Houston, we have no problems. With weather like this how could we?

When the first stop on your trip is Houston and the weather is absolutely perfect - cool, dry, sunny blue skies – you know the trip is off to a really good start. Betsy, of course, grew up in Houston and I lived in the area for a year (a long time ago) and Houston is, probably, in the top five of our all-time/most-frequent, out-of-town destinations. But even with all of that history this was, hands down, the best Houston weather we can ever recall.

Of course the roof was open for the Astros-Rangers getaway day game on Thursday; a grueling, four-hour, 350-pitch, 14-walk, five-error marathon where the Astros managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

So that wasn’t so great, but we had great seats on a great day; and both of us squeezed in some quality time with Orbit, the Astros mascot.

So, overall, mostly good.

Prior to the game we made a stop for barbecue at a Texas Monthly Top 50 joint that, quite frankly, seemed a little sketchy because it was both new and shiny. The warning signs grew to sirens when we arrived and noticed that one of the day’s specials was Key Lime Cheesecake! Cheesecake? At a Texas Monthly Top 50 Barbecue joint? 

My heart sank. The earth stopped spinning.

But guess what? Screw the cheesecake. Killen's Barbecue in downtown Pearland is worthy of the TM listing. The brisket was very good but the pork ribs with a caramelized, peppery crust and the fork-tender pork belly and the fabulous three-sauce selection (yes, I said sauce and yes I said "selection") sent Killen's rocketing into our personal Top Ten, maybe Top Five, list of Texas Barbecue “Joints” (it’s not really a joint but more like, God forbid, an actual restaurant).

We are still trying to process it all but the gist is that Texas barbecue is changing, just like the state is changing; becoming ever more urban, more complex and, yes, more sophisticated. Killen's Barbecue in Pearland is a good representation of this ongoing evolution.

This is what you call "queuing up".

Yes, they serve sides. Six choices I think. That's very unusual, at least it used to be. We got the cream corn and it was good but you don't go to a barbecue joint for the sides or, for that matter, the freaking cheesecake! (No, we did not get any cheesecake!) Take special note of the three bottles of sauce. Back in the day sauce was considered a sign of weakness; that the "cue" wasn't good enough to stand on its own. That was then and now is now. Killen's offers three choices and all  of them are great; a coffee (?) flavor, a sweet molasses-based concoction and a tangy, mustard-based sauce that is very similar to the City Market in Luling. Sometimes change is good.

After trying something so new and different one day it was time for a trip down memory lane the next day. 

Betsy and her cousins spent an afternoon interviewing her uncle on videotape for family history purposes and we spent the evening quaffing beers, pounding pizzas and making future trip plans with college friend Spencer Siemens and his child-bride Karla.

 

Betsy's 88-year-old uncle, Jim Gerhardt, reminisced about his interesting life, including competing for the USA in the triple jump in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki (take note of the cool lighting on the poster on the wall that Betsy captured in this photo).

Jim's daughters/Betsy's cousins Allison and Carol quizzed their Dad.

The beer is cheap and cold at Valhalla - a quirky, laid-back watering hole deep in the heart of the live oak-studded Rice University Campus. This long-time favorite was a great place to hash out potential future trip plans with a couple of other long-time favorites (and short-timers) that we know. They're going to miss Houston.

Rice University, a beautiful, quiet, peaceful place in the middle of Houston's tumult.

We’ve had many great times in Houston (some of which we can actually remember) for many years; but this stop, this year, has to rank up there as one of the best.