Galveston - Last Day

Tuesday, Nov 6 we headed back to Galveston for our last day in this area.  We wanted to take a tour of Bishops Palace which was closed on Saturday and also wanted to take in the Strand District and take a tour of the Elissa, a tall ship in the harbour.

We ran our a/c all night and woke up to heavy fog.  We delayed our departure until the fog lifted and when we walked outside it was like getting hit with a hot wet dish rag.  For the 3rd day in a row the temp was in the 90's with a humidity level of 100%.  So tired of this humidity.  The weather is supposed to break this weekend so cooler and dryer weather is on its way.  Yea!

House was built from 1887 to 1892 for Colonel Walter Gresham, 
his wife Josephine and their 9 children.  

In 1923 house was sold to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston
Was lived in by Bishop Byrne, thus the name, Bishop's Palace

Its a grand house and has been very well restored. 
It has been owned by the Galveston Historical Foundation since 2013

These 3 guys were busy painting the wood trim and metal work.

Some beautiful flowering shrubs in the flower beds. 

One of the 11 fireplaces in the house.
Originally 10 were coal and one was gas.
Now all are gas and are used in the winter.

Another fireplace
The wood trim is mostly Mahogany, Black Walnut and Curly Oak

and yet another.
Every window has louvered shutters which are all operational. 

Some very intricate carving. 

Ceiling of the dining room

Built in buffet with silver service

Ice box

Back stairway with beautiful stained glass window

Wood fired cooking stove. 

Fireplace in Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom.  No central heat in those days.
Smaller beds let to more snuggling.
Which led to 9 children. 

House complete with its own chapel.
Of all the stained glass in the house,
and there was lots of stained glass windows,
only one wasn't original.

Main stairway
A truly beautiful old house.

After Bishops Palace we took a short drive to the leeward side of the island
The Strand district has many old buildings with shops and restaurants.
One block away are the docks where the real big ships dock.
Most of them are related to the oil business although
a few days earlier we saw a Carnival Cruise ship. 

Here are a couple of drilling rigs in port for repairs.
When driving over the causeway to Galveston Island you can see
huge refinery complexes going on for miles.
I'm sure some of the oil being used is piped in from Canada. 

An old tall ship, the Elissa, is in port and available to tour

This ship was rebuilt to original specs but is
fully functional and able to sail the seas. 

Sitting room in the Captan's cabin

I kind of like this shot.
Every few hundred pics I get the angles right

Note the brick column on the right with the markers.
Now look at the picture below.

The high water marks from various hurricanes.
Nothing up yet for Harvey from 2017.
The one in 1900 basically decimated the island.  Tens of Thousands killed.
Bishops Palace was one of the few houses left standing.
Afterwards they brought in dredges to take sand from the ocean bottom and build up the island.

A little of the old and the new.  

We had lunch at Fisherman's Wharf.
The shrimp was tasty and the beer was ice cold. 

Thats it for Galveston Island.  Off to Rockport on Wednesday.

Galveston Island State Park

Got up this morning with a plan.  We were going to head out to Galveston Island State Park, take a walk on the beach and go on some of the hiking trails.  Dogs are allowed so we figured it would be  great for Charli rather than have her sitting in the trailer for the better part of the day.

I phoned the Park office to get an update on the state of the trails.  Everything is wet around here due to the rain that has been inundating east Texas for the past month or so.  I was advised that the trails were open however they would either have standing water or would be spongy.  We stepped outside and were hit with a wall of humidity which combined with a forecast of 82 was not boding well for a day hiking through what basically amounted to a swamp.

We drove through the park and while I got out a couple of times to take some pictures we never wandered off the side of the road.  The high water levels, flocks of mosquitoes and signage warning of Alligators kept us off the trails.

So while the day wasn't as planned we did have a nice drive, saw some brightly coloured houses built on stilts and saw what Galveston looks like without a few hundred thousand motorcycles roaring around the streets.

One of the campgrounds.  No services.
A few trailers but mostly tents.
Just over the bushes is the Gulf. 

Lots of Great Egrets.
Did see a couple of Great Blue Herons but too far away to get a good picture. 

Great Egret going for a walk

All the houses along the coastline are built on stilts resting on a cement pad.
The island is basically a big sand bar so if piles are used
it would be interesting to know how far down they go.
I'm sure there is no bedrock down there so they must be friction piles. 

The sand is very fine and hard packed.
Easy to walk on but will be hard to keep it out of the truck. 

