Houston, We Have A Secret: A TX Vacation With A WDW Surprise ...aaand Done! Page 43

[KatMark]

We need to correct this. It's not fear. I did ride it, you know. It's more utter hatred. Now can we please get back to making fun of Barry?

But you are almost as easy a target as Barry.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

I'm such a good nemesis that I was 'only' 5 pages behind on your TR!

I will add that I read all the posts.... I mean I had to see how many times Bambi had to correct you. I was kinda disappointed when both of you teamed up to make fun of Mark and his fear of ToT!

It was nice to get the heat off of me for a while

I NEED one of those Homer shirts with the headphones on though... that is AWESOME!

I googled it and found it a JC Penny!

http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx...en s Homer Headphones Tee by JCPenney Yellow

So this is what you learned in college?

Learned? No my friend, this skill can not be taught. It's ingrained in my DNA.

Great updates... you guys sure had a busy trip! The NASA update was great!

Thanks!

Yes, but the scene doesn't end there. We respond, "Can you come back later? I've almost beaten Call of Duty."

Just tell him something like "I'm busy calculating the polymer density of the asphalt in correlation to gravitational force exertion present at the site." If he's anything like my boss, he'll assume that's important and will leave you alone the rest of the afternoon.

We need to correct this. It's not fear. I did ride it, you know. It's more utter hatred. Now can we please get back to making fun of Barry?

Nope.

Don't encourage him!

Too late.

But you are almost as easy a target as Barry.

Ha! Did you hear that Mark? Almost as easy a targ...


Hey, wait a minute!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Houston Day 5: Monday, April 25 (Part II)

By mid afternoon, we had wrapped up our quick visit to Johnson Space Center and headed south to Galveston Island. Rather than take the more direct route down I-45, we continued east on NASA Road 1 to 146, then took that down the East coast of Texas. I was hoping the drive would be closer to the bay and thus more scenic than the Interstate - but I was wrong. We only saw the bay 2 or 3 times, and then only when crossing bridges over rivers or canals that lead out to the bay.

We did see Kemah Boardwalk. This place had been suggested both here and by my Uncle Jack. It looked pretty cool - with some amusement rides, shopping, restaurants, etc. However, it had three things going against it:

1. We had just done a bunch of amusement park type rides yesterday at the Downtown Aquarium
2. A lot of the rides had height requirements that our kids didn't quite reach - and we didn't feel it would be a good value to stop any only do the limited number of rides they could get on.
3. Umm...we were going to Walt Disney World in 2 days. We figured we'd get some rides in then...

So we got a nice look at Kemah Boardwalk from 146, but stayed on the road and continued heading south.

The plan was to meet my Aunt and Uncle at Seawolf Park. It's a park in Galveston that is home to the USS Cavalla and USS Stewart - a WWII submarine and destroyer, respectively. In a tour book my Aunt had sent up at Christmas, Houston With Kids, they talked about Seawolf Park, the Galveston Island Ferry and a light house on Bolivar Peninsula (which is on the other end of the Ferry line.) We naturally assumed that we needed to take the Ferry to the park. So we drove on, parked the car and headed up the upper deck to take in the sights on our 18 minute boat ride.

One of the sights we saw was this neat bird flying around.

Hey, what's that behind the bird? Golly, it looks like a WWII submarine and destroyer. And we're getting further and further away from them.

I asked a crew member about Seawolf Park, and he told me that when the Ferry stops, drive off, turn around, get back in line to get on, then get back off in Galveston. He was very nice about giving me the rest of the directions, but I kind of tuned him out because I was trying to decided if I wanted to burn that book or toss it overboard into the bay.

Anyway, we enjoyed the ferry ride to nowhere as much as we could. As you can see, the weather was less that ideal - cloudy and windy. I was quite surprised at how stable the ship was though, even with those waves pounding it, it never swayed a bit. Of course, it was loaded down with several dozen cars & trucks, plus a couple of 18 wheelers.

