After lunch, we headed out to the west end of Galveston Island. The only way to get there is along the Seawall. It's the main drag & were quite a bit of the easy-access beach is located. If you are a history buff, I'd recommend Galveston- there are some fabulous Victorian type homes & you can learn about how they raised the parts of the island up to 17' after the 1900 Hurricane and built the Seawall.
The remaining damage from Hurricane Ike is still very visible along the coastal areas. The Flagship Hotel, once a local icon on the Seawall, was looking very decrepit and quite the eye-sore. Rumor has it that the Landry's Group bought it & is starting renovations anyway.
The San Luis Resort is *the* place to stay on Galveston & the most resort like and luxurious. The hotel is built on an old arm WWII bunker & is the evaluation place for hurricanes.
Adjacent to the hotel, the Landry group has a town square area with several restaurants & amusements.
The seawall and beach were crowded with people taking any available space they could find. These people had the right idea ;)
We stayed at the Hilton & it was *eh*. Nothing exciting or special, just nice to be on the water & within walking distance of restaurants.
Further down the Seawall, most of the larger piers & a few of the shops that extended into the Gulf were gone.
We ended up at the house of H's boss & headed down to get some beach time with him. Everybody there usually rides their golf carts down & parks them.
It was a really nice day out & we enjoyed the surf and sun. The beach is much smaller (narrower) here than it used to be & several of the 1st row of homes are actually ON the beach now. Some weren't fixed & are being torn down, and some are still occupied.
The beach was full of people & shade tents to keep the ice chests cool. I really, really want to get back down there with the dogs some time. I'm sure they would LOVE it.
We hung out with them for a few hours & watched all the excitement of menagerie of people who traipsed by us.
All in all, the water looked good & the waves weren't too big. Most people on this side of the island had made a full recovery from Hurricane Ike. I hear that Boliver Peninsula is still decimated, but I won't wait 2.5 hours in a ferry line to go check it out.
We ended up having a yummy dinner at Landry's & then walking around the arcade area just people watching. It was great to get away for the weekend & mostly sleep in the next morning.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: More sad that we finally finished The Wire this weekend, but glad that we found such an awesome series to watch the last 6 months.
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