2024-03-13 Rosenberg Library and Galveston County Museum

We made a short trip to the Rosenberg Museum. While interesting it was mostly a picture gallery of the 1900 hurricane devastation which made it difficult to photoshoot for the blog.

The most interesting thing was the diary of a young girl about her experiences during the storm and after. She was quite young but an excellent writer. they had the original shown but they also had it typed out which made it much easier to read.

there was also a beautiful stained glass window.

Our next stop was the Galveston County Museum. It was really hard to find. We went round and round using several different phone directions but finally found the entrance. This was in the courtyard after we finally found it.

Mardi Gras meets Galveston.

Galveston had many different faces over the years. It was the biggest port of entry for immigrants at one time. During prohibition, it was a wild place with many illegal activities going on.

This museum had a bit of everything including war memorabilia.

And of course, it has been affected negatively by hurricanes many times but the worst was in 1900. Over 5000 were lost on the island.

Homes were reduced to kindling.

Ships have always been a big part of this coastal city.

Women's History month is almost over but hear is just one more contribution made by women.

 Lots of different topics covered in this museum. It's a good way to spend a less than perfect day and it's free.

202403-12 Galveston TX Trash Sculptures

 Galveston has taken a unique approach to trash that washes up on the beach. they have ongoing art exhibits which are replaced on a periodic basis. We initially found out about these sculptures when we visited the park downtown.

This is where you will find the Great white shark sculpture.

Other sculptures are located around town so you just have to look up the addresses and track down.

Some were kind of hard to find but it was an interesting hunt.

2024-03-11 Touring Galveston TX

There is a lot to see in Galveston even if you have been there before. This mural greets everyone in the downtown park.

The buildings are interesting and so is the random artwork.

La Kings Confectionary is a big draw for tourists. Yes, we are tourists.

One whole side of the store is composed of candy displays.

On the other side, there is a huge ice cream counter. There was a massive line that an older gentleman managed with precision. There were about 6 people behind the counter to wait on customers. He moved people along the counter assigning them a person to wait on them so no one got to dilly dally making choices while everyone waited behind them.

Elaine and I met Diane for lunch at the Star Drugstore. 

In 1886, the Scanlons, a prominent real estate family in Galveston, purchased land and built two buildings known as the Levy Building and the Star Drug Store. The Scanlons hired one of Galveston's most renown architects, Nicholas Clayton, to design the buildings. He created attaching facades with asymmetrical window groupings consisting of arches and elaborate decor.

The original structure of the Star Drug Store was wood; this changed when Charles J. Michaelis, a local druggist, bought the building in 1906. Michaelis hired a contractor named J.W. Zempter, who without compromising Clayton's design, converted the building to brick. This fifteen thousand dollar renovation was completed in 1909. There have been several owners since then and extensive damage from the 2008 hurricane. It is no longer a pharmacy but serves food and sells many items.

One of the downtown streets has this structure at the entrance.

You can find artwork all over Galveston.

It's not easy to see the boats in the harbor because it is so crowded  for parking.

We drove out to Seawolf Park but you have to pay to go to the Naval Museum even if you just want to see the ships from your car and we didn't have time. I was able to take this from the road in.

Sometimes you see very interesting things just driving along. These great sculptures were out in front of the Doc Holliday Roadhouse restaurant.

They look like wood but are metal.

We also saw the Oscar Meyer Weinmobile in front of a hotel.

It turns out that one of our group had dreams of being a weinermobile driver when she retired. It turns out they only want young college age drivers. We grabbed someone who was pulling into the parking lot to take our picture. Next thing we knew, people were pulling in and lining up to get a picture taken themselves.

 

2024-03-09 Bishop's Palace, Galveston TX

The house now known as the Bishop's Palace was built from 1887 to 1892 for Colonel Walter Gresham and his wife Josephine and their nine children. Gresham was an attorney and entrepreneur. He came to Galveston from Virginia following his service in the Civil War. He was a founder of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad and worked to bring about the merger of the Santa Fe with the Atchison and Topeka Railroad. He also served in the Texas Legislature.

The house itself was designed by Nicholas Clayton.  An oversized house built on a small lot makes it unique among similar houses of its period and architectural style.

