I had already made reservations in Texas for Thanksgiving before the rest of the family had changed plans to stay in Bartlesville. My niece was still going to be in Galveston so between that and the cold I headed out.  Unfortunately, the trip didn’t go quite as smooth as planned.

It rained most of the 2nd day driving.  Plus it hadn’t rained in most of Texas for almost a month. I got to Mount Enterprise, Texas and when I hit the brakes to stop then I didn’t. The wet road just caused me to skid. Don’t know what had built up on the road but there wasn’t anyway I could stop. Ended up running into another car. First accident in several years.

Now while we waited for the cops to show up and they were writing down all the accident information we witnessed another accident at the same intersection and another near miss. Guess I wasn’t the only one having problems with the road. All this caused me to get to Galveston late at night and driving through Houston rush hour traffic in the dark with the trailer wasn’t any fun either. But I did make it in one piece. Contemplated stopping and probably would/should next time. This broke the 300 rule. I was pretty stressed by the time I got everything unhooked for the day.

The RV Park I stayed at was right on the beach. (Dellanera RV Park) The night I arrived it was very windy and being on the beach there isn’t anything to block it. Between the stress from the accident and winds rocking the trailer I didn’t get much sleep that first night. The flip side of this is that the sunsets on the beach were amazing.

I ended up getting to Galveston before my niece arrived. I went to the Vistor Information center and gathered what I could on the area. Usually my first stop when I get into town so I can find out what there is to see. I hadn’t been to Galveston since I was a kid. The only thing I knew about the Island was that it used to be the main port of call for all goods coming into the United States. The hurricane of 1900 wiped that from existence.

My niece suggested I first check out the Strand. So I went down there and went shopping. I ended up buying a new nativity scene.

Beautiful old buildings with very few vacancies. The cable car has been shut down since the last hurricane but they anticipate it’ll be back running sometime in 2018. The sunsets off the beach have been fantastic.

After getting my bearings in town I took my nieces suggestion and went to the Black Pearl for some Oysters for dinner.

Fantastic place and have been there a couple of times now. One of the great Oyster stories I’ve ever heard came from my dad. We was with someone who had never tried to eat Oysters before. So the guy thought he’d cut one in half and try  it. After doing so he decided he didn’t want to try Oysters.

The next day I went down to tour Bishops Palace. The Gresham house was build in 1892. The Catholic Archdiocese bought the house and the Bishop lived there. Hence how it got the name Bishops Palace.

This was one of the few houses still standing after the 1900 Hurricane. I’m amazed that all the stained glass windows in the house are still intact after how many hurricanes have come through Galveston.

I walked down to the Pleasure Pier and shopped at the stores on the seawall.

I didn’t go ride the rides as I was limited on time. But will get to it at some point.

Did I mention the sunsets are fabulous?

The next day I went back downtown and toured the Elissa. This was an 1877 Tall Ship that somehow survived to modern day. It had been converted from sails to use a Diesel engine and was in Greece at the time the decision was made to restore it. Eventually coming back to Galveston Texas where it had at one point made a stop in its history.

I hadn’t realized that so many Jews had immigrated to the US prior to World War 1.

I then went and watched the film the Great Storm at the Pier 21 theater.

They also had a movie on the Pirate Jean Laffite. But I didn’t watch that. Maybe next time.

A city that has been around for this long and was a commercial center of the US has a lot of old architecture. Just a joy to drive around and see these old Victorian era homes.

Had dinner that night at the Spot on Seawall. Good place for a quick lower cost meal plus a drink or two.

We had Thanksgiving dinner over at a friend of my niece Candace. As per typical we had way more food than the dozen or so people that were there. I played with their kitten cat and made fudge.

Mashed Potatoes for days.

The next day I met Candace and her boyfriend for lunch at Brickhouse Tavern & Tap. I’ve eaten at one of these in Parker, Colorado so was familiar with it. We then went to the Bryant Museum.  No pictures were allowed inside. This was a orphanage and had been bought then renovated to be a western art museum. Some very cook pieces inside.We also drove around the tree sculpture tour.

We also stopped at the Witchery bookstore in the Strand. Plus another beautiful sunset was in store tonight.

Since Candace was out of town for a while she was unavailable the next day and had to work. So I went to the Moody Mansion by myself. Built in 1895 it was the home to the Moody family whos foundation is very influential in Galveston today.

I can’t believe how many fireplaces are in this house. Every room was gorgeous.

Galveston has an Art Walk on the first Saturday of every month. My niece invited me down to go out with her and her friends. It allowed me another opportunity to check out the Strand.

There were a lot of people out and I found out that one of my favorite clothing designers from the 80’s was still in Business. Love Jams World. We also stopped at Havana Alley for a drink and a cigar before the night was out.

My last museum before leaving Galveston was to go to the Lone Star Flight Museum. I was semi roped into doing some computer work but my suggestions didn’t work and I wasn’t familiar with the application they were using. No credit card sales today. The museum will be moving in 2017 closer to Houston. The logistics of trying to move these classic planes out of Galveston when a hurricane comes in was becoming too much of a liability. This was also the 3rd flying B17 that I’ve seen since starting my full time RV adventure.

There is so much more to see in Galveston but that’s all I can fit in during this trip. Fortunately, my niece will be here for 4 years working on her PHD so I can come back.