Today, we started out with a thunderstorm and heavy rains (so I was not able to go run) but by about 9:30, the rain had cleared out and left the air almost cool and much less humid than yesterday. It was partly cloudy, but with lovely sunny spells that didn’t feel too warm, but brightened everything up. But while it was still thundery and tropical outside, we did some computer work, had tea and coffee, and then took off to take a ride on a regular commuter ferry to the Bolivar peninsula to the east of Galveston, just to come right back. These are free public-transportation ferries, and there is a free parking lot for people who want to join as pedestrians–although we were the only ones–and they are great for getting out on the water. We saw dolphins and pelicans, a bunch of big ships and little boats, and also the ruin of a concrete boat from the late 1800s that are visible in this part of the Galveston bay. The whole trip took probably an hour, and it was such a fun excursion.
Then we parked near a little teeny (block-size) park in the vicinity of the famous historic homes of Galveston that survived the big hurricane in 1900, a major tourist attraction. Many of these are charming Victorian wood or brick homes, very spiffed up, with beautiful gingerbread cutouts and porticoes, wrought-iron fences and real gas lights, manicured gardens and intriguing wood sculptures carved out of live trees in the home’s front yard. Every now and then there was a burst of a different style, neoclassical or art deco, but mostly they are just typical late-19th century homes. Many have historic markers, and a few are enormous follies (like the so-called Bishop’s Palace) and would be tourable, but we just had a great time walking around and looking at them as we zig-zagged through the streets, with a handful of other tourists doing the same on a Sunday morning.
1887-1893
1874-75
By 1 pm, we were back at Polly and Steve’s house with a few groceries, and had a lovely brunch with quiche, outstandingly tender bacon, and toast, not to mention an oatmilk latte for me (quite addicting, I have to admit). Mark took a little nap and Polly rested, too, while I chatted some more with Steve, and then Mark and I set back out again—I am determined to get as much much-coveted ocean time as possible while we are here! We went to the very Western tip of Galveston island, and then beyond—via a bridge that connects it to the next peninsula (ultimately, the road keeps going until Freeport, TX, and beyond). But we just went across the bridge to check out a couple of areas that promised a bit more nature and fewer beach condos—a modest Nature Trail (very minimal, but it ended on a beautiful deserted beach) and the San Luis Pass County Park, where we saw some awesome shorebirds close up, and marveled at some houses that were clearly once not directly on the beach, but are now showing water damage and in danger of more. Wooden stilts can only do so much, even if your house towers 12 or 16 feet overhead!
We took the bridge back across to Galveston and went to another fairly quiet stretch of beach that wasn’t right next to a development, and I went in, again really just wading in to about waist-deep water and jumping with the waves. With less humidity and more sun, that was actually even more fun than yesterday, and Mark had a good time just capturing more strange, hard to see creatures like a sand crab with his camera, and finding some interesting shells to bring home to Apollo and Jupiter. The last stop was at a small bird refuge on the bay side (as opposed to the ocean side, where we spent most of our time), but although it was a nice place to stroll through, we didn’t see any birds nearby—the San Luis Pass county park area had been much more interesting, and shore birds seem to be the only ones that don’t mind being watched. The heron that Mark captured was within feet of us!
We got home just about 7, and I made a salad to go with the rest of the amazing leg of lamb from yesterday, and some pasta with pesto. Just an outstanding meal after a busy beach day. We again sat on the porch and chatted about family, politics, tech, and everything else imaginable. We were also allowed to tour Lindsey and her partner’s basement apartment, which Steve fixed up last year in really creative ways to make it useable (the basement level of the house had just been designed in a very strange and haphazard way by the previous owners), and then Lindsey and Ricky came up with some really creative ideas to make it look very artsy and unique. We also met their cat Diego (I miss our cats at night!). Both Polly and I went to “retire to our chambers” a bit earlier than the men, who chatted until past 10:30 about everything under the sun.