Since I’ve set foot on a Texas beach. The wait is over.
When we moved to Texas 14 years ago, I cried. You would too if you saw a tumble weed blow across the road in a rural town that took you 3 days to drive to. Thousands of miles away from the coast you grew up on and a thousand miles away from the lovely coast you just left full of snow, gorgeous salt box houses with wreaths on the door, and the eastern charm of it all.
I made do with what God gave us and I resolved to "like" South Texas after all, it was where we got stationed and there wasn’t anything we could do about it! 😀
One day, we decided to take a drive down to the "beach". I was excited to see the "ocean" and walk on the "sand". When we got there, Jon drove on the "beach!!" I died right there in the car. I yelled, "YOU CAN’T DRIVE ON THE BEACH!! IT’S ILLEGAL!!!!!" He assured me that "Yes, in Texas you can." I soon learned why.
It was ugly!
We got out of the car and the water was brown and foamy and the sand was all streaked with black tar from the oil derricks out in the gulf. And that’s another thing: the ocean is not the Gulf. I learned that the hard way.
When we pulled the girls out of their car seats (2 1/2 and not quite a year) and tired to put them down on the "sand" to walk around, they pulled their feet up and started to cry. They didn’t like the way it felt and I guess looked! I mean, Lauren had an aversion to grass back in California, as she didn’t like the way the pointy blades felt on her bare feet, but I didn’t blame her one bit about the "sand". It was gross! It made our feet sticky and black.
No thanks.
We got in the car and drove a little farther south west looking for some "prettier" "beach", but no luck. We heard if we wanted really pretty beach, we should go to South Padre Island. That didn’t happen while we were there, as we (I was)/ were too busy raising babies and trying to stay sane in a town of 7,200 people and a mall 30 minutes away. This was dire people. I was stuck in country hell. (Love my friends from there though!! smooches!!)
So, anyhoo! Back to why I tell this lovely story! (see what happens when I don’t blog much? All these words just pile up in muh brain and spill out when I start typing!!)
We are going back to the BEACH!! A real beach! No air quotes needed here!! WhoooHooooo!!
Wanna see where we are headed??
GALVESTON, TEXAS
Photo Courtesy of Flickr!
Yes…Galveston, Texas! We’ve never been, and we are so excited to check it out! Looks like the beaches are much nicer and not slicked with oil! We’re staying just off the main strand, about a mile at a neat Hotel called the Inn at The Waterpark.
There’s Schlitterbahn Waterpark nearby and Moody Gardens as well. Locally there’s a Flight Museum, and lots of other fun beachy kinds of thing to do! Put Put Golf is on the grounds and a nice looking pool. We are super jazzed at how close we are to the beach and the superawesomegreat rate we got for 2 rooms for 2 days! It’s going to be supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! Foshizzle!
Expect there to be lots of gratuitous pictures and hopefully none in my swimsuit, because no one should be subject to THAT !! You’re welcome! Snack shopping and car cleaning outing commences today, so that’s always a plus. Can’t have too many snacks on a 5 hours drive to the beach, don’t you think?
OH and LOTS of Sunscreen!! It’s supposed to be pretty warm there, but I just wanna dip my toes in the water and watch my precious children build a sand castle. Maybe I’ll get to bring home some seashells and put them in one of my glass jars. Ahhh, the simple things in life. I love it!
See you all in a week!
Love and sandy beaches,
