Boston vs. Houston

Some time ago I developed a hypothesis that you can either love Houston or Boston, but not both. Last weekend, I finally had the chance to test this out on myself.

Next time you have a conversation with someone where they mention one of the two cities, ask them what they think of the other. People who love Boston will talk about the city's college atmosphere, the water, and the history. When asked about Houston, they'll rant about the heat and humidity, crime, generic layout, and overall dirtiness of this city. Conversely, people who love Houston will talk about the great weather, friendly people, and it's up and coming economic power. Not too surprising, they'll also go on a diatribe about Boston's historically poor race relations, cold weather, and generally rude people.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine got married just outside of Boston. In the city, I round the T, visited Harvard, and hit a fairly crowded night club with some friends in the wedding party. It was great. It was my first time in New England, so I had a great time touring the region as well. With a rental car, I managed to hit Connecticut and Rhode Island as well.

This year, I flew home to Maryland for Memorial Day to visit family and attend another friend's wedding in D.C. On the way back to Seattle, there was a problem with my connecting flight that stranded me in Houston. I was kind of annoyed as it killed my dinner plans, but I was given a free hotel, $300 travel voucher, the opportunity to add Texas to my visited states list, and gauge my feelings on Houston. So I was ok with it.

I don't think I'll ever go on a rant about Houston (unless this counts), but I'm definitely more of a Boston person. Houston had some nice spots. Rice University was beautiful as was Minute Maid Park. But I hated Houston's humidity. The people were very friendly, but seemed not very up on their city. I asked a couple of people about where to get a good steak and was routinely given the names of chain restaurants, including Outback. I asked a cab driver where I should go to get a feel of the city; he recommended a nice mall in the suburbs. I wouldn't rule out returning to Houston, but I'd need a well defined reason.

As in a lot of ways Boston is a bigger version of Seattle, I don't see my findings as much of a surprise. Oh well, one more state on the list. Plus, I'm rapidly developing a new hypothesis that within the state of Texas, Austin is the anti-Houston :)