Discover Spring Texas
Click on the icons for information on the points of interest in Spring Texas and surrounding areas of Northwest Houston.
Spring Texas on Money Magazine’s most affordable places to live
July 21st, 2010 categories: Discover Spring Texas
Listed at #5 on CNN’s Money Magazine’s list of most affordable places to live is our very own Spring Texas. The fact that our little city of Spring Texas made it on Money Magazine’s list of Top 25 most affordable places to live came as no real surprise to me. As I have known for some time that my dollar stretches a little further in Spring Texas. Plus it’s on my own list of Top 20 reasons to live in Spring Texas.
Why did Spring Texas make the list of most affordable places to live? It’s because of our low cost of housing. Unlike other parts of the U.S. that have no more land for residential development, Spring Texas still has land available. New residential developments have kept supply balanced with demand and housing prices low. See for yourself how reasonable homes are by searching Spring Texas homes for sale.
But housing is just part of the equation in determining the affordability of a city. To determine the true affordability, you need to crunch the numbers by using a cost of living calculator. Go ahead and crunch away and when you are ready to move, give us a call. We will be happy to find you a great new place to call “home”.
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Where’s the best Pizza?
July 12th, 2010 categories: Dining and Entertainment
There are numerous criteria in which you can judge pizza including its … crust, style (NY, Chicago, deep dish, brick oven), toppings (variety, quality, quantity, distribution, proportion), value, and the atmosphere its served in.
Where’s the best pizza in the Spring Texas area? In my opinion, the best all around pizza is served at Grotto’s.
Grotto’s pizza is baked in a brick oven and the result is a crisp yet soft crust. Crisp enough to have some crunch while yet soft enough that you need to fold the pizza for the first couple of bites to prevent the toppings from falling off. The toppings are evenly distributed and balanced so that one ingredient doesn’t over power the rest.
During Grotto’s Happy Hour which is Monday – Friday 3 – 7 pm the pizzas are $6 which is an excellent value for a high quality pizza. The happy hours prices are only honored in the bar area. The atmosphere is friendly and upscale. But if you are looking for a place to have a romantic, quiet dinner this is not the place. As the restaurant can get quite loud during peak dining times.
In the Spring Texas area, we have enough pizza joints both chain and local establishments to satisfy whatever your personal criteria are for the best pizza. You can find out the favorite pizza of other Spring Texas residents at Yelp.
Due to the FTC regulations requiring bloggers to disclose any freebies or payments they receive for reviewing products I include the following:
Disclosure: Grotto’s has not paid me to write this post about their pizza nor have they promised me free pizza or drinks.
Read also:
- Who has the best cheese fries?
- Where to get great oysters on the half shell
- Who has the best Mexican food in Spring Texas?
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Are people moving in or out of Spring Texas?
July 7th, 2010 categories: Discover Spring Texas
In 2008, over 10 million people moved from one county to another. Movement into a city creates demand for housing driving real estate prices up. Dramatic movement out of a city can cripple real estate markets causing housing prices to free fall which is what happened to the Detroit MI real estate market.
The interactive mapping tool from Forbes shows people movement in to and out of counties across the U.S. Unfortunately, it does not show movement on a city by city basis so we can’t view movement in and out of Spring Texas directly.
The red lines are people moving in and the black lines are people moving out of Harris County.
Note: The data is from 2008 and it comes with limitations as it only reports inter-county moves for more than 10 people.
Over the last several years, I have helped numerous people from California, Florida, and the East Coast relocate to Spring Texas so I wasn’t surprised to see people moving from those areas into Harris County.
Read also:
- Cost of living calculator – How does Spring Texas compare to where you live?
- Top 20 Reasons to live in Spring Texas
Watch:
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A tour of HEB Vintage Market
July 2nd, 2010 categories: Shopping
Discover Spring Texas shopping with a tour of HEB Vintage Market located at the intersection of HWY 249 and Louetta.
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Farms Stands in Spring Texas
June 28th, 2010 categories: Shopping
For as long as I can remember my father has had a garden. During the summer months, what we had for dinner was based on what was ready to be picked and eaten from his garden. As a kid eating fresh from the garden vegetables was not a treat and something to be enjoyed. The zucchini blossoms, zucchini, corn, and broccoli as long as you covered it with cheese was good but for the rest of the vegetables the rabbits could have them for all I cared. It’s funny how your tastes and opinions change over time.