We eventually reached the other side and were unloaded onto one of the most desolate stretches of land this side of Texarkana. We drove down the road for about a quarter mile, looking for a place to turn around. Finally, I pulled into some kind of abandoned store with a steep driveway heading back onto the road. Traffic was pretty heavy, both with cars still getting off of the ferry and cars getting in line to load. Finally, I saw a slight opening in traffic. I screamed out my battle cry "IT'S A RENTAL!" and punched the accelerator. The car may or may not have caught a little bit of air coming up onto the road, but I had 2 kids in the backseat squealing in delight and demanding to do it again.

We did get back in line, but there were so many other cars that we had to wait for the next boat. The round trip ferry ride was close to an hour and a half, but eventually we made it back to Galveston and met up with my Aunt & Uncle at a McDonalds. We decided to bypass Seawolf park and head for Gulf. One problem though - the wind was whipping in off the Gulf of Mexico at about 40 mph. The waves were very rough, and the thick cloud cover kept every ray of sunshine away. We decided to try and find Galveston State Park - wich was supposed to be on the north side of the island - on Galveston Bay instead of the Gulf. The theory was that the water would be calmer. That may be true, but we never actually found it. The GPS took us out to the middle of nowhere.

We did eventually pull off at a public beach access area quite a ways outside of the city. We didn't fly 1200 miles not to at least splash around in the Gulf of Mexico.

You can see all of the seaweed that is washed up on the shore. Yeah, there was a bit of a rotting plant smell, but you got used to it.

We spent some time at the beach, but not too much. The wind was whipping salt and sand all over the place, so we decided to call it a day and go searching for some food.

We continued south-east past hundreds of houses - all built on stilts to protect them against storm surge. Many looked new (Hurricane Ike devastated this area in 2008). Others looked like they'd been there for 30 years, yet would fall over in any kind of stiff breeze. It was very surreal driving for 30 miles along Galveston Island and seeing entire neighborhoods built up on stilts.

Finally, we came across the Red Snapper Inn. With a name like that, yeah, I ordered the Red Snapper. And it was fantastic!

From there, we headed back north to Pearland. Bedtime would have to wait, though, because I has so much sand and sea salt stuck on me that a shower was clearly needed.

UP NEXT: Our last day in Houston.

 

[Poolrat]

Sorry you took the long way to Galvaston. the weather look sless than ideal but it looks like you made the most of it.

Hope the food was good at the Red Snapper Inn.

 

[KatMark]

I asked a crew member about Seawolf Park, and he told me that when the Ferry stops, drive off, turn around, get back in line to get on, then get back off in Galveston. He was very nice about giving me the rest of the directions, but I kind of tuned him out because I was trying to decided if I wanted to burn that book or toss it overboard into the bay.

I may have considered throwing you overboard at this point.


We did eventually pull off at a public beach access area quite a ways outside of the city. We didn't fly 1200 miles not to at least splash around in the Gulf of Mexico.

Great picture!

Two beautiful ladies.

Is Evan looking for that "overboard book?"

 

[chicagoshannon]

wow you guys are sure checking off things to do in Texas. Are you exhausted yet?

 

[chloe770]

Houston Day 5: Monday, April 25 (Part II)

Finally, I saw a slight opening in traffic. I screamed out my battle cry "IT'S A RENTAL!" and punched the accelerator. The car may or may not have caught a little bit of air coming up onto the road, but I had 2 kids in the backseat squealing in delight and demanding to do it again.

LOVE IT! DH would have done the same thing and maybe me too

In all of my trips to Houston I have never been to Galveston. I've always been told "Don't bother" I guess as an east coast girl via California a Texas beach probably wouldn't compare.

 

[afwdwfan]

We naturally assumed that we needed to take the Ferry to the park. So we drove on, parked the car and headed up the upper deck to take in the sights on our 18 minute boat ride.

You know what happens when you assume...

One of the sights we saw was this neat bird flying around.

Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.

Sorry, I couldn't resist with the Navy theme.

I asked a crew member about Seawolf Park, and he told me that when the Ferry stops, drive off, turn around, get back in line to get on, then get back off in Galveston. He was very nice about giving me the rest of the directions, but I kind of tuned him out because I was trying to decided if I wanted to burn that book or toss it overboard into the bay.

