THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Galveston, The Beach

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Just before sunset on November 16, 2012 we managed a short, delightful, walk along what is known as Seawall Boulevard, FM3005.  The seawall here is very impressive, you can learn about it here on this Wikipedia page.

Man and friend J, walking, contemplating.  It was low tide I believe, we drove by this same spot during what must have been high tide and all we could see from the roadway and vehicles was water where this sand is, where the guys are walking.

The seawall, from the beach:

A bit closer:

And, if you have seashore, you have birds that love the seashore (yes, there is a reflection!  WOOT!).

Friend D doing what I was doing, shooting TONS of photos!  Hubby J, overseeing the process!  LOL

Man chatting with a gal fishing, she had not caught anything - - yet!

Dolphins at play:

The end of a wonderful day:

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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Galveston Texas

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

A few years back Man and I drove through Galveston on the way from the Rio Grande Valley (Texas) to Gulf Shores Alabama and points east.  We did not stop, nor have the time, but, I remember driving through to the free ferry, the houses, the churches, the missed photo ops!  I have been wanting to come back and take some serious time visiting this remarkable area.  Well, I got to see it this trip, but, we had to make some changes to our proposed schedule so we ended up with only had 2 nights and 2.5 days to visit the area.  So after our little ferry ride from Port Bolivar, we drove to Jamaica Beach to our campground. We set up the rigs for the stay and decided since we still had several hours of good daylight we were going for a ride.  Off to downtown Galveston we went.

On the way to our campsite we passed this amusement park built on a pier, Pleasure Pier, which it appears to have just opened this year.  I was shooting into the sun, so mostly this is a silhouette.  I did get another photo later, so stick around:

Once downtown we were not disappointed, lovely churches.  First two photos, believe to be Lutheran churches.

Below, a Catholic church.  (Sorry bout the utility pole, it is tough shooting from a moving car in a busy downtown city area.)  We had no idea where to park, and felt we did not have the time to find a parking spot so we could walk around.  Oh, Galveston, I hope I can visit again sometime and do your beautiful city photo justice.

Large beautifully maintained mansions, some obviously having been transformed to businesses.

A close up of the turret in the home above.

There were some terrific buildings in the downtown business district, I love this, all those ads, I know some of those products!  LOL

After driving around for a hour or more, we headed back to to the beach, had dinner, and snagged this photo of the amusement park at dusk:

Before our dinner we also walked on the beach, photos soon.  Maybe even a sunset to share - -



*That disclaimer thingy:  Pleasure Pier did not ask me to visit, photograph or chat about their amusement park, they did not give me any goodies either for mentioning them in this blog.

** We arrived in the Galveston area on November 16, 2012.
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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Welcome to Texas

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

On November 14th we traveled from New Iberia Louisiana to Beaumont Texas.  Route 90 through Lafayette Louisiana was brutal, worst road this trip, no doubt, 17 MPH was too fast!  In fact it was so rough that one of the globes on the ceiling fan was shaken out of the base, was found hanging by the oversized bulb and the outer brass decorative ring on the bottom of the globe was found laying on the floor.

We were welcomed to Texas, Texas style:

After a 2 night stay just south of  Beaumont Texas we headed for the Galveston Texas area.  There were bridges and power lines:

And there was a free ferry ride from Port Bolivar to Galveston.  I could have shown this in one photo, I know, but, more are just, well, more fun!  LOL  Gotta show all the angles, eh??

Our ferry:

From Jolly's water spotted side view mirror, looking back:

Down the driver's side of the rig:

From above, maybe my fav photo, shows the name of the ferry too, sorta!  LOL

Ooooot  oooooo, Tana has a VERY dirty roof:

Out on deck sharing war stories and lies:

J & D's motor home pulled in right behind us, they could NOT get out, as when they open the door the stairs come out, they were afraid the stairs would hit the vehicle next to them.  No worry, I took plenty of photos to share with them.

The free ferry is run by the state of Texas.  You can walk on, drive your car or SUV on, drive your rig on or, drive your 18 wheeler on.  It takes about 18 minutes to cross Galveston Bay.




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