Map
Wednesday: December 26th
We left home around 11:00am. Our first night destination was Rayford Crossing RV Resort in Spring, Texas...about 20 miles north of Houston. We arrived around 3:30...checked in and set up by 4:00. We were in site number 55. This is a new RV Resort...very high end facility and rigs. Here is a link to the Resort's web site. After dinner we set up the Wii console and bowled and played Dancing with the Stars game.
Here are a couple of pictures.
This is the back of the Resort facility.
Thursday: December 27th
We left around 10:00 hopefully to avoid the Houston morning rush hour traffic. We only had 90 miles to drive. There was an accident on I45 just north of Houston. Once we got past the accident the traffic was not bad at all. We arrived at the Jamaica Beach RV Park around 12:00. This RV park is also new...built last summer. It is not as nice as Rayford Crossing but it is a nice park. This is a a family owned park. Their son checked us in and was very helpful. We are in site number 46. Here is a link to the Park's web site.
Here is a picture of our site.
This picture is taken from our door.
After we got set up we decided to go to the beach. The Park is across the road from the gulf beach. About 300 feet down the road from the Park entrance is a Beach Access Road. You can drive out on the beach. The temperature was in the high 50s but with a strong wind...we were a little cold...so we cut our walk on the beach short. We drove around the Jamaica Beach area. There are a few shops we explored. We asked about restaurants in the area. We drove down to the west end of the island and back. By the time we got back it was getting dark. The weather was still windy and some rain was on the way. We called it a night and played a Wii game that I got for Cindy for Christmas.
Friday: December 28th
We went to Galveston today.
Here is a picture of Hotel Galvez that Cindy and I stayed at in June 1991. That was our first trip together. That was the last time in Galveston.
We drove almost to the east end of the island and then back to the "Strand" historic area. We were looking for a parking place and ended up at Pier 19. At Pier 19 is a retired off shore drilling rig and museum. We decided to check it out. The museum was very interesting.
The drilling rig is the "Ocean Star". It was used in the gulf in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. The walk way on the lower right in the picture is how you enter the rig. You can get an idea how large it is.
Here is a picture from the living quarters of the drilling rig. You can see the drilling floor of the rig.
This is from the drilling rig looking east up the Galveston ship channel.
Across the Galveston ship channel are a couple of drilling rigs either being built or refurbished. This rig is huge...many times large than the Ocean Star.
We walked around the "Strand" historic area. There are a lot of shops. We were getting hungry and started looking for a restaurant. We ended up at the Fisherman Wharf restaurant. We had a table next to the window. A couple of guys were fishing right outside the restaurant. I took this picture from our table.
After lunch we shopped some more along the "Strand". Actually, we looked some more...we didn't buy anything.
During lunch Cindy called Ellen to find out the address of their house when they lived in Galveston.
We drove around the historic home area of Galveston and found the house that Ellen and Terry lived in. It is actually for sale. This picture is taken from the Real Estate web site.
It was around 4:00, so we headed back to the RV Park.
On the way back we found our dream house (not really)
This house looks like it is built from the end of a steel tank with a roof....very strange. That is the door on the front.
It was about 4:30 when we got back to the Park. We walked the dogs real quick and drove to the beach. The beach and sunset was very beautiful.
Saturday: December 29th
It is cool out this morning...in the high 50s but a little windy. We got a late start and decided to drive west to the end of the island, cross the San Luis Pass toll bridge to the main land and on to Freeport, Texas. We ate a late lunch at a little seafood restaurant in Freeport. (There wasn't much in Freeport) but the food was good.
We headed back and along the way we drove out on the beach and drove a lot of the way back to the toll bridge on the beach.
We thought these were cute little cabins. We believe they are for rent.
When we crossed the toll bridge back to the island some folks were flying several huge kits on the beach...we had to check it out.
We got back to the RV Park about 4:30 and decided to go to the beach across the road for the last time. We found a few more shells. We stayed on the beach until dark.
There was a pond at the RV Park with a light show to music.
Sunday: December 30th
The morning was beautiful. About 60 degrees and no wind. The prettiest morning. We left the RV Park about 9:30 to head home.
I believe it was just south of Huntsville...there was a statue of Sam Houston which was pretty neat. I took the picture through the front windshield on the way by. A web site says that Sam Houston retired and died in Huntsville, TX.
We stopped at a beautiful TXDOT Safety Rest Area just north of Huntsville. The facility is brand new. We had a picnic and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We arrived home around 4:30. We drove a total of about 635 miles in the motorhome and I think we got around 9 mpg holding it between 55 and 60 mph.
We had a great trip. We wished we could have stayed longer in Galveston...but we are glad we got home before the northerner comes in on Monday the 31st.