Houston Vacation: Day Two

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Originally uploaded by Phisch

Photos here.

We managed to find an Einstein Bros. Bagel shop and had breakfast there. Mmm...is there any bagel sandwich better than capers, cream cheese and lox on an everything bagel? I'm not sure. I would have been happy to eat there at lunch. It turns out we all would have been...read further.

So from the area where our motel sits, it turns out Galveston is about 30 minutes away. It is an island, but apparently a long on and still not that hard to miss a sign when you are looking for it in a less-than-earnest manner. Sorry, houses in bright colors that sit on stilts are a big distraction for me. Besides, I didn't think three pyramids would be that hard to lose. It's easier than I thought.

Anyhow, we drive to Galveston Island proper and find that getting there is an interesting mix of industrial facilities, water, farm land and ranch land. Throw in some homes and you get an idea of what it was like. After we lost sight of Moody Gardens (the pyramids) we decided to go ahead and park and play on the sand. The first place we stopped at was a state park and charged $5 per person since it was really a camping facility. We did find a lot of places where you can get to the beach for free. We even parked on the sand! The temps were low 80s but the wind was very cool so we adults hung out in the truck while the kids ignored the weather and built their sand structures Pools, it turns out. How can you not think of a resort when you're at the beach? There were a couple of jelly fish but the boys could care less as I poked at them. The sand was very fine and the kind that sticks to you for a while so I was happy to have flip flops on (that kind of sand makes me grit my teeth if I touch it).

After a while of chasing waves and pool building, we decided we were hungry and drove in search of a place to eat. Lo and behold! We come across a pastel-colored palace called China Place. A decent Chinese place would have said "Palace" and that should have been our first clue. It was a buffet and at under $7 per person. Both clues. Both ignored. I must say, I've never had such an awful meal. It's up there with the meal we had at Denny's in our BC days that stayed with us for much longer than the aftertaste it left in our mouths. China Place in Galveston, TX does not get our vote. There were paramedics there who had partially eaten their food. They got a call while they were there and left...who knows if they ever came back. If they didn't, it's because something didn't agree with them. There were people coming into the parking lot asking us something and we warned them the food was no good. No elaboration, but maybe they could see it in our faces. They left really quickly. They deep-fried their rolls! Their sauces were an unearthly shade of red orange. My children were saints: they didn't ask for seconds.

Onward to Moody Gardens. It was a collection of huge displays plus a hotel, convention center and Vietnam Memorial. I got the distinct feel that Galveston is trying to recoup a good image it once had and the Gardens were a part of that effort. To visit everything---aquariums, Titanic exhibit, IMAX theaters, ride movies, ride a riverboat, etc.---would have cost $45 per person so we opted to visit just the rain forest pyramid exhibit for less than $40 for all four of us. We chose wisely, almost making up for eating at China Place. The boys enjoyed going inside a pyramid building and on top of that, there were lots of rainforesty things to oggle, touch, hear and, unfortunately, smell. They were careful to place signs everywhere, explaining the residents of particular rainforest habitats as well as the plants that they live with and in. I loved it! I've never been up close to a poison dart frog before, and they're kinda cute behind glass.

After we left the rainforest, we decided to drive down to The Strand. Since J instantly fell asleep--and fell hard---we didn't get out and walk around. As far as I understand it, The Strand was the wealthy, bustling part of Galveston a century and a half ago. While it's undergoing a lot of obvious attempts at upgrading and renovations, you could tell that at one point what was a really pretty collection of buildings had become run down. It could be that one or two particularly bad storms hit the island and people just didn't want to rebuild. But it had a custom house like you'd see in an old port city along with other grand government buildings. Yet another thing to make me wish I had a better camera :)

Instead of seeking out more food in Galveston, we drove back to Kemah and had dinner at a barbecue place we passed up in favor of seafood. The brisket sandwich I had was great and so was the peach cobbler for dessert. Yes, NM was off the diet...some things are unavoidable. But the kids enjoyed dinner very much, even the intentionally bad karaoke :D

The boys did go to sleep more quickly than the night before, however. I told them 50 cents would go to the one who fell asleep first. ;)