Texas Family Vacation, Part One

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know that I recently went on a family vacation, loosely over Spring Break, to visit friends in Houston. Or, to be precise, in Katy. It’s a testament to how little research I did ahead of time that I only appreciated that important distinction in retrospect. I had always assumed that Texas was a sort of sunnier Alberta (my home province), which was not necessarily a wholly wrong assumption except when it comes to scale. EVERYTHING in Texas is bigger.

Houston, I quickly discovered, is a massive city – the 4th largest in the US, which I hadn’t realized. It takes a long time to get around, especially if you’re coming from one of the surrounding suburbs; I thought traffic in Edmonton was bad, but it is nothing compared to Houston. So I cannot truly say that I’ve visited Houston because, apart from the Zoo, a couple of stores and a Cheesecake Factory, I didn’t see much of it. We spent most of our time in Katy, where our friends live, and for the most part doing non-touristy, kid-oriented things. I did get to see a couple of dear friends (and meet a blog reader – more on that in my next post!) and enjoy some absolutely beautiful weather, so it was a vacation well spent.

So, while I am not in a position to pen an actual travel post, I have a few observations about my time in Texas:

– Houses in the suburbs are, almost without exception, massive. My husband and I joked that every street in Katy looked like the set of an “average family” sitcom – i.e. fancier than anything we’re used to seeing back home. We were very jealous of all the lovely brick construction, not to mention the not-infrequent backyard pools. Continuing the same theme, the local high schools looked to be the size of an average mall in Edmonton. You could probably fit my son’s K-9 school 2 or 3 times over in the local elementary school. There were a lot of schools around, so I can only assume that these suburbs are way bigger and more populated than it first appeared.
– H-E-B is the bomb. Pro-tip: the Grandma’s brand of hummus is amazeballs. I very seriously considered taking some on the plane back with me.
– There were far fewer ethnic restaurants than I am used to back home. As someone who loves all manner of ethnic food (Japanese, Thai, Chinese, Indian, etc.), this was disappointing. But I did discover the deliciousness that is Cracker Barrel’s hash casserole.
– Traffic in Houston is insane, and the city is heavily dependent on cars – I did not see a lot of public transit. As someone who hates driving at the best of times, I found this overwhelming.
– While shopping in general was not noticeably better than at home, the snack aisle remains the exception. Why don’t Canadians get all the amazing snacks y’all get in the US? We are talking the same brands, so it’s a question of variety – or lack thereof. Whyyyyy?
– For the most part, people dressed pretty casually, but I saw more than one Louis Vuitton bag at a playground. I definitely skewed to the casual vibe.

Since this is, technically, a style blog, I suppose that I had better talk about what I wore on vacation. But, you guys, I warn you: this is going to be hella boring. I gave up on being stylish … well, actually, pretty much all of the time, but especially on family vacations. I would love to be one of those people who can pull off the “off-duty supermodel” casual look after a 10-hour travel day, but I’m not. My look is more “frazzled mom after a 10-hour travel day”, which is factual if not particularly aspirational. I guess Instagram fame will be forever elusive.

Anyway, my only useful tip for traveling to hot climates is this: wear linen. Lots of linen. Earth-shattering, I know. Seriously, though, I have always underrated linen; it’s wrinkly and, therefore, anathema for someone who hates ironing as much as I do. I’m now the proud possessor of a steamer, but it doesn’t really matter anymore; I have embraced the wrinkle. And linen. So I wore lots of it in Houston, which was perfect.

Particularly perfect were these linen joggers from J. Crew (day 1). The coverage of a full pant (because I can’t be bothered trying to find flattering shorts, or worry about re-applying sunscreen on my pasty appendages every half an hour) without the perspiration. Genius!

The Tracy Reese sack dress is linen … ish. It feels like it, at any rate. I take it on every warm/tropical vacation because it’s such an easy outfit.

More linen pants, these ones courtesy of Vince. Also, I now know the perfect climate for this sleeveless, cotton mock turtleneck from Aritzia; too bad it’s not a climate I am likely to encounter at home very often.

My family is not particularly religious (and we observe Orthodox Easter), but I “dressed up” for Easter Sunday – mostly as an excuse to wear my Anthro swing dress. This is another dress I pack on most of my vacations because it’s easy and fun and always a compliment magnet.

These are the jeans I also wore on the plane and, oh look: more linen. My top is Elizabeth & James Textile, and it’s a fun, swingy piece. And then, on the last day, a repeat of the linen joggers with another loose, swingy top from Anthro.

I wore these slide sandals (and my Aritzia straw hat) every single day; I had packed a pair of loafers, but they were superfluous. That’s a lesson for my next vacation. In terms of packing, other than the items pictured here, I brought a sweater and jacket (for the plane), some maxi dresses/pool cover-ups I never ended up wearing, and some lounge clothes (yoga pants and a T-shirt). It was a very minimalist packing list – pat on the back, Adina – which could have been pared down further. And, still, I didn’t *technically* repeat any outfit; for a former chronic over-packer, this is tremendous progress.

Stay tuned for the second part of my Texas recap: all about my shopping adventures!