This page will likely be boring to anyone but those of us who were on the trip. It is here mainly to refresh our memories of the trip to Galveston Island. You're welcome to read it, however.

Sunday, October 6

We left for Galveston at about six after a slight delay while we figured out how to get my too-big bag in the back of Chris’s car. We stopped at 7-Eleven for coffee. First things first! The sky didn’t get light for over an hour.

It got really foggy when we got to the Arbuckle mountains in southern Oklahoma. By the time we were through them it was clear. The sun was up before we got to the Texas-Oklahoma line. Sunday is the perfect day to travel because there was very little traffic. That will be especially important when we go through Dallas and Houston.

After we crossed into Texas we played the cowboy songs from our trip to Wyoming. We stopped soon after I-35 split toward Dallas to use the facilities, and I got another coffee.

We had a scare when Chris’s phone wouldn’t come on, so we plugged it up, hoping that it was just out of juice, even though she had it plugged up last night. That phone was her only camera for the week. Thank goodness, it was just out of juice.

We were nervous going through Dallas because we were remembering the dangerous interchange that used to be. It turned out that they had revamped the roads and it was a lot better, although it was elevated. And we got on 45 to Houston little problem.

We stopped at Fairfield’s Cooper Farms because we saw signs for peaches and thought that their peaches would be good, and we could eat them on our ricotta pancakes when we made them. The peaches we sampled, however, were not flavorful at all, so we didn’t get any. Chris did get two jars of sweet fire relish to take home with her. We stopped to photograph a pink flower we kept seeing, sometimes whole hillsides full of them. Turns out it was a wild morning glory. Chris keyed in the address of our house in Galveston—22210 Kennedy Drive.

We decided to eat our lunch in Huntsville. A Chili’s was right off the highway, so we stopped there, and had a nice lunch. The parking lot was full, but we didn’t have to wait at all, either for a table or to order. While we were at the exit, we got gas and went to the bathroom. We were on our way again by 1:30. We estimate we will get there by just about check-in time.

The closer we got to Houston, we began to see palm trees. We were not looking forward to driving through Houston, and although the traffic was surprisingly heavy for a Sunday, it wasn’t too terrible.

The Divine Miss G (Chris’s GPS) estimated we will be in Galveston a little after 4 O’Clock. We arrived in Galveston and drove to our house, which we love. It’s great having the gulf be our view from the back deck. After we got out bags inside and stuff put away, Kathy and I walked along the beach. Chris was too worn out. Just climbing the 21 steps up to the door wears you out, and of course, we had everything to bring up. Kathy and my bedrooms are up a spiral staircase so we are going to get some good exercise.

We went in search of a grocery store and the first two we found were no more than convenience stores with really high prices. We bought just enough for tonight’s supper and hope to find a regular grocery store in town tomorrow. We made tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for supper. They were delicious. Our host left us a welcome note and a bottle of chardonnay wine, which Kathy likes but Chris and I don’t. So Kathy will be imbibing alone. We sat out on the deck after supper in the dark and listened to the surf and feeling the cool breeze. It is wonderful.

Monday, October 7

I was up before dawn and Kathy and Chris were up soon after. We had coffee on the deck and took pictures of the sunrise. Then we walked along the beach and took more pictures. It was great.

After we got back to the house, Chris straightened out our issues with the host, telephone service, and our door lock. Those were taken care of and we took out for the northeastern part of the island by 11:30.

I remembered loving pier 19 from my only other time in Galveston, so we looked for it, finding 21 first. The tall ship, Elissa, was docked there, but not scheduled to go anywhere any time while we are going to be there. We decided to go on their dolphin tour, mainly so we could get far enough away from Elissa to get some decent photos of her. It wasn’t time for them to start the tour, so we walked over to pier 19 and took photos of the pelicans and sea gulls and shrimp boats. The crab shack I remembered was gone, and a new restaurant was in it’s place, plus it wasn’t nearly as scenic as it was seven years ago because there was a bunch of oil derricks or other junk mucking up the view.

We barely got back to pier 21 when the dolphin tour was taking off, but we made it just in time. We saw dolphins and I actually got a video that shows three or four of them breaking water, but they aren’t great. You have to really look carefully. We saw diving pelicans too, which were fun. After the tour we went to a Wendy’s to get something to drink and talk about where we were going next.