The house itself is beautiful and definitely worth seeing. However, some advice for visitors. You can book a private guided tour or you can tour it on your own. They have handheld devices which have information on each numbered site in the house.  My SIL and I were told that since we came together, we would have to share a device. Insist on a device for each person that paid for a ticket. They had plenty of devices on hand. If they run short, they should wait until others finish the tour and turn in the device as it would be too crowded to enjoy the tour with several people sharing all the available devices.  Second. if there is a guided tour going on, wait until they are done. We were behind a guided tour as were several others. We tried to go in the opposite direction in order to not interfere with the tour. The guide was way less considerate. His spiel was very loud. The sound on our shared device was so low that you could only hear it when it was completely quiet. The two of us along with several other people were off in a different room trying to hear the descriptions on the device. The guide walked in, walked right up behind us and started talking extremely loudly so it was impossible for us to hear anything. It was completely rude on his part. In hindsight, we should all have just tagged along on his private tour.

So, don't miss a chance to see this fantastic house but don't allow your experience to be ruined by a loud guide and not having a device for each paid ticket.

The painted ceilings and woodwork in the house were amazing.

The chandeliers and fireplaces were so beautiful. There were also a number of paintings done by Mrs. Gresham. She was very talented.

The stained glass around the circular staircase lit the entire area even though it was not that sunny out. Notice the small circular area above the heads of the people. Mr Gresham apparently liked to stand there and address his family down below.

Many of the windows opening out onto the balconies were made to open so you could walk out onto the balcony like it was a door. As I said, very worthwhile to see this amazing place but ensure that you can actually enjoy the self-guided tour.

 

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Saturday was a very busy day. Many of us gathered at 10:00AM for a meeting about a possible rolling rally but, due to a misunderstanding, the presenter was not available. Some of the group gathered to play games while others just got together to visit and some went to sight-see around the island. After lunch, one of the hostesses set up a sand dollar painting project. She went all out with lots of acrylic paint sets and a variety of paint brushes. And, her collection of shells, let's just say she has quite a collection. I introduced Carolyn to rock painting while we were in Rockport so she was all set to give this a try.

Marlene watched the rock painting at the other rally so she was ready to give this a try too. Sand dollars have a natural design which some of us in a lot of different ways.

Some of the ladies used sand along with the sand dollars and other shells to create something very different.

One of the women turned her sand dollar into a very unique pumpkin. Check out the lady in the white hat.

In between the inside fun and the rain, I managed to get the dogs out for short walks. We were going to have an "Open House" for members but it was cancelled due to rain. You don't exactly want a lot of people walking into your rig in the rain. During one dry period, one of our group members volunteered to show us her "new to her" Casita. It was really cute but inside and out. She really turned it into her own little castle.

I have been to Jamaica Beach before and remembered a very large tortoise in a pen near the miniature golf course. Well, I found the tortoise and he has moved up in the world. He has a very nice area with lots of space and varied terrain along with a house.

The miniature golf course is popular when it isn't raining. Did I mention they have two hot tubs.....one is in a building and is as large as a small swimming pool.  They also have a Lazy River which due to weather, we didn't even get to see up close due to rain.

Saturday night we had a great group dinner with the hostesses providing pulled pork and buns as well as some potatoes and everyone else bringing either a side dish or dessert. Needless to say, it was quite a feast.  Sorry, I really fell down on the job as far as pictures go.  We also played Bingo and the hostesses provided some nice prizes. We even had a couple rounds of dog Bingo where the cards had pictures of different dog breeds. I have to admit that I had never even heard of some of them. Lori did a great job of pronouncing some of the unique breeds.

On Sunday morning, the hostesses provided a "hitchup" breakfast of scrambled eggs, biscuits, and cinnamon buns. Some of the group left Sunday morning.  The rest of us played games Rummikub was very popular. Others worked on jigsaw puzzles. Sunday night the remainder of the group went to Nate's West End Bar/Grill for dinner. There were about 33 of us there. The was good and the waitress did a great job of taking care of all of us.

One would think with a picture like this on Sunday night that Monday would be a great day.....not so. It was pouring with rain.

 

The rally was great in spite of the weather. Unfortunately, I had a little incident when leaving in the pouring rain. Someone parked where they didn't belong and I was watching out for their car so closely that I missed the fact that a concrete barrel was too close to my 5th wheel as I rounded the corner......way too close. I was driving so it was my fault that my pretty RV has a big boo-boo which will have to be fixed.  Interesting enough, the people with the car parked where it didn't belong flew out of the RV where they were visiting, and raced off in their car. I also have to thank my fellow Texas Ramblin' Roses who came out in the pouring rain to help me get unhung.  Not one of the other RVers came out......even those in the trailer where the wrongly parked car was visiting. I also heard that another RVer had a run in with the concrete later that day and did a huge amount of damage to their RV.  I was very upset that I messed up my RV but stuff happens.