Moody Mansion and Tree Sculptures

Let me preface this by saying that I'm really tired and my tummy hurts because I stuffed myself at dinner AGAIN!  So, I'm going to try to make this one quick.   Today was my last full day in Galveston.

I got started late and my reason this time is because I'm on vacation and I don't have to follow a clock.  I got my act together and drove around for a bit to try some side roads I hadn't tried before.  Found another main drag with bars and places to eat...nothing exciting.  I then hightailed it to the historic district because I had pre-purchased a ticket to the guided tour of the Moody Mansion. I had walked around the grounds earlier this week.

We had a full tour group and the tour guide was a bit slow and difficult to hear sometimes.  However, he did have some interesting tidbits to share...apparently, he had delivered groceries to the house as a young boy...and could tell us that they tipped well. Of course, no photos.   Most of it was much more impressive inside than the Bishop's Palace, mostly because the Moody family had it completely restored in the 80's and the majority of the original furniture was still there.

While Moody Mansion did not have as impressive an exterior as The Bishop's Palace, it had it's moments.

A bit of the front porch

Some of the nifty wrought ironwork.  If you don't rem.ember what the house looks like go back to this day.

There are also photos of the antique cars on display, and I decided to try taking some cool pics of the Cadillac hood ornaments.

After the tour was over, I bought my Christmas tree ornament for the trip (remember, gotta have one) and headed out on my next mission The Galveston Tree Sculpture Tour.

Back in 2008 Hurricane Ike managed to kill a lot of the 100 year old oaks that grew along the residential streets in the historic district (they spent all this time growing since the last big hurricane in 1900).  Many of the broken, dead trees were sculpted by local artists.

I ended up driving the route, but missed a bunch of them.  I think I was just cranky and impatient.  Here are the best of the ones I did find

Of course, the last one is my favorite and the one I really wanted to find.  The Tin Man and Toto are at 1702 Winnie St. the childhood home of King Vidor who, for a brief time, was the director of The Wizard of Oz.

Here's the house,  you can see the sculpture to the right beside the tall palm tree.  There are lots of cool old homes in the historic district, so I took a lot of house photos too.

By this time, I needed sustenance, so I headed to The Strand.  I shopped a bit, bought a bit, but didn't find any restaurant open that seemed appealing.  So I went back to La Kings and bought a root beer float.  Yummy.

I headed back to the condo and stopped at a junky souvenir shop, where I bought a few junky things. I got a coupon for a free appetizer or desert at a seafood restaurant on Seawall...BONUS!

I got back to the room, unpacked some crap and rested up a bit because I was pooped!  I changed my shirt, combed my hair and headed out to Fish Tales, apparently another chain connected to Landry's (the unimpressive schmantzy place I went last night).  This place was much better...I had a view.

of Pleasure Pier, which I was unable to adequately capture on my camera phone.   I opted for the gastronomically dangerous Shrimp Trio (3 types of fried shrimp)

 Which was YUMMY!  That tall, cool frostiness is a swirl margarita.  I had the caramelized pineapple cheesecake for desert...or I tried to.  Most of it came back to the room with me.

I am tired and my belly is full.  I have to get up early tomorrow and clear out of here.  However, I'm NOT heading home...surprise side trip!  Stay tuned for The Texas Clay Festival! 

Ruby Goes Off-Road...For Birds and Seashells

So, today didn't start off too well.  I woke up to see a glorious sunrise over the ocean...but I felt like crap. The head was splitting so I made some coffee, then went back to sleep.  Honestly, I slept most of the day but felt much better when I woke up.  Decided that today would be my "do a lot of nothing" day.

I did a bit of online research about the best shelling beaches on Galveston Island and it appears that the local lore is that the best shelling is to be found on the west end of the island..."past the water towers."  Luckily, I had been on the west end and knew exactly what they meant.

I also decided I needed to do laundry and I remembered a laundromat in that direction.  So I showered, packed up the dirty laundry and was on my way.