D'oh!

I screamed out my battle cry "IT'S A RENTAL!" and punched the accelerator. The car may or may not have caught a little bit of air coming up onto the road, but I had 2 kids in the backseat squealing in delight and demanding to do it again.

Did you get the damage waiver? If so, heck yeah, do it again!

The GPS took us out to the middle of nowhere.

Just like the driver that took you on the ferry to nowhere.

You can see all of the seaweed that is washed up on the shore. Yeah, there was a bit of a rotting plant smell, but you got used to it.

Did it smell like excellence?

 

[dvc4life]

Your trip to Texas looks great! Thanks for sharing all the places you've been and all the fun you have had. Can't wait for the "Surprise" to WDW coming up.

 

[Billmel]

Great Trip report, can't wait to read more.

 

[GeminiAngel]

Too bad you got turned around on the ferry. Darn tour books
I can't believe the wind!! Wow. How was the tempture? Seems like it was good.

A lot of the buildings are new due to Ike that hit in 2008. My MIL took huge damage to her home. She had to move to Houston while it was re-stored.
All her belongings were destroyed.

 

[lilpapsgirl]

Finally, I saw a slight opening in traffic. I screamed out my battle cry "IT'S A RENTAL!" and punched the accelerator. The car may or may not have caught a little bit of air coming up onto the road, but I had 2 kids in the backseat squealing in delight and demanding to do it again.

That sounds like it was an adventure.
When you drop off the rental, just tell them that you have no idea about what there talking about and that is what insuance is for.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I was hoping the drive would be closer to the bay and thus more scenic than the Interstate - but I was wrong. We only saw the bay 2 or 3 times, and then only when crossing bridges over rivers or canals that lead out to the bay.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I...I took the one less traveled by. And it made no freakin' difference whatsoever.

Hey, what's that behind the bird? Golly, it looks like a WWII submarine and destroyer. And we're getting further and further away from them.

Is this where you did the slow motion "NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo....?

I screamed out my battle cry "IT'S A RENTAL!" and punched the accelerator. The car may or may not have caught a little bit of air coming up onto the road, but I had 2 kids in the backseat squealing in delight and demanding to do it again.

Way better and cheaper than Kemah.

We decided to try and find Galveston State Park - wich was supposed to be on the north side of the island - on Galveston Bay instead of the Gulf. The theory was that the water would be calmer. That may be true, but we never actually found it. The GPS took us out to the middle of nowhere.

Were you suddenly on an island with a big smoke monster? No wonder it didn't show up on GPS.

We did eventually pull off at a public beach access area quite a ways outside of the city. We didn't fly 1200 miles not to at least splash around in the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm looking at these pictures and imagining the weather and thinking, "This wasn't in the brochure!"

Did it smell like excellence?

Pretty sure that smelled like victory.

 

[dvczerfs]

nice update barry. its a rental! the water looks cold for some reason.

 

[PartyFromSaturn]

Just found your trip reports last night and enjoyed them all with my 3.5 year old. I had to speed read at times, b/c she was only interested in the pictures of Madison and Evan. She wants to do EVERYTHING like Madison, include carry a tiger on her head, go to the space station and ride a train. I hope to find time to go back and actually read all the parts that I had to skim through.

Can't wait to hear about the WDW surprise coming up! Thanks for sharing everything. Great trip reports!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Sorry you took the long way to Galvaston. the weather look sless than ideal but it looks like you made the most of it.

Hope the food was good at the Red Snapper Inn.

The long way didn't really bother me. Yeah, it wasn't the view I was hoping for, but I'm sure it was better than anything I'd see on the freeway.

I may have considered throwing you overboard at this point.

Nope, it wasn't my fault. Or Bambi's. We were both convinced that the ferry was the way to the park.

Great picture!

Two beautiful ladies.

Thank you and Thank you!

Is Evan looking for that "overboard book?"

Nah, he's just getting dirty. That's was Evans do best.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

wow you guys are sure checking off things to do in Texas. Are you exhausted yet?

