Keith’s Blog – July 2018
Welcome Fans, Friends, and Visitors,
Hi. Welcome to the city where we can have 100% precipitation and no rainfall. The air is damp. The heat is extreme. This is an excellent month to:
- Stay in a vehicle during city tours.
- Plan a tour that involves being in buildings such as museums and Space Center Houston (SCH).
- Go on tunnel tours inside air-conditioned environments in downtown and the Texas Medical Center (TMC).
- Go on an out-of-town tour such as to Galveston or San Antonio.
Weather in Houston
July is the hottest month of the year, but just barely ahead of August. You might want to wear a cap or hat with a bill to keep your forehead and face a little cooler. Bring sunscreen and perhaps a portable hand-held fan that can spray water on you. The monthly average high temperature is 94 degrees Fahrenheit/34 degrees Centigrade. The monthly average low temperature is 75 degrees Fahrenheit/24 degrees Centigrade, and the mean is 85 degrees Fahrenheit/29 degrees Centigrade. It is the second of three consecutive months when the high temperature is normally in the 90 degrees Fahrenheit and the third of five consecutive months when the temperature is in the 30 degrees Centigrade. The average rainfall is 4.4 inches/11.1 centimeters. It is the seventh wettest month of the year. In fact, Houston often has droughts in July due to the combination of extreme heat and a lack of rainfall. Rainfall is not dispersed evenly. Do you remember the old slogan for Morton’s Salt? “When it rains, its pours.” A month’s worth of rain may fall in only one or two days.
City Tours
Spend some time in air conditioned vehicles learning about your city. With over 600 square miles, Houston is massive. Relax and enjoy our tours. You have the option of choosing the length of the tour and how much you want to see, from 2 hour to 9 hours, from about 15 miles/24 kilometers to about 75 miles/121 kilometers.
Museum Tours
How many of you know that Houston has over 45 museums and chapels. What better time of year is there to be inside than summer in Houston? Many of these museums and chapels are FREE and small enough that you can tour them in 1 hour or less. Of course, some people might want to spend longer in some of them. You can have this tour customized to the time you want and the number of museums you want to visit. These free museums include:
- Art Car Museum
- Asia Society Texas Center – main exhibit only.
- Bayou Bend Visitors Center Museum
- Blaffer Museum
- Byzantine Fresco Chapel’s current exhibit
- Chapel of St. Basil
- Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH)
- Cy Twombly Gallery
- Dan Flavin Installation
- Dunham Bible Museum
- Houston Center for Contemporary Crafts (HCCC)
- Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC)
- Houston Public Library African American Museum
- Houston Public Library Local Heritage Museum
- Menil Collection (arguably the best free art museum in the US)
- Rothko Chapel
- Watercolor Art Society – Houston (WASH)
What a wide variety! Expand your knowledge, understanding of different cultures, and have a great time while enjoying air conditioning.
Downtown Tunnel Tours
Our downtown tunnel tours are always fan favorites. We recently, as in this week, modified them. The Wells Fargo Plaza has closed its observation decks to the public. Only Tunnel Tour C has an observation deck on a 2.5 hour tour. Per requests, we are now offering abridged 1.5 and 2.0 hour tours as well as extended 4.5-hour tunnel tours. Check them out and tell what you think.
Texas Medical Center (TMC) Tunnel, Skybridge, and Hospital Tours
These tours are available 7 days a week and in the morning, afternoon, and night. They are all enclosed with the exception that on TMC Tour B (which is the most popular of the tours going through Texas Children’s Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, and Houston Methodist Hospital) we have to step outside to cross a street for about 5 minutes. TMC A goes through the Memorial Hermann complex and has more history. TMC C goes through the world famous UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. These are generally 2.5 or 3.5 hour tours with a stop for lunch and a museum. Did you know that the TMC has museums dedicated to Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley and his colleagues? These are all fascinating places.
Galveston Tours
Visit our historic neighbor to the southeast where you can always feel the Gulf breezes. Cooler in the summer than Houston and warmer in the winter, now is a good time to visit. We offer Galveston tours from 5 to 12 hours depending on how much you want to do. Wear sunglass, a hat, and bring sunscreen. Galveston has harbor boat rides, one-half dozen museums, historic mansion homes from the 1890s to tour, great restaurants, a winery, breweries, and more. Let us customize a tour for you.
San Antonio Tours
Now is a good time to leave Houston. San Antonio has a certain mysticism and romance lacking in most US cities. Its history and culture are unique among major cities in the US. Did you know that San Antonio is the second largest city in Texas and seventh largest city in the nation? We offer long 13 to 14 hour day tours as well as overnight tours from 2 to 6 days. Austin is only 1.5 hours to the north. Great shopping and other activities can be found in San Marcos, about 1.2 hours to the north on the way towards Austin. Did you know that San Marcos has two of the largest outlet malls in all of the US? Have fun in anything you choose.
Monthly Special – Discounted by 17 to 29% Based on the Number of People
The monthly special for July is a 2.5-hour Texas Medical Center (TMC) Walking Tour B. This is the most popular of our 3 TMC walking tours. We go through Texas Children’s Hospital, St. Luke’s Hospital, and the Methodist Hospital of Houston. It also goes through a few other facilities. It includes tunnels that were filled with water during Tropical Allison on June 9, 2001 and goes through approximately 7 skybridges. It includes seeing waterfalls, an atrium, a miniature train layout, and much more that you might not expect to see in hospitals. The front of The Methodist Hospital looks like an exquisite hotel with fountains, statutes, a huge ceiling, and a grand piano. It starts in the first floor lobby of the Clinical Care Center (CCC) of Texas Children’s Hospital at 6701 Fannin Street, Houston, Texas 77030. This is off of Bates Street, Entrance #10 and the closet parking is Garage 16. From Fannin Street, one can only enter from the south.
Monthly Special Prices (along with the totals including sales tax and gratuity for 1 to 5 people):
- 1 person – $40.00. This is between a 43 to 50% discount, depending on the tour.
$40.00 + $3.30 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $43.30 Total.
- 2 people – $30.00 each. This is between a 25 to 54% discount depending on the tour.
$30.00 + $2.48 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $32.48 per person x 2 people = $64.96 Total.
- 3 or 4 people – $25.00 each. This is between a 17 to 50% discount depending on the tour.
$25.00 + $2.07 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $27.07 per person.
$27.07 per person x 3 people = $81.21 Total.
$27.07 per person x 4 people = $108.28 Total.
- 5 to 9 people – $20.00 each. This is a 20 to 43% discount depending on the tour.
$20.00 + $1.65 (Sales tax of 8.25%) = $21.65 per person. $21.65 x 5 people = $108.25.
$20.00 + $1.65 (Sales tax of 8.25%) + $3.00 (15% gratuity for parties of 6 or more people) = $24.65 per person x 6, 7, 8, or 9 people.
- 10 to 19 people – $15.00 each. This is a 25 to 40% discount depending on the tour.
Add 8.25% sales tax and for groups of 6 or more people a 15% gratuity.
These prices cannot be combined with any other offer.
A maximum of 15 people can go on the Texas Medical Center (TMC) walking tours.
Invite Your Friends
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See you on a tour.
Sincerely,
Keith Rosen
Houston Historical Tours
P. O. Box 262404
Houston, Texas 77207-2404
(713) 392-0867
(713) 643-4086 Fax
houstonhistory@aol.com
www.houstonhistoricaltours.com