You’ll have to forgive me as I go back in time a bit. I know I already did my 2017 in review post, but I have to tell you about the last weeks of 2017.
As you know from my Goodbye Wind Point Park post, we left Lone Oak, Texas, but I didn’t give any hint of where we were heading. Galveston! My parents really enjoyed staying at Galveston Island State Park (GISP) and since we were ready for a bit of down time that’s where we went. We arrived after hours and found our site number tacked to the bulletin board. Setting up in the dark isn’t my favorite thing to do, but we managed…
I was quite surprised when I woke up in the morning and realized we were right near the water’s edge…
As you can see, the skies had cleared and the weather looked promising. I grabbed my camera and set off to explore a bit since Steve was still sleeping…
When I got back from my walk, Steve was up and about ready to roll. Since it was our first day, we figured we’d just drive around and make note of things we wanted to go back and explore. We stopped at the visitors to get a map and learn a little more about the island. Our friends had given us lots of suggestions of things to do and places to see, but no one told us about the Tree Sculpture Tour. Since we were already right near the beginning of it, we decided to do that first. The artistry is amazing. I’m not going to post pictures of all 24, but here are some of my favorites…
The next day, I wanted to find some of the places where you can drive on the beach. We headed to the west end of the island and after a few dead ends we found a neat little place to do some birding…
From here, we headed to Fort San Jacinto Historic Point on the east end of the island. It is a great place to watch the ships come into Houston Bay and do a little fishing…
Then it was (literally) on to East Beach…
Since it was getting on toward dinner time, we looked through the coupons we had gotten at the visitor’s center and decided to do the totally touristy thing to do. We ate dinner at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. I my opinion, the meal was completely forgettable and over priced, but that what you get for being touristy!
One of the best things about staying at a state park in Texas is you don’t need a license to fish as long as you are on the property. We decided to take advantage of that and get in some fishing. I was first to pull in whopper…
The next big catch wasn’t exactly a keeper either…
Perhaps Steve would have better luck…
Looks impressive until you put it in the larger picture…
One of the places everyone said we needed to go was Moody Gardens. I checked it out online and it looked amazing, but I wasn’t sure we could really swing the price. I pretty much put it out of my mind until I called my dad. He mentioned that when he and mom were in Galveston, they visited Moody Gardens and really enjoyed it. Then he offered to get tickets for us as a Christmas gift! Woohoo! Thank you! Since quite a bit of it is inside, Steve and I picked the coldest upcoming day to go. We woke up bright and early, had a good breakfast then headed out. It was only about a 15 minute drive and we had 10am tickets for the Ice Land exhibit. I know, I hate the cold, but who could resist a rain forest made completely of ice? If you want to read about the history and the how, click here, it’s definitely interesting! Here are a few of my favorite sculptures…
Moody Gardens has 3 pyramid structures and each one contains a different theme. We started at the Discovery pyramid and enjoyed the Da Vinci exhibit. I never realized just how many things he was into. I didn’t take any pictures because it was fairly dark inside, plus, sometimes it is just nice to enjoy something without thinking about images for the blog. Next we headed to the rain forest pyramid. After the near freezing temps in Ice Land, the rain forest seemed downright comfy!
But, my favorite pyramid was the aquarium. Again, I didn’t take a lot of pictures, I just enjoyed…
It was starting to get dark by the time we left the aquarium. We had almost an hour before our “sail” around the harbor on the paddle boat, so we walked around and checked out the holiday lights.
Just before it got totally dark, a zip-liner went right over our heads…
From the paddle boat, we had a good view of the pyramids…
As we were getting ready to head back to Waldo, we noticed the Chinese lanterns.(these were done in honor of the Chinese ice carving team who made Ice Land into a rain forest, here’s that story) …
Now, how it I get the title of this post? The next thing we knew, it was Dec. 26th and time to leave. 7 days is “Not nearly long enough” to see everything in Galveston! But we will definitely go back! And once again, we packed up in the rain…
Have you ever been to Galveston? What did you enjoy most?
The Wandering RVer 
I laughed when I opened this post because your featured image is the exact same one I used for my post about our visit to Galveston! I love those location signs… We’ve found them in several cities and I always take photos of them. We actually did many of the same things you did while in Galveston (stayed at GISP, took photos of the birds, checked out the tree sculptures, dealt with a lot of rain…) We, however, did NOT get to see Moody Gardens. It was on our list, but like you said, there’s so much to see and do, we just didn’t get to it. Thanks for the tour… it absolutely looks like a worthwhile place to visit. All in all, Galveston was a surprisingly enjoyable stop for us and we’d definitely love to get back at some point. Glad you guys enjoyed it too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad you enjoyed it. I love finding those signs. We will definitely stay at GISP again (and again). It’s a great mid-point between family.
LikeLike
Your post increased my excitement for Galveston where we are headed in a few weeks. We visited Galveston last year and and enjoyed touring the Elisa Tall Ship, Bishop House, Moody Mansion, Ocean Star Museum, and so much more. I hope the rain subsides before we arrive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure you’ll have a blast. I’d like to stay for about a month next time. Bishop house looked very cool but we just ran out of time! We really lucked out with the weather. Hope you do too
LikeLiked by 1 person
We have never been to Galveston but my goodness so many fun and beautiful things to do. Those beaches and birds are my favourite. Astounding!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You and Dave would love Galveston. So much history.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Galveston is a magical island. I grew up in Houston and always loved the island. I finally moved down here and love it. Thank you for your great post about my new home.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Magical is the perfect word! We’re looking forward to our next visit!
LikeLike
Wow! Galveston seems like an exceptional place to explore. Such a good catch! So great you enjoy fishing which I consider a very great activity. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. We really liked Galveston
LikeLike
What a nice surprise to wake up right near the water. It looks like those fish will last you a few months. You may need to rent out some freezer space 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ya, we really stocked up, Hahaha I can definitely see us going back again and again. We will be starting our journey to Alaska on the 26th of March. We are planning on taking about a month to get there.
LikeLike
Are you taking the AL-CAN highway or the ferry? Either way, the drive up will be really good, but coming back in the fall will blow your mind.
LikeLike
Taking the AL-CAN. The cost of the ferry is a bit out of our range! The biggest problem I’ve had in trip planning is finding campgrounds that are open in April. Going to Alaska, we are going thru Oregon. We will be coming back thru Alberta and Montana. Should be exceptional!
LikeLike
I’m so behind on my blog reading and trying to catch up! I loved Galveston, too, but didn’t spend enough time there–looks like we missed a lot. We actually loved just taking the ferry to Bolivar. When we were there, they were doing some pipework along the beach. Looks like you had an amazing visit!
LikeLike