Thursday, 26 Jan 2012 - Galveston, TX

Oh Happy Day - I'm back in Galveston. Except for the fact that a hurricane or tornado rips through the place every 10 years, and destroys everything in it's wake, I'd live here in a minute.

We got here just before noon and stopped at the visitor centre to get an updated map of the town (I know it's a city but it just doesn't feel like one) and ended up taking a tour on the back of a golf cart which was intended to give up a better lay of the land for tomorrow and some serious photo stops. The guy who gave the tour ran us downtown to get some lunch and I had my first taste of seafood gumbo, which I really loved. I ordered the small bowl and only got through a quarter of it before I have to give up...just too much. I did manage to get through all the shrimp, oysters, and muscles that were in it though!

'Bobby' then took us on a 2-hr tour and given that he's a third-generation resident and former police officer, he had lots of good info to pass on and was more than willing to stop for pictures at any time. This city is in a constant state of renovation and reinventing itself. The last hurricane to come through, Hurricane Ike, pretty much filled every downtown building to the 4-ft level and flattened houses for miles outside Galveston proper. We were here a year after the hurricane and there were still areas along the coast with complete devastation--cars piled one on top of the other, houses flattened, etc. According to Bobby, it has all been cleaned up and one would never know a hurricane happened. I'm anxious to get out to Gilchrist, where the hurricane left one, single house standing.

Before we went on the tour, Bobby looked on expedia.com for a hotel deal and said the listed $99 hotel down in the harbour was excellent. When he drove us downtown for lunch, Wayne suggested he stop by the hotel so that he could reserve a room. "Oh you'll only get it via the internet", says Bobby, "You won't get it at the hotel itself." When Wayne went in to the hotel, I told Bobby that I'd be very surprised if he didn't get the best price. When Wayne came out, he got a kick out of telling Bobby that we were checked in, for $89!! It's a beautiful studio room, and we got a beautiful view of the sunset over the harbour.

Wayne lay down for a bit of a rest when we checked in and I headed down to the piers to take some photos. Galveston has the oldest shrimp fleet in the US and takes pride is saying that the fish you eat in any restaurant tonight, was caught by the fleet this morning. I met a couple of nice young fellows from Idaho and we talked for a long time about where we were each from. Coming back down the jetty, I met Wayne and we strolled through town and then went to Joe's Crab Shack for supper.

In the morning we'll head up the coast and take the ferry over to Gilchrist, perhaps visit the wildlife refuge there and then head back to do a street-by-street slow drive to take some photos of the most beautiful houses that have been restored back to their pre-1900 state. The historical society here is very active, and strong, and ensure that paint colour is taken back to the original and monitor renovations very closely. In the 1800's, Galveston was second only to New York to being the financial hub of the U.S. and millionaires were common here...and they built huge houses.

The sun is going to shine all week here with temperatures in the mid-high 60's...perfect.

That was our day...how was yours? Hope all is well at home. Until next time, love and hugs to all. An extra kiss for my girls (Gillian, Tori, and 'Scotty'), and my big boy Ty. xx