Now, the beaches at the very west end of the island are mostly drive on beaches, so I was happy I decided to get a 4 wheel drive Jeep.  She had never been off road or on a beach before, so it was an adventure for both Ruby (my Jeep) and myself.  Actually, the beaches were all still pretty wet from the rain earlier this week, so it was a breeze.

I walked around a bit, but not many shells and only a few fishermen to be seen.  I decided to pack it up to try further down the beach.  All of a sudden, I turned around to find a blue heron hanging out in the greenery behind my car.

He just kind of hung out there watching me for a bit.  I got a bit tired of staring at him and taking pictures, so I took off for further down the beach.  This time, I was not only glad for the 4WD but for the "trail rated" that my Jeep supposedly is.  I had to drive over a ton of rutted and puddle-y sand until I got to the beach bit. There were more fishermen here as well.  More birds too.  Only a few more shells

I think I'm just here the wrong time of the year for shelling.  It's times like this that I really miss Shakelford Banks!  There was also something scary on the beach

Stay awayyyyyyyyy from the scary jellyfish!  They're pretty behind glass at aquariums, but I was stung once as a child and I doan wanna go anywhere near them anymore.

Of course, there were the birds

Look!  Two almost impossible to see pelicans!  I really need a longer lens

I did get a lovely "Johnathan Livingston Seagull" shot here

Here's another heron (well, I believe it's a different one) flying away over a sandbar.

If you're tired of birds...

There was a fisherman there casting a net instead of fishing with a pole like most of the other guys, he was fun to watch.  He's standing on a submerged sandbar.

We're looking across San Luis Pass here to Brazoria County.  This is a treacherous area of water where swimming is now prohibited (although there are always people who will ignore the signs).

I'd been walking awhile and the sun was getting kind of low.  I decided I didn't want to find my way back to the road in the dark, so I started my trek back to the Jeep.

There's my shadow and the red dot in the middle of the horizon there is Ruby.  I had to hike in the sand for a bit. Bounced and jounced my way back to the road before dark and set out to do laundry.

Laundromat was closed...but I checked at the "resort" I'm staying in and there are washers and dryers on the first floor of my building.  Did my laundry...wooohoo.

Decided to get a late dinner at a nice place and thought I would try Gaidos but I got there too late for last seating.   I ended up at Landry's Seafood, which is a chain and was unimpressive.

I did have to stop and get bottled water on the way home and finally had an excuse to stop at Kroger!  I so very much miss Kroger's.  I got to buy a pint of the store brand ice cream and a bag of their store brand no artificial ingredient chocolate drops (y'know...those things like M&M's).

And that was my slow day today.  Nite-Nite!

Morning Beach Walks and Pretty Old Houses

I woke up this morning and there was SUNSHINE!  So, I made coffee, put on the cropped yoga pants and a t-shirt, grabbed the camera, and headed out the door.  The tide was still a bit high, so I had to go a bit east to find some beach, but I finally got my feet in the sand.  It was all pretty packed from the rain, so no toe squishing.

That's the phishing pier there.  I kind of want to go out there and check it out...maybe tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the sun didn't last for long.  This beach is unique in that there is a HUGE sea wall behind you as you face the water. Portions of it have been painted with colorful fishy art.

 There are also several jettys as you go and they are kind of cool -- made of huge man-made boulders of pink granite (so they're square instead of round).  I decided to walk out to the end of one of them because I saw a huge group of brown pelicans hanging out in the water at the end of it.

Of course, the pelicans took off before I made it all the way out there.  I really need to get a longer lens so I don't have to try to sneak up on the wildlife.

There were also some other nifty things seen during my morning walk

This is another flock of terns, which are a bit friendlier than the ones yesterday...they let me get closer.

Here's a fishing boat on its way out for the day... I ended up walking about a mile down the beach before I turned back. I made some bacon and eggs, ate, took a shower, and headed out to the historic district of Galveston.  

