Wow. We just got back from Quilt Market and Festival. The overall consensus from our EQ group is that Houston (despite Hurricane Ike) is prettier than when we left it last year. Seriously.

Those old parking lots in front of the convention center have been replaced by a green area, with some large grass areas, a pond with water lilies, fountains and more.

There’s even a new café and restaurant in there. It’s fun having snacks in the “Treehouse” and staring out across the lawns watching flag football or little, giggling kids being chased around on the grass by their parents. The cool part is a lot of it is on top of an underground parking garage… so there’s still parking available. Some evenings you can listen in on concerts in the park or go to a farmer’s market. On our way to the hotel or dinner every night, we’d try to walk through the park and see if we could see the fish in the pond or catch a glimpse of the resident turtle.


Our morning walk used to be past old buildings on uneven sidewalks. Now there’s a whole shopping plaza with new restaurants, a book store, and retail shopping. The sidewalks have been widened so much you could have 8 people link arms and skip all the way to the convention center.