I suppose this is where I get to stand up and make an argument in my defense.... I've been taken to task a bit recently for my alleged Houston-bashing. I can see where someone could possibly take offense, but having lived in the Houston area for 10 years, I think I can speak to this subject with some authority. So, what follows is a rather lame defense of my abject distaste of just about anything related to the Bayou City.
To be honest, if you can manage to get past the heat, the humidity, the mosquitoes, the traffic, the pollution, and the ridiculous distances involved in getting just about anywhere, I suppose Houston really COULD be described as just this side of Paradise. Personally, after 10 years, I just could no longer ignore just how much I HATED being in Houston. OK, so part of my issue with the city had to do with the train wreck that was my personal life at the end, but let's face facts, y'all. Houston sucks. Period. Any questions??
Houston may not be Hell, but I think Hell can probably be found somewhere between Deer Park and Baytown....
In spite of my abiding antipathy for Houston and southeast Texas, there are some things I do miss:
Galveston: Hey, if you want to consume mass quantities of margaritas in a tropical environment, you could do worse. Galveston may not have the prettiest beaches, the clearest water, or the finest in female scenery, but it's not exactly Fargo-on-the-Riviera, either.
Minute Maid Park: I've been to a number of ballparks around the country, and Minute Maid beats all of them by a country mile. It's a great place to watch a baseball game, and the retractable roof (a must in Houston) makes for a truly unique experience, especially when it's opened in the sixth or seventh inning.
Tex-Mex: Yes, I miss the food. I still haven't been able to convince myself to visit a Mexican restaurant here in Portland, because I'm afraid I might be horribly disappointed. Beyond that, though, Houston has something like 8000 restaurants, some of them pretty amazing. And I do miss Texas barbecue. Somehow, "barbecue" and "Pacific Northwest" just don't seem to go together.
I could go on, of course, but I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that there's usually good to be found in even the worst of places. I'd imagine Hell probably has a Ben & Jerry's, and I'd be willing to hazard a guess that the margaritas are always flowing somewhere in the Kingdom of Darkness. Like anything else, good is where you find it...and I've found it here in Portland.
I'll do the best I can to lay off Houston, because it's certainly not going to change; it's just not a place I care to be. Especially this time of year. Y'all can have it. I like where I am. ;-)
