To continue our trend of eating at new places, we decided to try the Snooze Cafe. It was a little trendy place we found near the Museum District. The service was excellent, and the food was delicious. My wife and I couldn’t decide on a selection again…too many appetizing choices…so we opted to split a Protein Trio Omelet and a Pineapple Upside Down Pancake. Both were equally delicious.
After that, we headed to the Houston Zoo. They were doing Halloween at the zoo…Zoo Boo…and they had a sort of fright fest in the evening, so we only had limited time to enjoy the zoo. They had it all decorated with pumpkins and skeletons, and honestly, we probably spent more time looking at the decorations than the animals! Troy’s favorite part was the banded mongoose pen, because there were little pop up windows in the middle of the pen. He said it was like being right in there with them. He also enjoyed the petting zoo. There were a lot of fat, pregnant goats for him to stroke.
My favorite part was the otters. It was so neat to see them up close to the glass, swimming and playing with each other. They were so graceful and fast. In that same area was a brown pelican preening himself, and that was cool too. I’ve never been that close to a pelican before.
The only downside was the heat. It was getting to all of us by the end, and we were more than ready to go. My wife’s favorite part was the bathroom and the gift shop, because both were air conditioned! After piling up on gifts we didn’t need, we headed out.
Our last stop of the day was Smither Park. I’d been reading about it online, and it was my “must see” stop while we were here. It’s a small park in southeast Houston, tucked away in a rundown neighborhood. The entire park has been redone by local artists, plying their craft. Beautiful mosaics made of tile and broken plates and bowls adorn almost every surface. There is a wall running along one side of the park that is completely covered in mosaics and tile sculptures, blended together by different visions and styles, as each artist added their own flare.
An old basketball court now serves as a covered area for booths during the various events and festivals held throughout the year. Each column of the court has been transformed into a tiled work of art. An amphitheater made of recycled materials has been erected at one end of the park, looking like a giant fish mouth open to eat you. And the sidewalks are tiled with dolphins swimming just below the surface of the water or seagulls flying above it, or with a giant butterfly, or in the shape of a giant guitar.
The stop might have been off the beaten path, but it was totally worth it. Even my wife enjoyed sitting at a table with two tiled, life-sized skeletons, enjoying the shade and gentle swishing of a large willow tree. Finally satiated and definitely done with the heat, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. I’m ashamed to say that we Doordashed dinner, because nobody felt like going back out.
UPDATE: Okay, now I feel like we should get out more. There is also a Snooze Cafe in Dallas. We could have been enjoying these delicious breakfasts all this time!
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