Douglas County insists that kids don’t go more than 2 months in school without a some time off, which means we have a week-long Fall Break as well. This year we went to Galveston to see Grandpa Ashley and Grandma Barb, spend some time on another beach, and relive some of my childhood memories with the boys. We rented a house on the beach a few miles outside of town. It was just about perfect for the six of us.
It was a big relief to find that the tar balls I remember floating up on the beach have disappeared in the last 30 years. They may not be world class beaches, but they made for some good sand castles, boogie boarding, clam digging, and old-fashioned body surfing. We were on the beach every day except one day that it rained. Outside of that, the weather was fantastic, with highs in the low 80’s and tolerable humidity.
We visited my great grandfather’s house, which was recently sold out of the family and has undergone an intensive restoration. It was fun to see the boys swinging on the front porch swing where I can remember passing so much time at their age.
On the one day it rained, we took a tour of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The big new attraction is touring through the space shuttle enterprise and one of the modified 747’s used to ferry the shuttles across country. While we were on the tram tour of the facility, the skies opened up into a downpour. Thank goodness for those $1 ponchos! We also got a taste of World War II history at Seawolf Park touring a submarine and destroyer escort, and at the Lone Star Aviation Museum, where we incidentally found a Russian Mig as one of the first exhibits.
Of course no trip to Galveston would be complete without a ferry ride. The boys enjoyed feeding the seagulls and watching the porpoises jump from the water so much that we did it twice. Having seagulls swooping down to pluck the crackers from their hands was pretty unnerving at first, but eventually both boys had the birds eating right from their hands. All in all, it was a great week, and we’re looking forward to coming back again.
