We Love Houston

WE LOVE HOUSTON Sign
1816 Thompson Street, Houston

I knew about the WE LOVE HOUSTON sign before we arrived in the Bayou City having encountered the sign while doing some pre-move research. I knew that visiting the sign would be an early sightseeing adventure upon our arrival. The first time we sailed past this work of art, we were flying along the Interstate en route home from dropping off my father at the airport. We had been Houstonians for approximately 48 hours. But, we didn't realize we would see the sign on that route. By the time I dug my cell phone out of my purse, the sign was about five miles behind us. Next time, I thought.

Two weeks passed, and we didn't drive by the sign again. This past Sunday, we thought we would take the kids for a brief trip to the Houston Zoo and sign up for our membership. Driving to the zoo, we passed the sign. Again, I reached for my phone. Again, I missed the photo. We pushed on to the zoo. But, the kids were exhausted. By the time we arrived at the zoo, both kids were sound asleep. "Should we just drive around the city a bit?" Hubby asked.

"We could go see the sign," I suggested. I was determined to get that photo.

We headed back onto the Interstate and I looked up the "address" of the sign. The sign is located on private property and it is practically on the frontage road, which is a service road to the larger highway. I'd read that there was some unofficial parking located near the sign, so I was confident we could just park and snap a photo. Maybe the kids would even wake up giving us a great family portrait opportunity. We followed the GPS and took the exit for the sign. We didn't see anywhere that we could park, so Hubby encouraged me to just take the photo from the car. But, the sign was so close to the frontage road, there was no way to get the entire sign in the shot. My photo came out as "WE LOVE OUSTO." It just wasn't meant to be.

"Let's try again," said Hubby.

Back onto the Interstate, we took a different exit, and we found ourselves on the side of the road within view of the sign. There was a little space to park that would require me to off-road through some grass to get to a sidewalk directly adjacent to the road. It seemed a little dangerous, but totally worth it. So, abandoning Hubby and the still sleeping kids in the car, I headed for the sign. Even standing on the sidewalk, it wasn't an easy shot. But, I got it! Attempts at a selfie with the sign, however, were an epic fail.

As I started to walk away from the sign, I noticed another family parking and walking towards the sign, cell phones clutched close ready for their photo op. "They sure don't make it easy to get to it," I said to the dad. "No, they don't," he chuckled. I walked back to the car. As we merged back onto the frontage road, yet another family parked and and walked toward the sign.

I returned to the car and thanked Hubby. Looking at the photos, I smiled. "WE LOVE HOUSTON." I've been a Houstonian for two weeks. It seems a little early to use the "L" word. And, yet...well, sometimes you just know these things early on in a relationship.