When Houston rain arrives it arrives properly, and it can go on for a day. This is where you go. The Houston Museum of Natural Science is one of the most visited museums in the country, it is a five-minute drive or one rail stop from our homes, and it can absorb an entire wet afternoon without anyone getting bored.
The Hall of Paleontology is the headline: a long, dramatic hall of dinosaur skeletons posed mid-chase, which stops children and adults equally. The gem and mineral hall is unexpectedly beautiful and much quieter. The Cockrell Butterfly Center is a three-storey glass rainforest with a waterfall and thousands of live butterflies, and is warm and humid, which on a cold wet day is exactly the point. There is also a planetarium and a giant-screen theatre if the weather really has set in.
The permanent exhibits are free on Thursday afternoons after 2pm, which is worth planning around. The butterfly centre, planetarium and special exhibitions are ticketed separately, so decide what you want before you get to the desk.
Go on a weekday if you can; weekends and school holidays are busy. Allow three hours. The Museum of Fine Arts and the Children’s Museum are both within a short walk if the rain stops.
