Galveston 2015

 Over Labor Day I went to the beach with my Mom, cousin, and aunt.  We do this every few years.  We love to go to Galveston Island.  I've blogged about Galveston a lot.  It's about six hours from my house.  We spent some time on the harbor near the Strand.

 My cousin loves sea life, so we took a dolphin cruise one morning...and you couldn't NOT see dolphins if your eyes were open.

 I'm sure all the shrimp boats fishing here help.

 A few years ago the island was devastated by a hurricane.  A lot of my favorite shops closed, but....I was excited to see them opening again.  In the end, some of the places are even better than before, definitely a beauty from ashes story.

 My favorite place to spend the afternoon is on the strand.  Once upon a time this was a bustling place thanks to the port, many well to do families settled and shopped here.  It's next to the cruise ports, so cute shops and fun restaurants remain.  I always hunt down cute things for the house...and an ice cream.

 Back on the sea wall they've built a pier with rides and restaurants where a hotel stood before the hurricane....but before that hotel...an amusement park.  Full circle.

 Sea gulls.  Hard to miss.

 We spent one morning at Stewart Beach.  I was stung by a man o' war here once upon a teenage years.  I now do more wading at the edge.

 We also tried out two relatively new restaurants.  Jimmy's is built on a pier over the water.  The atmosphere was fun, the big wooden seats were neat, and I watch the Baylor game and met fellow alumni.  Just a word of warning, at times the mosquitoes dig this area, so...bring your spray, but...when we were there the wind kept them away.  It was a friend who later went who told me about the bugs.  They came in with the rain b/c I found them the next day too in other spots.  We also ate at a little historic home in the middle of the island called the Mosquito Grill.  The food was excellent.  The line waiting outside can attest to their quality.  It was worth the (relatively short) wait.

We also took the ferry across to the Bolivar Peninsula.  We also got stuck in a 4 hour traffic jam....ooops.  But....I got to see the light house.  I'm a fan of light houses, windmills, and church steeples, so....at least this was that greeting us once we got off the ferry.
It was a relaxing weekend.  I've written about Galveston a few dozen times, but....I'm sure I've got a few dozen more in me before it gets old, and I love that I still get to discover new things in familiar places.