When I moved to Houston, Texas over 2 years ago I really didn't expect to find what I did.  What did I find?  I found a plethora of amazing restaurants, cool places to hang out, venues for live bands, beaches, boats, ocean front property, palm trees and more.  If someone was going to come to Houston, Texas what would I recommend to see?  Well, one of my brothers recently came to Houston with his wife for a 3 day trip and I decided to put together a quick itinerary of cool things to do.  Here is the itinerary:

Thursday:

•  Dinner at Niko Nikos (Montrose)
• Walk around Kema Boardwalk

Friday:

• The Strand @Galveston
• Pier 21 @Galveston
• Drive to west end of the sea wall (dead end) and watch the boats come through the channel
• Moody Gardens @Galveston

Saturday:

• Kaloche's @Shipley's donuts
• Cookies @Miss Ginny's bakery
• Disc golf
• Lunch @Bullritos by JSC
• JP Morgan Chase Sky Tower
• Walk through Houston tunnel system
• Tour NASA
• Flying Saucer for dinner/Create your own flight

Sunday:

• Shopping @the Galleria
• Water wall by the Williams Tower
• Tour Rice University
• Rice Village @El Meson
• Rice Village @Chocolate Shop

Monday:

• Breakfast at the 'Egg and I' off of Bay Area

There is so much to do in Houston, we just skimmed the top of cool things to do here.  Here is a quick list of a few more things to do and restaurants to eat at:

Things to do:

• St. Arnolds Brewery ($5/person - bring some snacks)
• Forbidden Gardens @Katy, TX
• Walk through tunnel system (a lot to walk!)
• The Miller Outdoor Theater - a gem in Houston
• Sports - professional basketball (Rockets), football (Texans), and hockey (Aeros)
• College sports (Rice University, University of Houston, etc)
• The Orange Show
• Houston Rodeo (once a year)
• Clearlake Boat Show (they put Christmas lights on the boats and light up the harbor - very cool)

Food/Drink @Clearlake:

• Perries (get their pork chop)
• Lupe Tortilla (get their fajitas)
• Boondoggles (amazing food and drink)
• Thai Cottage (get their Thai Tea and Panang Curry)
• Frenchies (great Italian food)
• Red River BBQ (simple, amazing)
• Pappa's BBQ

Food/Drink @Rice Village

• Gingerman Pub (drinks only - amazing on-tap selection) 
• The Chocolate Bar!!

Food/Drink @Galveston:

• Rainforest Cafe @the seawall
• Olympia Grill @Pier 21
• Luigi's Restaurant Italiano

Food/Drink @downtown Houston

• Three Forks (best salad ever)
• House of Blues
• Bombay Pizza Co.
• Brennans (French/Creol)
• Mark's American Cuisine (...date night, she'll love it - formal dress)

Food/Drink @Galleria

• Yia Yia Mary's Greek Kitchen
• Maggiano's
• Grand Lux Cafe

Kema:

• T-bone Tom's
• Bakklus Taverna
• Ichabon (sushi)
• Saltgrass (typical Texas steak house)
• The aquarium

Other

• House of Pies
• Dot Coffee Shop (off of 45)
• Bada Bing (great Italian pizza!!)

All else fails, Austin is only 3 hours away:

• Stubs Restaurant
• Congress Street
• Austin City Limits
• Six Street

There is so much more to list of course, but these are the places that I have personally been to or heard great things about.  Start here and venture out on your own, but you'll be glad you started with this list.

-Charles