Houston, TX

We had 3 stops total in Texas, with Houston being the first. We had a feeling we’d love Texas, given the warm climate and large cities. It was a long drive from New Orleans to Houston, but we were doing pretty good about just stopping when I needed to and pulling over for anything that caught our eye. I was doing 100% of the driving, so for the 6-7 hour trips we were stopping 4-5 times periodically. We were only stopping in Houston overnight, but were still excited to explore the city. After making the 6 hour trek, we arrived to our Airbnb. It had private parking, a gated fence, and a patio out front. It looked great….until we walked in the door. The thermostat read 93 degrees inside. We promptly contacted the Host, but unfortunately there was nothing we could do but wait for it to cool down. She had forgotten to turn the AC unit on prior to our arrival. She was apologetic, but it was frustrating that no solution was provided other than to wait

So we thought ‘no problem’, but we would like a refund since it was costing $200 for one night in a very hot accommodation. Unfortunately Airbnb Support had no solution for us either. When we asked for a refund, they gave us $40 back ‘per their refund policy’. We were 2 for 3 on failures of Airbnb’s. Truth be told, both were just unfortunate circumstances, but it was enough for us to cancel some of our later stays and rebook them as hotels.

Around 8 pm it finally got down to the 70s inside. We went to bed, determined to try to salvage some of our time the next morning. We woke up and were out the door by 7 am. Our Airbnb was on the outskirts of the city, so we headed into the Botanicle Gardens at the city’s center. It was only about a 5 minute drive, but by the time we got there it was humid.

The entire area reminded me of The Mall in D.C. Outside of the Gardens was a pond, surrounded by walkways and statues.

On top of a small hill was an amphitheater for summer concerts, and a kiddy train that ran through the entire park.

We wandered around the park for a half hour or so. Then we were off to our next stop, Austin!