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Ah, no worries about getting into trouble in Houston, CH. Despite all the ruckus about Texans shooting tourists and such, it's nothing personal -- Texans don't care where you come from to shoot you. (I'm kidding.)

Texans are actually nice and friendly folks. In general, you won't find the standoffish and suspicious nature that I find among people in other parts of the U.S. People say hello to and talk to strangers and there is a general tendency to help out visitors to the state. Houston is not as liberal as Austin but not as conservative as you might expect of Texas cities. Houston is more relaxed than Dallas and definitely not as uptight and haughty. You don't have to be driving a Mercedes or BMW to get decent service in Houston. You'll like Houston and you're coming at a time when the Spring weather is nice. (I write this as there is a snow whiteout with 22mph winds in Juneau, AK. I never thought I'd actually miss a Houston Spring.)

I had no idea that Houston also hosted Wrestlemania..... yet another thing to brag about when talking about my hometown. You'll definitely need a car if you plan to venture out to the various parts of Houston, unless you only plan on attending Wrestlemania and nothing else. Besides the Metro bus system, Houston does not have public transportation that I'd rely on. The MetroRail is very limited, but it does go to interesing places around downtown, the Texas Medical Center and a few of the bigger parks.

Now, I am food oriented so I always urge visitors to try the various restaurants in Houston, which are excellent. If dining is not your thing, then at least eat crawfish. It's crawfish season and you have got to eat crawfish while it's the season. I am craving it so much right now, it's killing me. A friend of mine keeps calling me up to tell me how much crawfish she just had, because during the season we'll go get fresh boiled crawfish about 3-4 times a week. I can put away 10 pounds. Every restaurant has its own seasoning, but the best I've had have been at Magnolia Grill and the Ragin' Cajun, both on Richmond Avenue. If you do nothing else, at least go get some crawfish. Make sure you suck out the rich stuff in the heads of the crawfish -- the head is the best part. You're not really eating crawfish unless you're eating the rich dark yellow stuff inside the heads, too. Some places do all-you-can-eat crawfish, but in general, these crawfish tend to be smaller and not as good. You want the restaurants that have fresh live crawfish that they boil up fresh for you.

If you don't have real Vietnamese food where you're from, you should go get some real Phở from a Vietnamese phở restaurant. Up and down Bellaire Blvd in Chinatown, you'll find plenty. There are also places in what used to be Little Saigon until it got taken over by what is now Midtown (yuppie townhouses, bars and restaurants.) This area will be closer to where you're going to be, I think. Up along Milam St., there are various Vietnamese plazas with restaurants and bakeries, like Phở Saigon.

Oh, and I believe Houston also has the largest drive-through liquor store in the U.S, if not the world. Worth checking out if you've never seen anything like it.

You'll have fun in Houston. Eat, drink and be wrestle-manic!


Jeannie

Doh! My bad... I just realized CH is perhaps a minor? CH, are you under 21? If so, strike what I wrote about the drive-thru liquor store! You should not, definitely NOT, go anywhere near that liquor store.


Jeannie