Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States, yet you don’t feel the congestion and hurried attitude you sense in other large cities. We were amazed at how nice and helpful everyone was, and how they went out of their way to make our day better. Houston is home to NASA, great museums and delicious food options.

We went to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH). They are in the process of a $450 million expansion to house their collection of 20th and 21st century paintings and design. It won’t be ready until 2020. In the meantime, you can see some of their design collections in special exhibits, as well as mixed in with the paintings. Thursdays are free admission.

The MFAH includes many small buildings. We went to three of them that each featured the work of a single artist: The (Mark) Rothko Chapel, the Cy Twombly Gallery and the Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall. All are noteworthy if you have an interest in modern art.

In the exclusive River Oaks residential area of Houston are two house museums, the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens, and the Rienzi. Bayou Bend is devoted to American furniture, ceramics and silver, and the Rienzi to European furnishings. Bayou Bend was the home of Ima Hogg. Her father, James Hogg, was the governor of Texas, but left politics and went into law in his 40s when he became a widower, left to raise Ima and her three brothers. James Hogg was one of the early investors in the Texas oil boom in 1901. He was not a rich man when he died in 1906, but his plantation would eventually produce oil that made Ima and her brothers wealthy.

Ms. Hogg had a passion for Texas and America. She spent much of her lifetime acquiring the best American paintings and furnishings. They are now displayed in period rooms throughout her house. To see the house, take the free tour with a docent; they are incredibly knowledgeable.

The Rienzi is about two miles from Bayou Bend. Formerly the home of philanthropists Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III, Rienzi was designed by prominent Houston architect John Staub in 1952. Opened to the public in 1999, Rienzi houses a substantial collection of European decorative arts, paintings, furnishings, porcelain, and miniatures. Visits to the Rienzi and its art collection are by docent-led tour only.

No visit to Houston is complete without visiting the Beer Can House. In the 1980s, after he retired, John Milkovisch woke up one day and decided to create beer can chimes. Each day, he added to the project and – 50,000 beer cans later – the entire outside of the house and fences were covered. The cans serve a functional purpose as well, providing siding and removing the need to paint.

We didn’t have time to go to NASA, visit the highly recommended museum of Funerary History, or the Antiques Center of Texas, but if you have time you should definitely add them to your list.