Endless beaches.

Tuesday is another Galveston day and we will be touring the Strand district, find a good seafood restaurant for lunch and hopefully take a tour of the Bishops Castle.  Wednesday we head to Rockport which is down the coast towards Corpus Christie and after that inland to San Antonio.  The weather is supposed to cool off on Thursday and our hope is that the humidity will drop as well.  If what we have experienced the past week is normal Texas weather I can safely say that any thought we may have had of spending a winter in Texas as opposed to the dry Arizona winters is but a memory.

Galveston Day 1

Saturday, Nov 3 we took a trip down the highway to Galveston which is home this weekend to the Lone Star Rally.  This is one of the biggest biker rallies in the US with anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 bikers descending on the community.  I'm sure its a cash cow for the city of Galveston and after spending the day there I'm also sure the residents will be glad when its over.

Everywhere you looked there were bikes, bikers and biker babes.  I'd say the average age of the bikers and their babes was somewhere in the 60's.  Well past their "best before date" but still with plenty of enthusiasm when it comes to their bikes and the biker lifestyle.  At least 95% of the bikes were Harleys and if you have ever heard a Harley, even a quiet Harley, if such a thing exists, you know the noise one can make.  And most of these weren't quiet Harleys.  Try imagining a few dozen  of these bad boys cruising in a pack down the street, each with a rider trying to out do the other when it came to noise.

There is truly some beautiful architecture in Galveston.  While I have never been to New Orleans many of the houses and old buildings remind me of watching the show NCIS New Orleans.   The drive to Galveston took about 30 minutes and was a nice relaxing drive as opposed to any drive in the other direction into Houston.  Galveston is an island.  Didn't know that.  Pretty soon we were on the causeway with water on both sides and even a Carnival cruise ship in port.

The Pleasure Pier.  Restaurants and carnival rides
It has been destroyed twice by hurricanes.  

The street along the seawall was lined with vendors

Some were customizing bikes.
Here a bike was getting some purple LED lighting.
Other vendors were installing speakers, custom wheels, hydraulic suspensions
and my favourite, exhaust systems to enhance the rumble.
The list goes on and on.  Lots of money being spent. 

Lots of choices to upgrade your wardrobe.
As long as you want it in leather.

Check out the speakers on the "God of War"

A shot of the Pleasure Pier from the balcony of Murdoch's
Murdoch's used to be a bath house.  Now sells souvenirs of all sorts. 

Jan and Lori enjoying the view

Lori posing behind this Indian Roadmaster.
Very nice custom seats.
Mark checking out his new ride

Talk about customization.
That front wheel has to be about 30"

Lots of chrome.  That seat doesn't look too comfortable. 

One of the many bike parking lots.
A double row and it went on for blocks.  

Lori checked out the water.  Ohhh!   Thats a little cold. 

Another shot of the Pleasure Pier from the edge of the surf. 

I see you. 

Bikers aren't beach people.
But to be fair it was a little cool and windy for beach wear. 

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. on the Pleasure Pier. 

We went to Fish Tales for lunch
Great shrimp and clam chowder. 

Many of the houses had Gargoyles on the roofs.
Can barely see this one on the peak of the porch roof. 

So pretty. Lots of others could use the Fixer Upper crew.
Perhaps when they run out of houses in Waco
they can move to Galveston. 

Catholic Church

Bishops Palace is a museum.  Website said it was open.
We walked for 2 miles to take a tour.  It was closed.
Apparently they closed it for the biker rally.   

Fabulous Spanish style house.

A little green for my liking but very cute. 

Gorgeous house.  Especially with the blue sky.  Liking yellow helps. 

This guy was sleeping on the porch below.
As I was lining up to take what would have been a gorgeous shot.
He decide to take his watchdog duties seriously.
He stood up and started baying loud enough to wake the neighbourhood.
Then he came down the steps to make sure we didn't come through the gate.  

The detail in the woodwork was amazing.
Must have been original. 

Another couple of very well restored houses. 

I can just imagine the neighbours thoughts when this guy first painted this house.
Various shades of purple, blue and white.
Just a bit much for my taste. 

That was our 1st day in Galveston.  There isn't a lot we really want to see in Houston so after a day of grocery shopping and laundry on Sunday we plan on hitting Galveston again on Monday and Tuesday.  Normally its a relatively quiet resort town so perhaps we will get to experience its true personality with all the bikers gone.

Till then.