I flew to Houston this morning en route to Central America, where I will be spending a week in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
When I landed at IAH this afternoon, I picked up a rental car and headed straight to Jesse H. Jones Park, only a few minutes northeast of the airport.
It was a lovely, mostly sunny afternoon, and I had the trails in the park mostly to myself.
It was a neat spot, because there is a cypress swamp, and the cypress's have "knees" that stick up out of the water.
I have never seen anything quite like it before. There were turtles in the swamp, and a magnificent male cardinal;
but, unfortunately, I did not spot any alligators, which was what I was especially keen to see.
After an hour walking through the park I checked in at my hotel close to the airport and then drove to downtown Houston. I stopped at Minute Maid Park to take some pictures and look inside.
Then I drove through downtown to the Buffalo Bayou Park. Buffalo Bayou is basically Houston's "river," and they have a nice park system along the bayou with pedestrian/cyclist trails and bridges. Again I was hoping to see alligators, but I had to be content with some unique ducks and herons. And also, bats, which actually I did not see, but I could hear them and see their roosts.
Interestingly, there is apparently a large colony of bats underneath this particular bridge.
It was now after 17:00, and I decided to go for dinner. I had a couple of potential spots picked out, and decided since I had not been able to see an alligator, I would try to eat some. I went to a place called Beaver's, pretty close to the park.
I ordered "fried alligator, crawfish, and grits."
The green things are pickled okra. The dish was possibly even more delicious than it was interesting for me.
Tomorrow I am off to Guatemala City and here is my travel plan:
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