Hot bargains make big fun in larger-than-life Houston

HOUSTON — In the sprawling expanse of the nation’s fourth-largest city, you don’t need a bank account as big as Houston native Beyonce’s to have a good time. There’s a lot of Texas-size fun to be had for less than $20.

Before you go, there are two things to know:

• Rent a car — it’s the only logical way to navigate a metropolitan area that’s larger than Rhode Island.

• Pack your shorts to tolerate the 90-degree-plus summer temperatures and stifling humidity.

MUSEUMS

Museum choices abound here, and it’s easy to jump from place to place in the city’s museum district, home to 15 museums within walking distance of one another.

Drop in at the Houston Museum of Natural Science — www.hmns.org after 2 p.m. Tuesdays, when admission is free. (It’s still a bargain on other days, at $6, $3.50 for children 3 to 11.)

Check out the “Lord of the Rings” exhibit (through Aug. 28), which has 650 pieces of memorabilia from the movie, including costumes worn by the trilogy’s main characters.

Before you leave, drop in at the Cockrell Butterfly Center, a three-story glass-enclosed structure that houses more than 2,000 of the world’s largest and most colorful butterflies.

Watch rambunctious children morph into living statues as they stand motionless, hoping to entice a butterfly to land on them. If you’re looking for a reprieve from the sweltering humidity, move on, because the rain-forest atmosphere inside can be just as bad.

Baseball fans will love the “Baseball as America” exhibit, featuring items from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, through Aug. 14 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (www.mfah.org). See it on a Thursday, and you can marvel for free over a plethora of memorabilia that includes a section on Lone Star State baseball greats.

Finish your day at the Children’s Museum of Houston — www.cmhouston.org — free from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays. The fun-filled spot gives youngsters plenty of chances to learn while doing, and no trip there is complete without a stop at the paint-your-own-face station on the way out.

ZOO

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