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.

 

2024-03-10 Galveston Drone Show

 We heard about this show while we were out and about earlier in the day. Initially, we thought we would just drive along the seawall and be able to see the show. We thought it would be like fireworks out over the bay. Not at all! Once we were actually in town, we realized we would have to drive towards the old part of town to be able to see it. We actually drove all the way down and found a place to park on a side street where we could see it. Hundreds of drones were required to put on this show. they moved from position to position to create the next exhibit. Of course, you couldn't actually hear or see the actual drones.

It was really amazing to see each scene unfold.

The pictures really don't do this huge effort justice.

Before we found our spot, we could see the many people in the little park and in the closed off street but I think we could actually see it better from where we were and we were so glad we made the effort to go back downtown for the amazing show.

The Pleasure Pier and all the rides is always well lit up at night. The are a fantastic site driving along the seawall as long as it is clear like it was this Sunday night.

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.

 

2024-03-08 Galveston Island State Park Rally

I headed towards Galveston Island on Thursday, March 8, for a unique small rally with the Texas Ramblin' Roses chapter of RVing Women. I say unique because we usually have a large group of 30 or more and there were going to be less than 10. It was also unique because it was a Wing It Rallywhich means that there was no set agenda in advance. It works great for a small rally.

I actually made my great escape on Thursday and travelled cross country with an overnight stop in Bay City at a Passport America park. Everybody needs an occasional escape. The rally didn't officially start until Monday but my SIL Elaine and I planned to be there on Friday.

The state park was recently renovated which makes it very nice. There are two sides to the park, the Beach side and the Bay side. The rally was going to be on the Bay side. I arrived and headed to side with this marker and other road sides which are for the Beach side. I checked in there and then headed back down the road towards town. The is a similar concrete maker which doesn't identify the Bay side. there is actually no sign identifying this side of the park although they have a check in office once you go down that road. Just mentioning here that finding your way in after dark is interesting without any sign or even a light to let you know where the entrance is. Elaine arrived about the same time and we got set up in our sites in the circle. I have to say in fairness that I like the bay side as it is smaller with sites in a circle. The only restroom on this side is in the tent circle up the road. It doesn't bother me since I use my RV bathroom but is somewhat inconvenient for anyone in the water/electric circle especially if the tent circle is full of boy scouts.

We headed back over to the beach side to check it out. There are way more water/electric sites over here along with quite a few yurts for rent. There is also a beach.  The day was warm but the water was cold.

It was windy also but that is probably pretty normal here.

The park has a number of hiking trails.

The weekend was pretty warm but it cooled off considerably by Monday when everyone else arrived. Teresa brought a kite with her. This is Charlene's Phoenix Cruiser not mine but we are often confused by others since we have the same full body paint colors although her RV is bigger than mine.

Just down the road from our circle was a kayak rental and launching area. Quite a few people took advantage of that although not anyone in our group. A young man was busy helping mother/daughter and grandmother/granddaughter pair of kayaks launch with everyone in the kayaks before he pushed them into the water. I know his feet and legs were freezing. Wish I could have been there to see them all get out of the kayaks, lol. Others were fishing nearby.

We had seafood several times while in Galveston but the very best seafood was provided by Charlene and skewered by Elaine before being grilled by Charlene.

We all gathered for a group picture which was graciously taken by another camper.

The park has several observation towers on the bay side. teresa and Diane trekked to each of them.

Elaine and I drove out to the parking area and took some pictures of a small pond and flock of roseate spoonbills.

They were joined by this bird as well.

 Just a few more interesting tidbits about the rally and park. I don't think any of us realized that it was spring break when we made our reservations. We lucked out in getting them as those that didn't move as fast weren't able to book. My state park account got stuck for some reason while I was making my reservation. Before I could push the final reserve button for the whole time period, someone got in there and reserved one night right in the middle of the time I needed. My fall back was to reserve the Bay site for Friday and Saturday, book Sunday night on the Beach side, and then reserve Monday through Thursday back in my original site. Since I have a motorhome, it wouldn't have been horrendous. I did notice that there was a Bay site that was not on the reservation site. I asked on the Bay side check in if there was any chance I could just move there for the one night but was told that had to be held in case someone showed up after hours without a reservation or one of booked sites didn't work. I drove over to the Beach side office where I was lucky enough to talk to the head ranger who was training a new employee. I explained the situation to him and said I would move to the Beach side if I had to but it certainly would be easier to move within the circle on the Bay side. He walked the new employee on how to unblock the unmarked site, move me to it, and then block the site I had reserved on the Beach site. He was great and a new employee had the benefit of learning what real customer was. I made the move and we headed out for the day. Of course, you guessed it. No one showed up to use my original site. I guess cancelling it was just too much trouble for them to take to leave it open for another camper. the next morning I moved back to my original site and checked in again.