Today, I was going to look at old houses and take some pictures.  First, I went back to the site of the Tourist Information Center, which is connected to one of the cool old mansions on Broadway: Ashton Villa.

During Hurricane Ike in 2008 the ground floor flooded and is still undergoing restoration, so it was not open for visitors.  It is one of the first brick structures built in Texas and it has some nifty wrought ironwork.

The next house I went to was The Moody Mansion.

However, they only did guided tours and the next one wasn't for an hour and a half.  I didn't feel like hanging out that long.   I decided to come back tomorrow.  The ticket booth was in the Garage where they had some nifty old cars.

Here is a nifty Studebaker

and a nifty couple of Cadillacs...I think the Moody family had a thing for green cars.

I headed out to the coolest house anyway...The Bishop's Palace originally known as Gresham's Castle.

This one had a self-guided tour and I got to buy a discounted combo ticket for my return trip to the Moody Mansion.

Unfortunately, no inside photos allowed, but it was REALLY cool.

As I mentioned before, there are lots of architectural treasures in Galveston.

Religious architecture later...I'm tired and my feet hurt.  I went back to The Strand to go shopping and have dinner.  So, I walked a lot more.  ouch.

Rain With a Brief Beach Break

It was not supposed to start raining until late morning today, so I had planned to get up early and sneak in a morning beach walk.  No such luck...darn Weatherbug!   The alarm went off and I could hear the rain through the open sliding door.  I considered getting up, but thought better of it and rolled over to go back to sleep.  I actually didn't sleep much more.  Fruit, toast, and coffee for breakfast.

I ended up sitting around and watching some TV for awhile.  Just when I was considering getting dressed and going out...big old thunderstorm.  Sat around a bit more then I headed out around lunchtime.  I hit Seawall and went west.  I found a deli and picked up a sandwich, then headed out to figure out where I could picnic.  I ended up at the west end of the island and made an illegal U-turn (on a deserted road) before I went over the toll bridge.  On the way back, the sun started peaking out and I looked for beach access with parking.   I found it and there were only two other cars there.

Put on the beach shoes, packed the sandwich and a bottle of water in my backpack and grabbed the camera...and I was off...to a deserted beach

Just me and a bunch of birds...so I decided to take some photos of the wildlife.

I believe these are some variety of Terns, I must do research...

Here we have a small flock of what I'm pretty sure are sandpipers

This is definitely a brown pelican flying over my head.

I also stirred up a flock of terns (not quite as cool as a flock of seagulls).

I then found a place to sit down and eat my sandwich.  Just sat for a bit and enjoyed the scenery and the fact that I had a whole entire beach all to myself.  One thing I did notice is a decided lack of seashells.  I need to find a good shelling beach!  Headed back to the car just as more people started arriving at the beach.

I continued east, until I hit a cheezy beach shop and stopped to buy some tacky beach junk.  That took all of 10 minutes. Kept going east until I got to the very end of the island.  Found a parking spot and watched some ships exit Galveston Bay.

That was fun for a bit, until I headed back west again.  More tourist junk shops...then I was hungry for dinner (yes, this shopping and wandering about actually took several hours).  I remember seeing the Olympia Grill when driving up and down Seawall...so I decided to give it a try.

I decided to pair the Vilana white wine from Crete with the Baked Shrimp Pasta special

It was a TON of food and very yummy. Those toasted looking lumps under there are the shrimp and the cheese is mostly feta.  The wine was awesome too.  I could only finish half of my dinner and it's in my fridge now.   Somehow, I found room for desert.

They had four deserts to choose from and for those of us unable to make up our minds...the desert sampler plate!  Baklava, a warm moist chocolate cake with some sort of booze in it, a very cinnamon-y bread pudding and a galaktoboureko.  It's that thing in front which is a custard on filo which was awesome in it's deliciousness. 

