Austin is beautiful. I hate that the “Keep Austin Weird” crowd has taken it over.
The Austin suburbs are still nice ... Round Rock, Georgetown, etc. Austin-proper is a fruit-basket.
Then again, Houston has its weird locations too — Sheila Jackson Lee’s district is a slum; Montrose is the gayest district in the country outside of San Francisco (full of porn shops, vagrants, and tattoo parlors).
Again, keep to the suburbs. Downtown Houston is nice enough, venture 10 ft. outside of down town, and you’ll want to be armed.
SnakeDoc