Nah. A little tired maybe, but not exhausted. We're used to being on the go and doing things. We only had 5 days in Houston, so we wanted to make the most of them. One of the things we wanted to make sure the kids saw was the Gulf of Mexico. We took them to it in Tampa a year or so ago and we wanted to try to show them just how big it (and the world) really is.

LOVE IT! DH would have done the same thing and maybe me too

In all of my trips to Houston I have never been to Galveston. I've always been told "Don't bother" I guess as an east coast girl via California a Texas beach probably wouldn't compare.

My aunt & uncle kind of had the same reaction when we told them we wanted to head down to Galveston. Even in nice weather they said the water isn't very clear and the beach isn't exactly white & sandy. But like I said above, we wanted to see the Gulf.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

You know what happens when you assume...

Yeah, in God we Trust. Everything else, we GPS.

Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.

Negative, Ghost Rider. The pattern is full.

Sorry, I couldn't resist with the Navy theme.

That's Ok. But now I have Danger Zone stuck in my head.

Did you get the damage waiver? If so, heck yeah, do it again!

What do you mean I have to pay for it?!? There was no front bumper or suspension when I picked it up!

Did it smell like excellence?

I have excellence running trough my veins. And my colon.

Your trip to Texas looks great! Thanks for sharing all the places you've been and all the fun you have had. Can't wait for the "Surprise" to WDW coming up.

Thanks for reading along! The surprise is coming soon, I promise!

Great Trip report, can't wait to read more.

Thank you! (My boss is off tomorrow afternoon. I have a feeling I'll get another update done then. )

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Too bad you got turned around on the ferry. Darn tour books
I can't believe the wind!! Wow. How was the tempture? Seems like it was good.

The temps were good - probably in the low 80's. But yeah, the wind was brutal. You had to use the window washer every couple of minutes while driving because of the sand and sea salt whipping around so much.

A lot of the buildings are new due to Ike that hit in 2008. My MIL took huge damage to her home. She had to move to Houston while it was re-stored.
All her belongings were destroyed.

Oh no! I can't imagine having everything I own just wiped away. She's OK, though I hope.

That sounds like it was an adventure.
When you drop off the rental, just tell them that you have no idea about what there talking about and that is what insuance is for.

I like to live on the wild side - I declined the extra insurance!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I...I took the one less traveled by. And it made no freakin' difference whatsoever.

Wow. Actual poetry in my TR. This is just getting to classy...

Is this where you did the slow motion "NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo....?

You would think so, but it was really more of just us staring at it, watching it get smaller and smaller and a "huh. That's odd."

Way better and cheaper than Kemah.

Yes - and with a slight, but real, possibility of death!

Were you suddenly on an island with a big smoke monster? No wonder it didn't show up on GPS.

Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa.
Is this purgatory? No, it's Galveston Island.

I'm looking at these pictures and imagining the weather and thinking, "This wasn't in the brochure!"

Well, just run the brochure under your kitchen faucet, then put it in front of a fan. There - exactly the same!

 

[sheridee32]

Houston Day 5: Monday, April 25 (Part II)

By mid afternoon, we had wrapped up our quick visit to Johnson Space Center and headed south to Galveston Island. Rather than take the more direct route down I-45, we continued east on NASA Road 1 to 146, then took that down the East coast of Texas. I was hoping the drive would be closer to the bay and thus more scenic than the Interstate - but I was wrong. We only saw the bay 2 or 3 times, and then only when crossing bridges over rivers or canals that lead out to the bay.

We did see Kemah Boardwalk. This place had been suggested both here and by my Uncle Jack. It looked pretty cool - with some amusement rides, shopping, restaurants, etc. However, it had three things going against it:

1. We had just done a bunch of amusement park type rides yesterday at the Downtown Aquarium
2. A lot of the rides had height requirements that our kids didn't quite reach - and we didn't feel it would be a good value to stop any only do the limited number of rides they could get on.
3. Umm...we were going to Walt Disney World in 2 days. We figured we'd get some rides in then...

