October usually marks the beginning of what I humorously call the “not-summer” season in Houston (with summer usually running from late April/early May right up until the very end of September). The first of October in 2011 was a perfect day to get out and take some pictures. And that’s exactly what a bunch of us did, as a participant of one of the Worldwide Photowalk events.

This particular walk was Saturday morning, led by Laurie Ballesteros (Flickr and photoblog). I arrived shortly before the designated start time of 8:15am. Laurie waited for a few stragglers to show up. Then, we got to hear a bit about Houston history, including a brief bio of the man for whom Westheimer Road is named and the circumstances behind its naming.

And then it was time to set out and take pictures. Most of the crowd had some kind of SLR camera; a couple had lower-end SLR-like compacts. I set out with the trusty old Nikon Coolpix L18 that I’ve had for almost 3 years now. The one I took to the Texas Renaissance Festival back in 2008. By the end of the day (I attended another event at which I took several pictures), I was nearing 7000 pictures taken on this camera.

It’s amazing what I saw when actually walking down Westheimer instead of just blazing by in a car or on a bus. I saw at least five tattoo parlors, three antique shops, restaurants I probably would never have known existed, and untold graffiti, at least some of which I can’t post on this blog.

After the walk, some of us met up at Cafe Brasil for breakfast. I had eaten breakfast already, so I just had a Dr. Pepper. A Dublin Dr. Pepper, at that (which I didn’t even know were available in Houston).

I will be renewing my Flickr Pro account before the end of the year and will post a follow-up with the pictures I took (instead of uploading some of them now). I would post at least the group photo but it appears that has not been uploaded yet (Laurie took the group photos with a film camera), so those will also have to wait until the follow-up as well.

Thanks to Laurie for organizing this event, and for everyone who came out and made it a great time.