5. Houston Aquarium: Let's face it, the aquarium at the zoo is not all that great, and it kind gets a little more not great every year. While the Aquarium downtown isn't the best fish option in this part of Texas, it's got some incredible things to show you. The shark train is always a good time, taking you through a tunnel featuring huge examples of nurse sharks, sand tiger sharks, and sawfish. If you're lucky you'll get to see them fed.
The other exhibits are no slouch either, with a variety of habitats represented. They even have an electric eel, and a very shy giant Pacific octopus. Non-water animals on display include snakes, poison dart frogs, and two adorable white tigers. For $5 they'll let you feed the stingrays, and if you're hungry yourself the main dining area has the largest cylindrical fish tank in the country to keep you entertained while you eat. Outside, the Ferris wheel gives an unbeatable view of downtown.
4. The Crocodile Experience: The Crocodile Experience claims to be 'Houston's Largest Reptile Show" despite the fact that it's a good hour's drive from the city in Angleton. That's not to say that it's not worth the trip, though. Visitors will see the mighty Nile and Saltwater crocodiles, as well as smaller species, and lizards, turtles, and snakes are also part of the package. You'll get to see feeding demonstrations and observe the feared reptiles as they swim and sun themselves. Don't feel like the drive? They will bring the crocodiles to you, like they did when the Alamo Drafthouse screened the cult classic Alligator. So the next time you're in the mood to spice up the office Christmas party, think about inviting the crocodiles.
Keep an eye out for the upcoming Croctoberfest.
See also: See the Cult Classic Alligator...with Real Alligators (Not Giant Mutants)
3. Armand Bayou Nature Center If you prefer a more thrilling manner of trip, then you'll want to head down to Pasadena after dark. The Armand Bayou Center is an impressive wildlife reserve during the day, but the night festivities are extraordinary. There's the owl hike, where you'll take off through the trees searching for owls in the branches and other raptors on their evening forages. You can also take the nighttime pontoon boat tours and see the deer and raccoons along the Horsepen Bayou shores, as well as the alligators, turtles, and frogs active in the moonlit water. Daylight activities include a bison watching platform, and a chance to visit an authentic 1890s farmhouse.
2. Hana and Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center: A great option for some hands-on animal interaction is located over in the historic Henshaw House in Bellaire's Russ Pitman Park. The Hana and Arthur Ginzbarg Nature Discovery Center has a small, but interesting variety of animals that you can meet and touch, everything from bunnies and snakes to more obscure creatures such as the mysterious limbless amphibians the caecilians and the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach (The most perfectly illustrative title of anything since Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The center also features a library, several traveling exhibits, and the best part is the whole thing is absolutely free!
1. Moody Gardens: There's plenty to do in the Moody Gardens complex, but for me nothing can compare to the Aquarium Pyramid as far as a zoological day out. With four zones containing everything from sharks to seals to eels to sea turtles it's an enormous experience that tops just about every other option in and around Houston.
If you have the money to spring for it, make sure you try the penguin experience at least once. For 45 minutes you get a private encounter with a penguin, even petting is allowed depending on the mood they are in. You even go home with your own flipper-painted piece of art by your feathered friend. A word of advice though, bring a change of clothes if you do this as you will not notice how much you smell like penguin food after the session.
There's also touch tanks, a new shark program, and of course everything else that's available in the complex if you somewhere get tired of the 1.5 million gallon wonder that is the aquarium and it's more than 10,000 species. With competition this stiff, it's no wonder the zoo doesn't try very hard with its own aquarium.
OTHER PLACES AROUND TOWN Houston's Top 10 Public Lobbies (Downtown) The 10 Best Places to Just Go and Think in Houston Houston's Top 10 Tourist Attractions Houston's Top 10 Cemeteries