Looking Around

On Saturday, I went to visit a friend of mine who lives in the Heights district of Houston. There is so much of Houston that I have not yet seen. We have been downtown a few times, to go to different museums or shows and to the Downtown Aquarium. But my friend took me to areas of Houston that skirt around downtown; these were quaint and unique places as well as extravagently wealthy places.

The Heights is an old part of town. The houses are very old and had begun to be run-down. Now people are buying the old homes and renovating them to the grandeur they once displayed. The homes are pretty pricey these days, too. My friend, AH, told me that a small, one-story that she had looked at was in the $200,000 price range (the same home might cost $80-90,000 in my area). The homes in the heights had a lot of character. There are also fun places to eat, like Star Pizza, which is where AH and I ate on Saturday.

After lunch, AH drove me out to the exclusive River Oaks area of Houston, which is near Memorial Park. AH told me about a function in March called The Azalea Trail. She said that you can walk from home to home looking at gardens. If you click on the link, you can see that the homes and gardens are amazing. We parked the car after she drove me into the community, and we took a nice stroll down the shady sidewalks. I could not hold my mouth closed at the sight of these homes in River Oaks. I truly have never seen the likes, and though the area is just minutes from everything downtown, you feel as though you are very far away from everything, like you are in a peaceful secluded forest. AH said that it is difficult to purchase property in River Oaks, because it is "old money" that lives there, and the magnificent homes are passed down from generation to generation. The most impressive property was one that, as we peeked through the wrought-iron entrance gates, boasted what looked like an enchanted forest, a pond that was, as AH said, "better than the zoo," fountains coming from a stone wall, two houses (surely one was a guest house or pool house), and an amount of land that was gated and full of tress so that we couldn't see the rest of it all. The wrought-iron fence that separated it all from the rest of the world extended a good two city blocks. I would have loved to get in there and explore it all.

AH and I found a house that was deserted and under construction. It looked as though it hadn't been entered or built on in a month or more. We stopped the car and after much debate, decided to be wild women and take a peek. Even though it was a brick shell that was gutted with only two-by-fours to indicate where walls and rooms will one day be, we were duly impressed. We made up our own minds about what would go where. The giant kitchen that would overlook the yard and swimming pool was my favorite. It had vaulted ceilings that went all the way up to the second floor, as well as a fire place (which always cracks me up - every house in Houston has a fire place, even ours. WHY???).

Just goes to show, you shouldn't stay home. I never knew all those things were right by my house. Some of the homes I saw would have better fit in some kind of European kingdom. It's not a half-hour from me, and it took me two years to go look at it. I'm sure there are some interesting things everywhere you go, no matter where you live.