€. It took us about 3 hours to get from Houston to Austin. In Austin, we slept in the Austin City Hotel. We were more than satisfied! Great room, great breakfast, great location and there was an amazing restaurant and bar.
Austin
- Downtown
We walked through the city centre – ate an ice cream and had dinner in one of the many restaurants. Austin is a very pretty city.
- Texas State Capital
Of course, the first thing we wanted to see was Texas State Capital. A very impressive building and you can actually just walk in there without having to pay admission. The building is amazing and we spent almost 2 hours there, mostly because it was nice and cool. 🙂
- Allens Boots
Coming to Texas we desperately wanted to try on some cowboy boots. The most popular cowboy shop of all time is Allen’s boots.
The selection of boots and cowboy hats is amazing. Of course, we had to try on a few things 🙂 It was really fun.
- Congress Avenue Bridge
Sweet little creatures live under the Congress Avenue Bridge … bats! Every evening at dusk they all fly out of hiding! Many locals and tourists watch the spectacle almost every evening! Arrive early enough to get a parking spot or walk there, if your hotel is close.
Tip: If you stand on the bridge, you will see less than if you are lying directly under it. We sat down on the grass directly under the bridge. (Be sure to spray yourself with mosquito spray beforehand !!)
Next Stopp – Walburg. We met up in an old bavarian restaurant with a friend of Phils. We had german sausage with sauerkraut. We learned a lot about his life in Texas and he was very happy to speak Bavarian again.
On our way to Fredericksburg, we drove past the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. We didn’t go in the park, because it was already closed. But we stopped at the side of the road and enjoyed the view and the sunset.
Fredericksburg was actually not on our bucket list, but it was a tip from our friend and we can only recommend it. We stayed at the Peach Tree Inn & Suites. We had such a cute room with a nice balcony. The city was incredibly beautiful and with such a perfect accommodation, we could only love Fredericksburg! Oh yes … and then the fact, that there were cats everywhere at the accommodation. One cat followed us all the time and spent the whole evening on the balcony with us.
Fredericksburg
- Downtown
This city is very small, so within just a few hours you can walk through the whole place. The people there are super friendly and are happy to welcome you to their small town.
- Clear River Ice Cream, Bakery & Deli
They probably have the weirdest flavoured ice cream – but they do have normal ones, too. Of course, we both had an ice cream to cool down.
- Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau
This place is for the tourists. It gives you all the information about this cute little town.
A bit sad to leave the city continued to San Antonio. Here we stayed at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson.
San Antonio
- Downtown
A really nice city. The Historic Market Square and Plaza de Las Islas Canarias we particularly recommend! Fantastic. At this spot we also started the San Antonio River Walk.
- The San Antonio River Walk
It’s a wonderful walk. Take half a day to enjoy the atmosphere, the beautiful flowers and cafés. Small boats float on the river with tourists and there are really nice-smelling and delicious restaurants with great views.
And we´re off again. We planned just over 1 week for Texas, because we want to see so many other things as well. That meant, we had a lot to see in only a few days. I was most looking forward to this part of our trip. Beach time! At the end of August, it is still very hot in Texas. Corpus Christi is located in southern Texas. Here we stayed at Motel 6 Corpus Christi East.
Corpus Christi
- Horseback Riding
At the beach at sunset on the back of a horse … a truly indescribable experience. Quite often, the horses wanted to run not only along the sea, but also splash in the sea.
- Padre Island
We got up really early to watch the sunrise on the beach. We drove directly on the beach with our rental car (yes, you can actually drive a car on that beach) and then had breakfast in the car with the doors open at sunrise. There were hardly any people so early on the beach, apart from a few fishermen and us. After we had breakfast we walked along the beach and enjoyed the morning. At one point I found an egg and thought it was a turtle egg. I quickly picked it up from the cold floor and warmed it in my hands … We wanted to help the poor thing and drove to the Community Center. As soon as we were in the car we noticed the terrible smell of the egg. It was really bad and we could only drive to the park rangers with the windows open. When we finally arrived, we found a park ranger and handed him the egg. He explained to us that it was a little bird egg and they will take care of him. They were very grateful that we were so attentive and brought the egg to them immediately. We felt really good and were very happy that we could help …. Unfortunately, we had to drive with the windows open for the next 5 hours and disinfect our hands every 2 minutes because the stench absolutely did not go away or became less.
The last stop before going back to Houston was Galveston. It is a very beautiful beach and there is the famous “Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier”. It was really beautiful to walk along the pier in bright sunshine. At noon we had a nice Schrimp meal with a view at Bubba Gump.
Unfortunately, it was time to drop off our rental car at Houston Airport and travel on. Texas was incredibly beautiful and we are absolute fans!
Emily