What to do in Houston and the surrounding area at Easter?

Question

Family of four (2 adults + 2 teenage daughters 11 & 15) - we've got around eight days starting and ending in Houston. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Well, this being the buckle of the Bible Belt, we goes to Church.

I would recomend this, even if you are one of them unbelieving Yankke types, just because you can't understand Texas till you've been to church with 17,000 other people. No I am not kidding. Second Baptist rents out the stadium where the Astros Play for their Easter Service.

http://www.second.org/global/default.aspx

Lakewood can seat 18,000 people (they BOUGHT the stadium where the Rockets used to play and converted it) so they don't need to rent out a stadium anymore.
http://www.lakewood.cc/site/PageServer

Those are worth seeing just so you can tell the folks at home about it. Just make sure to dress in your best.

Next are the museums.

This is the link to the Science Museum.
http://www.hmns.org/

and this is the museum of fine arts
http://www.mfah.org/main.asp?target=home
I think they will have some nice impressionist paintings on display then.

but I'm betting the girls will want to go shopping, luckly we have that DOWN, with the largest mall in Texas. (We are the center of the global energy industry and all those trophy wives have to shop somewhere!)

http://www.simon.com/mall/default.aspx?ID=805

http://www.houston-guide.com/media/GuestLife/Houston/Annual-2006/Houston-Shopping-Paradise/index.php

The beach in Galveston might be nice, depending on the weather.

And then there is always a lot to eat here.
http://www.houston-guide.com/media/GuestLife/Houston/Annual-2006/Dining-A-Little-Bit-Of-Everything/index.php

Answer 2

Well, to start with, hide some brightly colored eggs. That should take some time to find them.

Easter is what, April 8th? A day in Galveston could be nice, while the water will still be chilly the beach is nice, and there is the Strand area for nice restaurants and the railroad museum.

For Houston, visit this site:

http://www.visithoustontexas.com

It is the Convention and Visitor's Guide. Sort by all kinds of events.

You will be too early for our International Festival (spotlighting China this year), but the Houston Astros are in town for part of your stay (they have home games on April 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8).

Unfortunately Astroworld is closed (since the end of October 2005), which would have been fun. Splashtown has also been sold by Six Flags, and the opening date for 2007 is unknown.

Still, tons to do here. You just have to find something that interests you. Be sure to check out that web site.

Answer 3

Not knowing the girls, you might have some problems in finding activities to keep all interested. If you have a decent budget, consider the following:
Definitely go to Galveston, maybe spend the night at the Galvez. Swim in our sandy water and then go to the Strand for some shopping.
Hermann park is a good museum, zoo, and feed-the-ducks destination.
Kemah is a good family nightspot with numerous restaurants and carnival type games. A mini-version of this is the Downtown Aquarium restaurant.
You could probably do a day in and around the Galleria area. That's our upscale shopping mall with a nice people watching ice-rink.
They might find Space Center Houston interesting, and you do get a tour of the real space center.
And, to burn up a day, take a day trip out to the country to get some "real Texas Barbecue". If that interests you, post that question and you'll probably get a bunch of suggestions on where to go.

Answer 4

THe RIce Village area (near Rice University) has nice shops and cafes. You might also enjoy an Astros game. The galleria is nice but pricey

Answer 5

Since the temp. will be around 5000 deg. by then, the beach is 30 minutes down I-45. That would be my suggestion since they closed our amusment park. Of course, there's the Children Museum which is cool if your kids are pretty young. Our other museums at Hermann Park are cool too.

Answer 6

tiddleywinks,scrabble, i-spy, charades, in fact you can be anywhere to play these,not only in houston. enjoy your vacation folks.