The thing you need to know about the nation’s fourth-largest city this time year is that it’s hot. Despite that Houstonians aren’t letting up, and neither should visitors to the Bayou City. That’s why they invented air conditioning. To that end, there’s an array of things you can do indoors the weekend of Aug. 12 through 14:
- First off, you can eat. The month of August encompass Houston Restaurant Weeks. A bevy of the Bayou City’s best eateries are participating in the event this year, spanning a wide range of cuisines (there’s more to this place than beef and Tex-Mex folks). There are a couple of prix fixie tiers: $35 for dinner buys you three or four courses, depending on the restaurant. $20 purchases a two- or three-course lunch, again depending on the place you eat. The feel-good part of the deal is this: $5 of that $35 goes to support the Houston Food Bank, and $3 from the luncheon price goes to the same purpose. Last year the food bank took in $585,000 from participating restaurants.
- The Lawndale Arts Center is a great place to retreat during the withering weeks of August. Located at 4912 Main St., the center premieres Southern/Pacific Friday, Aug. 12. There will be a reception and talks by the artists. The thrust of the show is connections, connections among people, ideas, and visions of expansion.
- Get an insight into the Civil Rights Era you may have never seen at The Menil Collection. The Whole World Was Watching, a collection of extraordinary photographs from this pivotal period in the maturation of our nation, is on display through Sept. 25. You’ll find The Menil at 1515 Sul Ross St.
- Over at the Houston Museum of Natural Science resides Texas! The Exhibition. If you ever wanted to get beyond the myth of this great state (once a nation unto itself) and really delve into what made Sam Houston, Davy Crockett, and Stephen F. Austin tick, this is the place to do it. The exhibition presents some of the rarest of Texana artifacts. See Col. William Barret Travis’ “Victory or Death” letter from the besieged Alamo, and Jim Bowie’s mythic knife, found in the remains of the beleaguered mission fortress after the battle. Adult tickets are $25. Kids three to 11 get in for $18, as do seniors 62 and older. The museum can be found at 5555 Hermann Park Dr.
- Okay, so being inside in the daytime is better. But that deosn’t mean you can’t venture out at night and break a bit of a south Texas sweat. Houston is a big league city, and that takes in soccer. The Houston Dynamo takes on the Portland Timbers Sunday night Aug. 14 at Robertson Stadium. This species of football is comparatively cheap (at least as opposed to the NFL). Tickets can be had for as little as $29.58, taxes and fees included. That puts you on the endline. $35.58 lands you a seat on the sideline. Robertson Stadium is located at 3875 Holman St.
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Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: rcbodden)
