1 day visit to Houston

My wife and I are spending our first holidays alone and decided to visit Houston this upcoming Thursday to Friday to explore.

We live in Austin so will come back again and spend more time, but we just wanted to make a sporadic trip this time around.

With that said, what are a few local things to do (we want to avoid tourist spots) that we should check out? Parks to hang out at? Places locals like to eat? Activities people like to do in the mornings?