The Strand

Last weekend (wee! I'm only about a week behind on blogging finally!), we headed down to Galveston for a little overnight get away. We first headed downtown to the Strand, which backs up to a rather industrial area in Galveston. Honestly, besides tourism, the entire island is mostly shipping and oil/gas related industrial type of stuff related to the ocean.



The Oceanstar Off-Shore Drilling Rig & Museum probably hasn't been booming since the big oil spill in the Gulf.



I hope these people weren't planning on going out too far into the bay in this itty-bitty boat.



We were there on a Sunday, so the big Carnival cruise ship was in port exchanging passengers.



The Strand is the historic, downtown part of Galveston with some great old buildings and tons of personality. Before the great hurricane of 1900, Galveston was one of the biggest ports in the country & largest city in Texas due to all the maritime and shipping business.



We had a delicious lunch at Willie G's and enjoyed watching the boats cruise past us.



H & I actually went on our second date to Mardi Gras Galveston in 2004. It's a more family-friendly version of the NOLA party. They also have a big Dickens on the Strand celebration every Christmas. It looks really neat & we'd like to go every year, but December is such a busy month.







We walked past D'Vine Wine on the Strand, but decided to keep exploring since we'd had drinks with lunch. They have a nice little courtyard area that would be lovely when the weather is cooperative.



The area if full of bars & restaurants, arts galleries, nick knack & tourist shops, all housed in historical buildings with some really fun architecture.



Many of the older buildings were warehouse in the late part of the 19th century, but many are now unfortunately abandoned.



Some of the colors and designs are just so much fun.



I loved all the ornate details and colors of this brick building.



The heat and humidity are in a cosmic battle with my hair :(



Old Galveston Square has a giant coronet that I always remember. BTW- I don't recommend the segway tours for this area- too many stairs and elevated sidewalks!



I really wished I'd had my wider (than 18mm) angle lens to capture some of these buildings. Luckily, The Strand didn't suffer too much damage or flooding during Hurricane Ike.



This military surplus center has been around as long as I can remember & I have always had to go in and check out the cool stuff.



It was otherwise a hot and crowded day down on the Strand- lots of tourists shopping, eating and drinking. We decided to head towards the beaches.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: An awesome Saturday of chilling out and catching up- I haven't had to leave the house yet (well except for my 10 mile run).