Since last winter went so swimmingly, let's try it again! TFS has very graciously opened her home in the west San Fernando Valley to me again. This time her daughter AS (and dog and cat) are there too. Two women + two dogs + two cats = not my usual solitary winter again. Huzzah! Place name links like Los Angeles, CA go to Wikipedia. Place name links like Los Angeles use a local tourism or government website.
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National Museum of Funeral History |
| 2014.04.13 |
Galveston |
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TFS was missing the ocean. While the Gulf of Mexico isn't exactly "the ocean," it's connected to the Atlantic and as close as we're going to get. Rather than stay in Houston, we decided to try Galveston, TX for the ocean(-ic) experience. Galveston is a port of departure for several cruise-ship lines, and a major tourist destination in the region, so the place had an oceanside tourist feel like Carolina Beach from last year.
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our route was | |
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clock-wise | |
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Galveston is a long thin island. It was pretty easy to cruise down Broadway Avenue to downtown, then along the Seawall Boulevard to the northeast end of the island and back southwest to get to Houston. |
| A few of the stately historic homes along Broadway Avenue. |
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church | |
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Approaching downtown, with a cruise liner waiting in port, bigger than most buildings in the city. |
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One of two cruise ships docked for departure on Harborside Drive | |
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the view from | |
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Wharf Road to | |
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Pelican Island | |
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The Galveston News Building, 1884 | |
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Kauffman & Runge-Stewart Building, 1882 | |
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white trumpet |
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on the beach at the far northeast end of the island looking over the shipping channel | |
| There are boats out there; you just have to look for them through the haze. | |
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| Facing east onto the Gulf. Beach-goers pay $8 a day to park on the beach here. | |
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here the beach is free | |
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Now we start turning back, down Seawall Boulevard. |
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Away from the city now, on Termini-San Luis Pass Road |
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We stopped in one of many enclaves of vacation and rental houses and went onto the beach. |
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looking north | |
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looking south | |
| Just so you know I'm not making this all up, yours truly on said beach. | |
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There was an unoccupied, unfinished home where we parked, and it had a deck. So... |
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you get to see what their view will be some day when the owners move in.
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| Back on the road again, we cross San Luis Pass on a toll bridge with a $2 fee, |
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more beach-parkers | |
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and onto the Bluewater Highway. |
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There were driving paths cut through the dunes, so people could camp or fish. I've had past experience driving on the beach, so was cautious about trying it again. Here it was enough just to pose our faithful ride. |
TFS shots are
the big ones | |
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However, at another beach entrance I backed out to yield to an exiting vehicle, and that driver spontaneously informed me that there was a hard-packed road along the beach, and it would make for a trouble-free drive, so here's another run at driving on a beach.
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Trouble-free! The sand felt a little greasy under the wheels, but it was packed enough that a steady pace, on a suspension and set of tires only a few months old, was effortless. Nonetheless, the point was proved, no sense tempting fate further, and we had some ground to cover and another stop to make in Houston.
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Time to leave the island and turn inland, over a long bridge over Oyster Creek and its wetlands. |
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| A short stop at this bait and tackle place while TFS fished her phone out from the floor of the car. | |
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| Now just driving to and through Houston. |
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Ocean fix had, we were on our way to other-worldly pursuits, which you'll have to turn the page to see. |
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< Previous
Houston |
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Start
........................................ |
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Next >
National Museum of Funeral History |
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