The “BEST OF” our Gulf Coast and Clear Lake Area-Part One
This is a “Best Of” compilation of our area as according to me. This list does not factor anyone elses views or comments. I don’t care if Mr. John Doe loves to eat at the Catfish Farm Club and thinks it is the “best” place known to mankind. This list is from my own personal likes and dislikes and maybe if you haven’t tried any of these places you might be interested enough to check them out. Now on to the list.
Since I absolutely love books, my first selection is,
- Best Book Store: Half Price Books, 961 NASA Prkwy Houston, Texas 77058, 281-335-1283. This place always has a great selection of all kinds of books, especially fiction and difficult to find hardbacks. They also pay decent for used books. I have discovered some of my favorite authors by browing around this store. I am also fond of the cats that frequently prowl around the shelves. Their book prices cannot be beat anywhere that I’ve been.
I don’t fish much but I love to be near the water and I know the best fishing pier is in our area:
- Best Fishing Pier: Pine Gully Park, 605 Pine Gully Rd, Seabrook, Texas 77586. This park is 52 acres and has a 1000’ fishing pier, rebuilt after Hurricane Ike.
The secret hidden attraction off Main Street is a little known place that is a wonder to explore and it is my favorite museum:
- Best Small Little Known Museum: The Butler Longhorn Museum, 1220 Coryell street, League City, Texas 77574. This place is nestled in a private park with gazebo and has many layers of discovery with the history of the Longhorn cattle and the ranches that once fequented our area. The mounted heads of many generations of longhorns and the entire ceiling of one room is covered in horns is worth the trip.
I love movies and I love a place where you can eat a meal and then enjoy a movie, which leads me to:
- Best Movie Cinema: Star Cinema Grill, 1020 NASA Rd One, Webster, Texas 77598, 281-557-9300. Arrive early and order food and drinks from the full bar with a friendly waitress taking your order. Enjoy your meal and drinks and then kick back and relax watching the movie of your choice. This place is unique and a great outing. I’ve never had a bad experience here.
I love super heroes, fantasy, sci-fi, mysteries, posters and collectibles and that’s why this is a great place:
- Best Comic Book Store: Bedrock City Comics, 106 W. Bay area Blvd, Webster, Texas 77598. This place has a large selection of comics from Marvel to DC, statues, and posters, and graphic novels. It is like Super Hero heaven and a great place to wander around exploring what’s new this week.
I love High School Sports and the best team around here in the past few years has accomplished a lot:
- Best High School Sports Team: The Clear Lake Lady Falcons Girls Soccer Team, Clear Lake High School. A perfect 14-0 record in District last year and overall record of 22-1-4 the Lady Falcons soccer team had been to the State Soccer Semi-finals playoffs at the State Tournament two years in a row.
There is a man who volunteers and lives his life for helping others. I’m sure we all know people like this and have met those unselfish men and women who dedicate their lives to others. The man I know is a firefighter:
- Best Firefighter and Community Volunteer: Rudy Munoz, 15200 Space Center Blvd, Houston, Texas. Rudy is a man who has accomplished so much for the local schools and has done everything from volunteering at sporting events to building shelves and painting classrooms. He is everywhere and anywhere he is needed. Rudy has done more with volunteering and gathering helpers for the area schools than any ten other people. Hats off to a fine man, a firefighter with a big heart.
Do you love ducks and geese, the occasional egret or heron, or even a friendly vulture? Take a drive out to:
- Best Duck Pond: Bay Area Park, 7500 Bay Area Blvd, Houston, Texas. This is a nice park with a large duck pond featuring ducks, geese, and other arrivals from the nearby Armand Bayou Nature Center.
With the habitat of our area dwindling, humans keep accidently hurting wildlife and we need the dedicated services of our friendly wildlife helpers:
- Best Wildlife Rehabilitator: Rhonda Murgatroyd, 713-705-5897. Rhonda gives plenty of time and energy to saving injured animals and helping them back to a state of health and releasing them back into the wild. She is owner and manager of Wildlife Response Services and a leader in the BaySmart Program for Youth.
When you need to cool off and hang out with friends try this place:
- Best Icehouse: Carlos Beer Garden, 18018 South Hwy 3, Lague City, Texas 77573, 281-554-6062. Check out this place for laid back atmosphere and a place that serves some mighty tasty chicken tenders and boneless wings.
When you need to let off steam or learn to defend yourself or even meditate and breathe correctly and stretch your limbs for a more flexible posture, try this wonderful place:
- Best Martial Arts Place: Al Garza’s Premier Martial Arts, 2047 West Main, League City, Tx. 77573, 281-332-5425. Al Garza has been involved in Martial Arts instruction since 1976. His school involves discipline and hard work and an aesthetic set of values that lead to a healthy lifestyle. Along with Karate and Martial Arts they also offer, fitness body shaping, Kickboxing, and a boot camp.
