Galveston Island – Phyllis

Down a few hours of flat backroads, causeways, steep bridges, refineries, gas & oil storage facilities, and little towns with no services, we found another addition of HGTV’s Beach Front Bargain Hunt.

The area really looks like that. The barrier islands are full of colourful houses on stilts. The TV shows angle their cameras well because some of them are in horrendous shape and others are truly picturesque. The best-looking houses tend to be in defined resort or retirement communities.

I found my favourite colour choice, though it was a bit too misty the last few days to really get a good rendition of the colour. There is still a lot of building going on despite dire climate change predictions. I can see the attraction of being beside the ocean but I would not want to have to maintain one.

Despite the grey skies and wafting, ground level mist, it has been very warm. There aren’t very many people on the beaches right now and the opaque mist lends an even greater sense of aloneness to your parking spot on a long, wide beach. It was a bit surreal to walk down a beach and have everything disappear.

We chatted with a fisherman for a few minutes on our walk. He was throwing catfish back in and hoping for something tastier. He was wearing chest high waders and going into the water to cast, then returning to sit on the back of his truck. The best part, according to him, was just relaxing and watching the waves.

The City of Galveston is a little further down the island. It has a long history and has gone through a number of transformations, depending on the economics and storms of the time. The waterfront is defined by the city’s efforts to protect itself from the many storms that hit the gulf coast. The sea wall was begun in the early 1900s after a hurricane that devastated the area and has had new additions over the years.

The city is not over run by tourists at the moment so we were able to ride our bikes on the sea wall. To do the whole round trip would have been 26 miles. We did not do the whole thing but we rode right up to the abrupt west end where it looks like there is a desire to continue the work.

We toured a bit of the historic downtown, walked around some of the Victorian era homes, saw the Bishop’s Palace and some of the grander old homes built by the business men of the early 20^th century.

There is a pier that reminded me of pictures of Coney Island. The rides and restaurants were exactly what you would expect, but it is called the “Pleasure Pier”. The pier is not even part of the old red-light district; perhaps it needs a new name.

Ken has been on the look out for Texas BBQ. We finally found a decent looking place in Galveston. Though I am not terribly fond of BBQ sauce or smoke flavours, we did enjoy brisket, chicken and pulled pork. I think I enjoyed the mac and cheese most. Daniel’s is still better.