So we got a nice look at Kemah Boardwalk from 146, but stayed on the road and continued heading south.

The plan was to meet my Aunt and Uncle at Seawolf Park. It's a park in Galveston that is home to the USS Cavalla and USS Stewart - a WWII submarine and destroyer, respectively. In a tour book my Aunt had sent up at Christmas, Houston With Kids, they talked about Seawolf Park, the Galveston Island Ferry and a light house on Bolivar Peninsula (which is on the other end of the Ferry line.) We naturally assumed that we needed to take the Ferry to the park. So we drove on, parked the car and headed up the upper deck to take in the sights on our 18 minute boat ride.

One of the sights we saw was this neat bird flying around.

Hey, what's that behind the bird? Golly, it looks like a WWII submarine and destroyer. And we're getting further and further away from them.

I asked a crew member about Seawolf Park, and he told me that when the Ferry stops, drive off, turn around, get back in line to get on, then get back off in Galveston. He was very nice about giving me the rest of the directions, but I kind of tuned him out because I was trying to decided if I wanted to burn that book or toss it overboard into the bay.

Anyway, we enjoyed the ferry ride to nowhere as much as we could. As you can see, the weather was less that ideal - cloudy and windy. I was quite surprised at how stable the ship was though, even with those waves pounding it, it never swayed a bit. Of course, it was loaded down with several dozen cars & trucks, plus a couple of 18 wheelers.

We eventually reached the other side and were unloaded onto one of the most desolate stretches of land this side of Texarkana. We drove down the road for about a quarter mile, looking for a place to turn around. Finally, I pulled into some kind of abandoned store with a steep driveway heading back onto the road. Traffic was pretty heavy, both with cars still getting off of the ferry and cars getting in line to load. Finally, I saw a slight opening in traffic. I screamed out my battle cry "IT'S A RENTAL!" and punched the accelerator. The car may or may not have caught a little bit of air coming up onto the road, but I had 2 kids in the backseat squealing in delight and demanding to do it again.

We did get back in line, but there were so many other cars that we had to wait for the next boat. The round trip ferry ride was close to an hour and a half, but eventually we made it back to Galveston and met up with my Aunt & Uncle at a McDonalds. We decided to bypass Seawolf park and head for Gulf. One problem though - the wind was whipping in off the Gulf of Mexico at about 40 mph. The waves were very rough, and the thick cloud cover kept every ray of sunshine away. We decided to try and find Galveston State Park - wich was supposed to be on the north side of the island - on Galveston Bay instead of the Gulf. The theory was that the water would be calmer. That may be true, but we never actually found it. The GPS took us out to the middle of nowhere.

We did eventually pull off at a public beach access area quite a ways outside of the city. We didn't fly 1200 miles not to at least splash around in the Gulf of Mexico.

You can see all of the seaweed that is washed up on the shore. Yeah, there was a bit of a rotting plant smell, but you got used to it.

We spent some time at the beach, but not too much. The wind was whipping salt and sand all over the place, so we decided to call it a day and go searching for some food.

We continued south-east past hundreds of houses - all built on stilts to protect them against storm surge. Many looked new (Hurricane Ike devastated this area in 2008). Others looked like they'd been there for 30 years, yet would fall over in any kind of stiff breeze. It was very surreal driving for 30 miles along Galveston Island and seeing entire neighborhoods built up on stilts.

Finally, we came across the Red Snapper Inn. With a name like that, yeah, I ordered the Red Snapper. And it was fantastic!

From there, we headed back north to Pearland. Bedtime would have to wait, though, because I has so much sand and sea salt stuck on me that a shower was clearly needed.

UP NEXT: Our last day in Houston.

I love your report the part of the beach that you came across when you got off the ferry is what is left after hurricane IKE that is what used to be Crystal Beach it looks much better than it did after the hurricane that is actually the best place to stay in the summer we used to go every summer till IKE happened but if you go down a little farther you can see where they are rebuilding before IKE you would see nothing but beach houses but our beloved island is coming back we are staying there this summer. We must have been at disney the same time we just got back yesterday