A waterfront night that isn't Galveston

Everybody in this part of the county drives fifty minutes to Galveston for a night on the water. You don't have to. Baytown sits on three bays and a ship channel and has quietly built a real evening around them.

Start at the Hyatt marina at dusk. Anchor & Hearth is the restaurant, and the terrace faces west over the water, which means the refineries across the channel light up while you're eating. It's the strangest beautiful view in Texas and nobody outside Baytown knows it exists. Book on a Friday.

If you'd rather sit closer to the water and further from a tablecloth: Thompson's Fish Camp, 213 Simms Road on the east bay. Boiled shrimp, cold beer, boats tying up ten feet away. Cash helps. Bayland Marina, off Business 146, is the other option — quieter, more locals, and the sunset comes straight down the bay at you.

After dinner, the Fred Hartman. Drive it once each way in the dark; the deck lights and the plants below make it the best free ride in the county. Then back to North Main for a last drink at the Dirty Daiquiri, or out to Luna's if you want a plate with it.

If it's summer and you're up early the next day: the Lynchburg Ferry's first weekend crossing is eleven, but on a weekday it's running from 4:30 in the morning. Cross at sunrise, when the channel is flat and the tankers are the only other thing moving.