Hermann Park

Last summer, I lived in Houston for ten weeks. I was there for a summer internship, and I spent most of my days locked up in an office. Thoreau would be disappointed in me. Most of my weekends were free, and since I spent most daylight hours indoors during the week, I tried to spend as much time as possible outside on the weekends. I tried visiting several parks in and around Houston, and for the first few weeks, I struggled to find one I really liked. The city is huge, but it is so urbanized that I wanted to feel like I was escaping from the city for a few hours.

After a few weeks of searching, I found a place called Hermann Park that was exactly what I was looking for. It was not too crowded. It had a pond, plenty of secluded spaces, and a lot of trees for shade. I would guess on the average Saturday, I spent at least six hours sitting at the park jogging and reading, occasionally breaking out my laptop to finish up some work.

In the fourth largest city in the United States, it can be difficult to find much nature at all, but if you keep looking, you may find a small sliver that will help keep you sane. The people I saw enjoying the outdoors at the park, whether they were running, having a picnic, or just sitting around talking, always seemed to be happier and enjoying life more than the people I met in the concrete jungle that is downtown Houston.

There is a portion of Hermann Park called the Japanese Gardens, similar to the Japanese Gardens in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. This section of the park is my favorite place to sit and read since visitors are encouraged to be quiet and respectful when they enter the Gardens. In the Gardens are beautiful assortments of flowers, a stream, a small pond with koi fish, several benches for sitting, and small bridges. From this part of the park, you can’t hear cars driving by, people yelling by the pond, or children crying. It is total peace and quiet and a perfect place for reflection and relaxation.

Thank God I found this place, or I may have gone insane.