Sometimes when you fill the need to have that great cool reward of smooth chocolate, nothing seems to hit the spot like a malt, so head to:
- Best Chocolate Malt: Ben and Jerry’s, 528 W. bay Area Blvd, Clear Lake, Tx. 77598, 281-557-1600. These guys have a chocolate malt made with every kind of chocolate creation known to mankind, called the “Addicted To Chocolate!” Try it out!
I always like to retreat away from the traffic and noise of our area and there is a “best” place to get away back to nature without traveling very far:
- Best Scenic Nature Escape: Armand Bayou, 8500 Bay Area Blvd, Pasadena, Tx. 281-474-2551. Take a kayak paddle trip north of Bay Area Blvd along the prehistoric swamps of Armand Bayou. The waterway is home to alligators, ospreys, herons, egrets, gars, and numerous jumping fish. The beauty of the greenery is tropical and lush, ferns, bullrushes, elephant ear fronds, ancient trees with hanging moss, and the blur of a blue kingfisher flying past. You’ll forget you’re only minutes from Clear Lake City.
When you have a toothache or need a teeth cleaning, cavities or wisdom teeth pain, this is the best guy to go and see:
- Best Dentist: Dr. Eric Hurst: Bay Area Dental Center, 216 I-45 South, League City, 77573, 281-338-6559. Dr. Hurst is pleasant, calm, and soothing and runs a nearly pain free approach to treating and caring for your teeth. This man is deeply concerned about you, making sure you’re feeling well and wants to keep you from as much pain as possible. He is also such a nice person, polite and considerate and a great family man.
There are so many good schools in the area and a million ways to judge each one but as for me schools are best when their leaders are the best:
- Best School: Creekside Intermediate School, 4320 W. Main Street, League City, Tx. 77573, 281-284-3500. This school is run by Principal Pete Caterina, a wonderful man who truly cares about the kids and his teachers. Creekside has wonderful programs in all areas, athletics, science, language arts, music, theatre arts, and more. This school is a Recognized School and earned a Great Schools rating of 9 out of 10.
Weekends can find many teens looking for something to do, a place to go, a place hopefully to stay out of trouble:
- Best Teen Hangout: Coffee Oasis, 4650 NASA Rd One, Seabrook, Tx. 77586, 281-532-1439. This place has a great venue for teenage local bands and gives them a platform to perform. The place fills up and even spills out into the parking lot on weekend nights to listen to local music. A very popular place for teens to hang out and listen to music in a safe environment. During the week Coffee Oasis also has an Open Mic night for poerty and other readings.
There is a neighborhood I had never truly known about until I recently explored one day at the end of Todville Road in Seabrook:
- Best Eclectic Hidden Neighborhood: El Jardin, Seabrook, Texas. Follow Todville Road away from Hwy 146 in Seabrook, go north until you come to El Jardin, turn right and drive through the neighborhood until you arrive at homes along the water and a small quaint beach. All different types of architechture to be seen and a variety of colors and styles. This place is quite an interesting hidden gem with a nice beach.
I know this place is popular all over the country but some of these places are better than others. This is one place where you get great sports viewing and great food in a perfect location and appealing atmosphere:
- Best Sports Bar and Restaurant: Hooters, 1818 NASA Rd One, Seabrook, Tx. 77586, 281-474-9364, not the one on I-45, which is also good but the Seabrook location is the “best.” Buffalo Snow Crab Legs, Buffalo Tenders, and of course wings and drums all covered in Hooters special wing sauce with a wide variety of “heat” levels. Plenty of huge Big Screen Televisions, viewable from every seat in the place. Nice comfortable open atmosphere with friendly and smiling waitresses.
I like to sometimes go out and play golf. I don’t play as much as I would like but the best thing about playing golf is the natural scenery of the outdoors. When I really truly enjoy the scenery while playing I go to:
- Best Scenic Golf Course: Timber Creek Golf Club, 4554 FM 2351, Fiendswood, Tx. 77546, 281-993-1140. 27 holes on 316 wooded acres, Timber Creek even smells like a clean stretch of beautiful forest. This course is also very challenging with all the huge trees along each fairway and plenty of water. Thirteen bridges cross over Clear Creek which winds and twists its way all through the golf course. My favorite experience was playing out 9 holes one afternoon when two large chicken-sized Pileated Woodpeckers flew across the fairway overhead in the shadows of the tall pine trees.
I play too many sports and every few years or so I tend to acquire an injury that tape and bandaids and ice doesn’t mend. During those times I go to see one man:
- Best Doctor: Dr. Dan O’Neill MD., Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Nassau Bone and Joint Specialist, 2020 NASA Parkway, Houston, Tx. 77058, 281-333-5114. I’ve been to plenty of doctors in my time of being an athlete in all sports and even on the American Gladiators TV Show but once I disccovered Dr. O’Neill I would never have need of another Sports Physician again. He is an expert surgeon and an aggressive doctor, speeding recovery times from injuries with superior techniques and knowledge. He is also a fine man and a great person.