So, I'm sitting on the couch barely able to move in a pair of stretchy pants now.  

Gonna try to do that morning beach thing tomorrow!

Accidental ARToberFest

So, this morning I got up a bit late.  I slept on the couch last night, hoping to be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the ocean.  That, and the thought of that long, black hair in the bed really skeeved me out.  Around 10am I rolled off the couch and made myself some coffee...then breakfast.  Eggs, turkey bacon, and orange juice...I'm living on the edge here...LOL

I did a bit of recon on my computer and decided that I should check out the visitor's center.  Hopped in the shower and was happy to find loads of hot water.  I headed out to downtown Galveston and the Visitor's Center.  Picked up lots of brochures and found lots of interesting things to check out.

After, I was driving toward The Strand, which is the hoppin' historic touristy street, and I happened upon this view

Galveston port is a departure point for cruises, but I never realized you would be driving down the street to see a cruise ship in front of you!

Anyway, I drove past some blocked off streets with booths set up...and I was intrigued.  Drove around to find a parking spot and went over to check it out.  It was ARToberFest.  ''

It did cost five bucks to get in, but I am a sucker for street festivals.  I ended up buying stuff...big shocker.  Several pairs of earrings, a glass pendant, and a print of a pencil drawing of daisies.  There are tons of galleries and other fun shops on the streets that were blocked off, this is one that I enjoyed a lot:

This is an occult store named The Witchery and I did buy a few things, including a Mediterranean Evil Eye and this poster.  I may go back later to get a psychic reading...just for funzies.

After I dropped a buncha cash at the festival, I headed toward The Strand.  Back to back bars and gift shops...erm...well, there are also gift shops WITH bars.  That was kinda fun.  Apparently, you can also walk around with open alcohol on The Strand.  

I opted instead to visit La King's Confectionery.  This place smelled like peppermint.  I figured out pretty quickly that was due to a recently pulled batch of peppermint salt water taffy that was about to be wrapped on the wrapping machine.

They also had an old fashioned soda fountain with ice cream yumminess...so I got a hot fudge sundae for lunch...LOL. 

Which dripped EVERYWHERE because they overfilled it...but that's not gonna upset me too much.  It was absolutely yummy!

There were lots of cool shops, even if they were kind of touristy and a tad cheesy

but they were more fun and interesting than the ubiquitous Wings and stuff.  I didn't buy too much, but had fun poking around in the shops.  There was a lot of fun stuff nearby too, like the square

with the giant chess board.  Right around the corner was

PIRATES! Legends of the Gulf Coast which did seem kind of cheezy after the Maritime Museum stuff in North Carolina.  Haven't decided if I want to go yet, but this is Jean Lafitte and stuff instead of Blackbeard...so it might be worth it. 

One thing I *did* do was

Get my fortune read by Zoltan.  "Big" bent the truth a bit.  Zoltan does not grant wishes...he tells fortunes.  However, if I wake up and I'm 10 years old tomorrow....

One thing I did find, and that I will be exploring and photographing further is that Galveston is full of architectural loveliness.

  

I can't wait to see the turn of the century mansions, which will be fun to photograph.  There are also Tons of Churches here...

and we know how I love the religious architecture!

One last photo from downtown Galveston

Saying goodbye to the Carnival cruise ship as it drives down the road...LOL!

I got back to the room and unpacked everything...then decided I was hungry.  I headed out and drove almost all the way to the west end of Galveston Island, turned around and got pretty far East before making a wrong turn.  Finally made it to The Gumbo Diner for a yummy shrimp and crawfish po' boy with a side of cole slaw.  I plan to go back for breakfast at least once. 

I needed to stop at Wal-Mart for a washcloth (lots of towels here, but no washcloths) and a hairband...ended up finding clearance sheets for 15 bucks.  Yayyyyyyyyyyyy...I'm sleeping in a bed tonight.  

Going to bed so I can try to get up early to walk on the beach.  Niters!