Today, I am old enough to appreciate and enjoy the flavor of fresh from the garden vegetables and although my father still plants a garden I don’t get to enjoy its bounty. No it’s not because he won’t share what he grows. It’s because vegetables don’t ship very well from Illinois where his garden is located to Spring Texas where I live.
Although I can’t get free fresh from the garden produce, I at least live in a city that still has several farms where you can buy produce fresh from the farm. Atkinson Farm is one of those farms. Below is a video I recorded the other day at Atkinson Farm.
Atkinson Farm is one of several farms in the Spring Texas area where you can buy produce direct from the farmers. Read where to get fresh locally grown produce to learn about the other farms in the area.
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Horses take over Vintage Park
June 23rd, 2010 categories: Events and Activities
Fourteen life-size fiberglass horses have arrived at the Vintage Park shopping center (110 Vintage Park Blvd Houston Texas 77070). In the coming weeks, the horses ( ten adults and four foals) will be painted by local artists and then displayed around the Spring Texas area until the Northwest Assistance Ministries’ (NAM) annual Jeans & Jewels gala on October 16th at which time they will be auctioned off.
If you or the corporation you work for would like to sponsor or purchase a horse, you can contact NAM at 281.885.4555. You will work directly with the artist on the selection of the artwork for the house and the painted horse will be available for display at your home or business for several weeks prior to the Jeans & Jewels gala. What a great and fun way to support a local charity that does so much for the Northwest Houston area.
The Vintage Park shopping center is located at the corner of Louetta and Hwy 249.
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Fireworks
June 19th, 2010 categories: Events and Activities
There are certain times of the year that you don’t need a calendar to tell you the date. You just look around and immediately you know what time of year it is.
The other day when I was driving from my house in Spring Texas down Louetta to the Prudential Gary Greene office, I saw the signs and without a calendar I knew the Fourth of July will soon be here. What were the signs? They were big and red and rectangular and located along Louetta on just about every corner from I-45 to Hwy 249. They were fireworks stands.
The red fireworks stands show up twice a year. As Texas State law permits the sale of consumer fireworks for 24 days each year from June 24 through July 1st and December 20th through January 1st.
Spring Texas is located in unincorporated Harris County and fireworks are LEGAL in unincorporated areas of Harris County. There are some restrictions on where the fireworks can be set off such as they can’t be ignited within 600 feet of churches, schools, hospitals, asylums, or licensed child care centers.
If you are moving to Spring Texas, one thing you should know is Texans love fireworks and I do mean love fireworks. So expect to hear a lot of noise and some great local fireworks displays around the Fourth of July holiday. If you don’t like fireworks, then maybe you will at least appreciate the $30 million in extra tax revenues that is generated each year from fireworks sales in Harris County.
Enjoy your Fourth of July and if you decide to have your own fireworks display please be careful.
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Road construction
June 11th, 2010 categories: Discover Spring Texas
Have you ever driven by a massive hill of dirt and wondered what’s going on? Or have you been wondering if someone besides you believes that Kuykendahl north of FM 2920 needs to be expanded?
A good place to find the answers to your Spring Texas construction questions is at the Harris County Precinct 4 website. Click on the Roads & Bridges tab. In this section of the web site, you will find maps detailing the capital projects completed, current projects under construction, current projects under design, and proposed projects.
Under the Capital Improvements section of the website is a link to a complete listing of Capital Improvement Projects. The listing of Capital Improvement Projects identifies the project, describes the scope of the project, its stage of development, projected completion date, and the date the information was last updated.
The Harris County Precinct 4 website is an excellent resource to use to stay informed of road construction projects in the Spring Texas area.
Read also:
- How to find out what’s the traffic like in Spring Texas
- Tips on navigating the Spring Texas roads
- Smile, you’re on red light camera
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Discover Meyer Park – VIDEO
May 26th, 2010 categories: Parks and Recreation
Meyer Park is one of the many great public parks we have in Spring Texas.
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The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival
April 11th, 2010 categories: Events and Activities
It was a beautiful weekend in Spring Texas as evidenced by the large groups of people who were out enjoying the great weather by attending festivals, cooking outdoors, working in their yards, or attending open houses. Hopefully, you had a chance to attend the 5th annual Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival as it was a great way to spend a couple of hours or the entire day.
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