City: Houston, TX

Category: Parks & Recreation

Insider Pick:

Description: Nearly 125 acres of greenbelt and bayou water along Allen Parkway comprise Buffalo Bayou Park. With the park approaching downtown, Buffalo Bayou Park offers magnificent views of Houston’s skyline, as well as leisure opportunities aplenty. Many Houstonians run or walk along this greenbelt’s trails, which include a number of stretching stations. Public art decorates the park—most notably in the Buffalo Bayou Artpark, which displays public art from the community. Buffalo Bayou flows through the Buffalo Bayou Park, making it possible to canoe or kayak from one of the park’s two canoe launches to other locations on the bayou, including downtown’s Sesquicentennial Park. (One canoe launch is located on the park’s north side; the other is on the south end in Eleanor Tinsley Park.) Other highlights include the Jim Mozola Memorial Disc Golf Course on the park’s north side just west of Sabine Street and a section for dogs and their owners to play (2700 block of Allen Parkway at Studewood). There’s also a Mayan-­inspired Police Officers’ Memorial, although it’s hard to access from most parts of the park. The easiest way to reach the memorial is by parking in the lot at 2400 Memorial Dr. On the park’s south side sits Eleanor Tinsley Park, the site of the city’s annual 4th of July Freedom Over Texas fireworks show. The rest of the year, families visit Eleanor Tinsley Park to play on the playground, admire the Gus Wortham Fountain, let their dogs play, and check out the Mexican free-­tailed bat colony living under the Waugh Bridge, located at Waugh Street between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive. Unless the temperature drops below 50 or the sky is cloudy or foggy, you can see the bats emerge from the bridge at dusk. You’ll find the best bat-­gazing views on the bridge or the north bayou bank, just east of the bridge in Buffalo Bayou Park. If you want an up-­close look at where the bats live, take one of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s Bat Colony Pontoon Boat Tours. They’re typically offered on the second and fourth Friday evenings of the month. Visit buffalobayou.org or call (713) 752-0314, ext. 4, for details.