A couple of days away in Galveston. Friday early evening and I was taken away by Hazel to Galveston for a relaxing night in a Historic guesthouse. (she tells me that putting it that way makes it sound like she kidnapped me). Well in a way it felt like that, it was not at gunpoint or anything , I packed in minutes, and I did need to get away and relax, but did not realise how much I needed it until I was there. Tim was away camping, Jonathan at work and she told me she had booked a hotel in Galveston. Using the HOV lane the journey was short, but it got quickly dark as it clouded over. We arrived as it was dark, with clouds overhead and a dampness in the air.

After checking into the house we headed out to eat at Gaidos fish restaurant. http://www.galveston.com/gaidos/restaraunts.html
The restaurant has been there since 1911. There was a 20 minutes wait for our table, we were told and over 90 minutes later (nearly one minute for every year the restaurant has been there), our table was ready. I was now hungry,very hungry.
I ate all the bread dipped in Olive oil, followed by Shrimp Bisque, an enormous Greek Salad and three soft shelled crabs. Hazel was a little more modest on what she consumed, me eating her crab also.

Monty Pythons Mr Creasote comes to mind but there was no room for the 'wafer thin mint' for me.



After stuffing my face we took a brief windy, and much needed walk along the seawall opposite the restaurant. Galveston at night is a pretty bleak, place, the tide was out and given the food consumed and no lifeguards I decided against a swim.





There was a selection of chocolate covered strawberries in the hotel and by the time of our return to the room, I was ready to top up the food in my stomach.

The Guest house was a quiet relaxing place. It was built in 1860 in the style of a Greek Revival Mansion. In 1870 the Mansion was sold to Richard Coke the Govenor of the State of Texas (1874-1876). http://www.ftrf.net/LimitedEdition.htm .
In 1876 through 1889 the Mansion was utilized as a summer mansion for Steven F Austin's http://www.lsjunction.com/people/austin.htm sister and husband.
















In the morning after a dip in the spa and breakfast downstairs in the ballroom we wandered around the Mansion and small gardens, as well as the neighbourhood.
A mixture of large and small houses some in impressive colonial style.

































The morning had started off sunny then thick fog rolled in followed by a hazy mist that lasted the rest of the day.
It was very warm and slightly humid all the rest of the day with thin cloud cover which to be honest made taking decent photos a challenge.
How much easlier it is with bright sun and blue skies.

The tide was in at the beach and the sea rough as surfers tried to get a good wave to ride, and others caught the rays sunning themselves on the sandy beach and swimming in the shallow waters.

Two large hotel landmarks The Galvez built in 1911, now interestingly now owned by the Wyndham Hotel group http://www.galveston.com/galvez/ , and the Flagship hotel 1000 feet out at sea http://www.galveston.com/flagship/ can be seen in the photos below.

The Galveston Historic district along The Strand goes back to the early 1800's http://www.thestrand.com/ It has been renovated and historic markers stand outside every building. They hold mini Mardi Gras celebrations each February there Boobs shown, and beads thrown from the balconies. At the end of each year they host Dickens Christmas events.

Galveston is a barrier Island and is a quite a hotch botch of things old, new, interesting and things cluttered and manythings not so interesting at all. Over all not a pretty place but plenty to see none the less.

Fishing and Shiping and the Oil Industry is obvious everythere. The island is located at the entrance to the Port of Houston. There you can see Oil Tankers, Cargo ships of all shapes and sizes, Fishing Vessels and there is something going on in the waters all the time.

Cruise Ships tower above the Historic buildings and less intrusive private boats and sailing ships moor alongside the docks. The Elise a clipper was also being prepared to sail in a few weeks , the volunteer crewe practising their tasks and preparing the rigging.

Here are a few photos of Saturday, a typical March day on Galveston Island.

The journey home along the I45 a wide fast highway over the bridges off the island and passing the skyline of Houston some 30 minutes later.