If you're into Texas history...
The Battleship Texas and the monument park -while you're there, stop by the Monument Inn for some seafood and watch the ships coming up and down the ship channel. Then hop on the Lynchburg Ferry, since it's the oldest continuously running ferry in Texas. Since 1888, Harris County has provided the ferry service free of charge. That gets you right back onto I10 where you can either head east to Anahuac for the gator farm, or west back into Houston.
Jesse Jones Park - near IAH
http://www.hcp4.net/Community/Parks/Jones/About/WhatWeOffer312-acre
Harris County Precinct 4 nature preserve open daily to visitors free of charge. The park features a variety of plant and wildlife species, white sand beaches along Spring Creek, swamps and sloughs with century-old cypress trees, and a pristine floodplain located in a hardwood and pine forest. All features are accessible by over eight miles of paved, handicap-friendly pedestrian trails and several unpaved primitive trails. The Spring Creek Greenway, with over 12 miles of paved trail system along Spring Creek, is also accessible from the park's Judy Overby Bell Trail.
Jones Park hosts
five annual family-friendly festivals: Homestead Heritage Day, held the second Saturday in February, features historians and re-enactors highlighting many eras important in Texas' history;
NatureFest, held the first Saturday in March, offers speakers, exhibits, nature crafts, and activities relating to the environment;
Tricks & Treats Among the Trees, held in October;
Pioneer Day, held the second Saturday in November, showcases settler life during the early 1830s; and an
Old-Fashioned Christmas, held the first Saturday in December, brings 19th-century holiday traditions to life.
"If you're in the midst of a midlife crisis, you could buy a convertible, have an affair, or upgrade your cup size. But you'll probably be happiest if you save a dog's life." - Jen Lancaster