Galveston, oh Galveston!

Sometime you just have to take a break and head to the beach to get over a case of uninspired.

Not head east, to go the East Coast Shores, or head west, to go to a West Coast Beach.

Nope, for us, when we want to go to the beach, we head south.
That's what Bernie and I did Sunday afternoon.
We hopped in the car and headed a hour south of Kingwood, to Galveston Island, to visit the gulf shore.

"The Beach" around here means Galveston. We left around noon, and had lunch on what is called "The Strand," the main drag along the beach front.

A shrimp po'boy sandwich, and crab stuffing...how Gulf Coast can you get?

I'd never had crab stuffing before. It was good, but I'm not rushing to find a recipe.

After our nosh we drove west, along the beach. You can not imagine how odd it is for me, the girl who grew up three blocks from the Pacific Ocean, to say we drove west ALONG the beach.

But we did.

Along the way we rubbernecked the local beach houses.

Loved that screened in second floor porch.

If that was my house, I would be sleeping out there at night, listening to the sound of the gentle shore break.

I decided if I ever get a beach house on the Gulf, I think I'd like it to be this shade of blue.

I want all the white gingerbread trim and double stair case leading to the front door too.

I'd settle for this one though.

Bernie crossed the street and headed down the path to the beach to an area known as "Pirate's Beach."

The breeze was warm (not hot as it often is at the gulf beaches), and strong enough to whip up a little surf.

And my hair too....

What a pretty beach. There were just a few people, and horse hoof prints in the sand.

We asked on gentleman who was picking up flotsom and jetsome if he would snap our pictures.

Ah yes...our first date was at the beach, and we've had many many happy days at California beaches, Hawaiian Beaches, and Cayman Island Beaches.

It had been a couple of years since we visited our "local" beaches here in Texas.

I never can resist picking up a few shells when I am at a beach. Now I am happy to just take a picture and leave them behind. Thank goodness for that; otherwise we'd be up to our necks in seashells!

The day seemed to have a blue theme. These flowers bloom in clusters, and are the loveliest shade of sky blue.

Pampas grass always looks nice waving in the breeze around beach areas.

How cute is this for a mail box at the beach?

This house had everything I would want.
The double staircase, gingerbread, cute mail box...

And a wave shaped picket fence. How clever!

Not all beach front property is quite so adorable. Some are just boxes on stilts (stilts so when the hurricanes storm surges come through, the houses don't get washed away.)

Some look like someone put a temporary building or tractor trailer on stilts.
Hey, what the heck, once you are inside the house, you have the same view as the people in the fancy houses!

Texas coastal real estate is the most undervalued coastal real estate in America. A house ON the beach could be bought for $500,000. Lots go for $255,000. Amazing. Now granted, they may be blown away at anytime, but mostly, you just build with that in mind, and plan to rebuild regularly.

(Oh goodie! Imagine getting new EVERYTHING every ten years or so!)

One of the reasons that coastal property costs so little is because of the Gulf's water color. Affectionately known as "The Gulf of Yoohoo" after the chocolate drink, the water has a brown tinge, due to the red soil sediment that drains from the inland areas into the water.

The water is quite warm, often warmer than body skin temperature, in the low 90's. The depth is knee to thigh deep for a good quarter mile out.

And of course it is a warm humid area. No cool off shore breezes in the summertime for sure.

San Luis Pass beach was inviting. Hey there beach boy!

Galveston is also home of an awful lot of birds. Bird watchers regularly descend on the area to count birds and track migrations. This little guy was one of about five types of shore birds that I observed just in front of where we sat.

The road to the beach was bisected with a stream of fresh water. (I tasted, yeah, I know, I'm nuts...) This really puzzled me as the shallow water was flowing rapidly, and running parallel to the coast. Local borns: (this means you Kate and Marie...) any insight on this phenomenon?

One thing that I really like are the road side Historical Markers. I totally missed this shot, but the FYI that was interesting was the fact that slaves settled one of the beach in the area in 1816, and had a lace trade going to support themselves.

Seems like I am getting a theme going here, visiting the historic centers of lace makers of the world.

The view as we drove along, heading back to the city of Galveston. Love all the colors of the beach houses!

Back on the strand we got to watch some long boarders trying to surf the wind chop.
At least they got up!

The sea wall. I still marvel at the sea wall. In 1900, Galveston was the world largest sea port. A massive hurricane came ashore that year, killing 6,000 people in less than one day. 10,000 became homeless.

It was, and still is, the most deadly disaster in United States history.

It was simply horrific; the people of the world sent aid and sympathy.

The people of Galveston took all the wreakage and then added excavated sand pumped to the beach area, raising the City of Galveston up by 7 feet. The WHOLE city. The wall is designed not to withstand the winds of a hurricane, but rather the more dangerous storm surge.

Galveston survived as a city, but never recovered as a major port.

Recommended reading on the event: a book called Isaac's Storm. Facinating.

The guy who played Sam in the movie "The Lord of the Rings" owns the film rights to the book. It would make one doozie of a film. I hope he finds time and funding one day to make it happen.

All calm on this day.

Surf's up, sorta.

From the Strand we headed into the historic down town area. Cruise ships leave from nearby, so there are now all kinds of tourist oriented businesses.

It is kind of weird, as some places try for "Hawaii" themes, others go for Caribbean themes, then there is Texas themes, and New Orleans themes. Talk about an identity crisis!

I noticed a lot more of "Haint" blue being used in the area. That is the color that Caribbean Islander used to paint around their doorways and windows, believing that spirits or "haints" (as in haunted) were repelled by the color. It is a fun color, especially with raspberry. I just recently read an article about the color. Just interesting to know why it is in the area.

Another older building, with palm trees. I'm suspicious about palm trees. Were they really native to the area?

I know Southern California palms are all alien, and are dying off. The City of Los Angeles is debating what to do about replacing them.

Guess if they aren't local here, the same discussion will eventually be held.

Meanwhile, the tourist just LOVE seeing palm trees!

There are rows and rows of Victorian gingerbread type houses in Galveston; they have a feeling that mixes the Painted Ladies of San Francisco, and the Southern styles of New Orleans.

Some are in terrible condition, but little by little they are being snapped up and restored to their original splendor.

Galveston: A southern city, with a wild beach party alter ego, with poverty and wealth, history, and no zoning, a beach town that faces south. Tropical, hot, it's almost New Orleans, but not.

I never feel like I quite get Galveston.

Someday I'm going to go down to Galveston and spend two days taking pictures until I finally understand this curious place.

But for now, we had a wonderful day.

We got home and I made grilled blue cheese and pear on raisin bread sandwiches which I served with white Pinot Noir wine.

It was quite a tasty combination.

Not a bad way to end a day at the shore.

Thanks for reading along and I hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did.