Kathy found the tourist center on the Internet, and so we went there and got some literature. With their map in hand, we drove around and saw a bunch of tree sculptures made from trees that were lost in a hurricane. Artists sculpted them into different subjects instead of letting them be destroyed. I like the houses more than the sculptures, really, but Kathy really liked them. We plan to have a walking tour on one day of our stay.

We went to a big Krogers in the northeastern part of the island on our way back to the house and got groceries for a couple days at least. It began to sprinkle as we left the grocery store. We no sooner got back in the house to spend the rest of the day, than it rained pretty good for only about 20 minutes or so. We made spoon bread and a nice salad for our supper and after we cleaned up the kitchen we sat out on the deck in the dark and listened to the surf.

The mosquitos finally chased us in the house so we looked at photos and backed them up to the laptop. Chris and Kathy played word Chums, or otherwise occupied their time with their devices. All in all, it was a lovely day.

Tuesday, October 8

I got up about 5:30 and made coffee and caught up my journal while I waited for the sunrise. There wasn’t much color this morning, however.

We walked along the beach, and took way too many movies. Chris made her grape salad so we’ll have something to snack on if we’re hungry, which isn’t likely. At nearly ten, we finally got away from the house and headed down town.

We toured part of the historic district while Kathy and I walked, and Chris followed along in the car. Finally, we all got in the car and looked for interesting larger mansions to take shots of. We found a few.

Around eleven or so we went to Pier 19 and Katie’s Seafood House and had a relaxed and huge meal of shrimp and fish overlooking the shrimp boats coming and going. We took oodles of photos of pelicans and cormorants. After lunch, which took a really long time, we walked around the pier a bit and took still more shots of pelicans.

We drove to the nearby Strand district and walked around the area a bit. We may go back. I think we were all stuffed from lunch and just not very energetic.

We intended to go by the state park on our way home, but they wanted ten dollars a person, which we thought was a bit high for not much of a park. We decided to go on back to our house and rest, and look at our pictures with a cup of coffee, etc.

We lazed around the house for quite a while. Chris actually took a nap. After we had recovered from the big lunch and the activity, we decided to see if we could find a place to go back to—to see a sunset, since our house faces northeast, and we only see the sunrise. We did find a place at the end of Indian Road almost to the bay side of the island, and only 7 minutes away. We found a pond between two houses that looked like it would be right.

We went back to the house, and did the prep work for our Ricotta pancakes, then went back when it was just about time for the sun to set. We got some good shots with the reflections in the pond.

When we got back to the house, it didn’t take long at all to finish the pancakes and we really enjoyed them. We had both blueberries and strawberries, plus whipped cream to eat on them. Wonderful!

After dinner it was really dark, so we stayed inside instead of sitting out with the mosquitoes in the dark.

Wednesday, October 9

I was up at 5:30 again before anyone else. We had a gorgeous sunrise this morning. I almost missed the best of it because I thought it was over and went in to take a shower. Chris and Kathy kept taking pictures so I got the ones I missed. It was beautiful when I came out, so I didn’t really miss the best of it.

I got a nasty blister on my right food from walking in my clogs on the beach yesterday. I put a Bandaid on it, but I may be limping on the beach from now on. Can’t let a blister stop me, however.

We walked quite a while along the beach. Chris picked up shells (there are not that many shells) And of course, we all took pictures of the birds and the surf. We got back to the house a little before ten and charged up our phones (cameras) for the day.

We drove to the ferry crossing to Boliver Island, and waited about twenty minutes to board. We got out of the car when we were on the ferry, and went to the front of the boat to look for dolphins. We actually saw several of them again. It was exciting. I did get one movie with five dorsal fins breaking water. Only the last one was really good. If you look quick, you can see its eye. After we got on Boliver, there was nothing to do, really. We took a picture of their lighthouse, and stopped at Jose’s Cantina. We were just going to get something to drink, but when they brought chips and salsa, we felt duty-bound to order something more. We got some nachos and guacamole. It was about noon.

We saw dolphins again on the way back to Galveston on the ferry.

