Last weekend, we visited this activity because although it's been around for awhile, we'd never heard of it. Pique your kids interest by telling them you're going to "burp the bayou". First head downtown and park near Preston. Last Sunday, there was no street parking when we arrived so we paid $7 to park at the Downtown Aquarium (even though we didn't attend that). Then we walked east toward the Preston Street Pedestrian Bridge that goes over the bayou. I think it's neat to see the bayou from this angle. Ahead of you, you'll see very tall silver (probably steel) sculptures that are interesting in their own right. At the base of those sculptures are red brick bases as shown in the photo to the left. It's very non-descript... on purpose. There's no signage so of course your curiosity is piqued.
"Can I push it?" Kyster asked with a big smirk. You almost feel like you're getting away with something.
Go ahead. It's funny. You push the button and then look to your right/west toward the bayou. Large bubbles arise from the bayou! You can imagine the "BURP!" sound. Of course, kids think it's hilarious and despite my pushing for good manners, even I think it's funny. If you want to see this small yet humorous part of Houston, check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYRzPx8J6n4. It's a great YouTube video. I still think you can have fun as a parent or grandparent by building this up. You can ask your kids, "Do you know how to burp a baby? Well, do you know how to burp a bayou? Do you know what a bayou is? Would you like to burp our bayou?"It's free, silly and something you can do when you have just 15 minutes of free time. If you have more time, you can enjoy the walk & bike trail along the bayou just off Preston, but I recommend journeying south of Preston. The trail north of Preston seems to get a bit sketchy with, sadly, homeless people that scared my daughter. It's a good teaching moment but I'm not sure it's one that you need to incorporate on this trip.
Until the next nap time...