From there we went to the Strand district again, and Chris sat on a bench for over an hour while Kathy and I walked the Strand and went in a few shops. I bought a hat and we got some ice tea. I called Warren to see if he got my picture of the sunrise I sent him this morning. He had.

We went by Kroger on our way back to the house to get stuff for our Jambalaya tomorrow night. We got everything but the shrimp. We made our spaghetti sauce and cut up stuff for our salad before we went to see the sunset on Indian Beach Drive. It was even more spectacular tonight.

When we got back to the house, we had dinner and then edited photos, played games, and such on our devices.

Thursday, October 10

I slept a little later this morning, and got up at 6:30. The sky was already getting some color in the east and it was tremendously windy. Kathy and Chris were up soon after, and we watched the sunrise on the deck. We really love our house and being able to get up and just walk out the back door.

We walked the other way on the beach this morning, taking videos and photos. With so much wind, the waves were really dramatic.

After our walk, we rested up a bit and looked at the shots we took.

We took out the other way to see what was at the end of the island, and drove all the way to where it connected to the mainland.

There was a toll bridge that had a sand bar underneath it where we saw cars and people fishing, so we took the road down to it, and had to cross some water over the way to the sandbar. If we had to do it over again, we may not have tried it, because it was deeper than we imagined. But we made it across and then back again.

We got back to the house around two and started our jambalaya. We wanted to let it set so the flavors would mingle. We made a whole pot, and will have way more than we need for one meal, so I hope we’ll eat it twice.

We charged up our phones and sat around afterwards.

At about three, we went to the seafood market and bought our shrimp—about a pound and a half. We cooked our rice when we got home and put the shrimp in the jambalaya. We ate our supper about 4:45 PM. It was yummy, and we have so much leftover that we’ll have to have it again tomorrow.

When I called Warren, he said Rosie has been sick all day. I do wish she would not worry so much when I’m gone. She gets sick a lot anyway, and not having me there only makes it worse for her—and Warren too.

The sunset tonight was not so great. Too many clouds, but we met the lady who lived in one of the houses where we took the pictures from. She invited us up to see the sunset from her balcony but we declined. It felt odd enough to park outside her house three nights in a row.

Friday, October 11

I was up a little after six, and didn’t sleep very well last night—for thinking about all the food we still have to eat and only one day left. It is supposed to rain today part of the time, so we may spend most of the day at the house, anyway, but we spent an awful lot of money for food, and will not be able to eat it all, by any means.

After we watched the sun come up and dressed, we drove back southwest to a board walk on San Luis Island that Chris remembers seeing out into the marsh land. It was a long way from where she thought it was, and it turned out it was private property. However, we were given permission by a guy who was there to take a walk out on it. It was great! We could see a long way out and there were lots of gulls and some other water birds. We got some great shots on the board walk, and were so glad we didn't know it was private property or we would not have gone. It was so different than Galveston Island, and the clouds were great. Towering clouds and rain in the distance.

It rained on us coming back to the house.

I made corn muffins and we had more jambalaya for lunch today. We liked it just as well, maybe even better the yesterday.

We sat around for quite a while inside because it was cold and windy outside, and quite unpleasant.

We decided we were squandering our vacation, so we drove the Seawall Drive and took pictures of houses mostly, then went to Kroger on our way home and got stuff for our apples dessert, a tradition while we are on vacation.

We had a salad and our apple dessert for supper.

We started packing so we could get away early tomorrow morning, and played Word chums until bedtime.

Saturday, October 12

We were up early about five and packed the car, and got away around six. Kathy and Chris didn’t sleep well because of the howling wind and the house shifting. It didn’t bother me at all, and I was even upstairs.

Going through Dallas was a challenge. I-45 had a detour and at some point we must have missed one of the detour signs and we ended up in the poorest part of Dallas. It took an extra hour for us to get through the City.

We ate lunch at a Chili’s in Denton, Texas, and got home about five. I pitched in and made corn muffins and we were eating the leftover Jambalaya by 6. Kathy and Chris left about 7. Chris was dead tired from driving all day and no sleep the night before. I stayed up and cropped pictures.

Kathy flew home the next morning. It had been another great sister trip.