My first visit to Galveston Island Texas

Monday, June 10, 2013

My first visit to Galveston Island Texas

I went to Galveston Texas this past week and I wanted to fall in love with the gulf shores of Galveston, TX, but it just didn't happen. The problem is Gulf Shores Alabama and all of the gulf, east of Gulf Shores all the way to the bottom of Florida is so amazingly peaceful with white sand, much bluer gulf water, and when you are walking on the sand and you look back to the land side you see more sand, beach houses, condominiums, seafood restaurants, and walkways coming from the land side down to the beaches. What you don't see is cars! The cars are on the other side of the houses and condos. When I am walking along the gulf and look back towards land, seeing and hearing a five lane highway just doesn't bring me any peacefulness. It is noisy and busy. I want to hear the waves not the cars. I miss Gulf Shores, Alabama.

It seems like you can walk forever along Gulf Shores Alabama. When I stay in Gulf Shores in a condo or motel and get a gulf front facing room I can open my balcony doors and hear the waves and smell the salt water. It is heaven.

Via Pinterest

A lot of the motels and condos have walkways down to the shore. Some of them are elevated like this one and involve a lot of stairs, but others are pretty straight and only involve a few stairs.

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This is the Pleasure Pier on Galveston Island. Yes, that is an amusement park out on the pier. I took this picture from the balcony on the restaurant from across the street.

This picture was taken on Pleasure Pier looking toward the west side of the island.

This is a very good representation of what Galveston Island looks like. Here it is high tide and there is no sand to walk on at all.

Via Pinterest

Now the western side of Galveston Island did have the road on the other side of the single family homes, and there are parking areas to pull your car into and walk down to the gulf. This area is removed from the busy tourist area. It is much more remote and beautiful here.

I like the west end. I especially like the bay side, which is Galveston Bay. You see I grew up along the Chesapeake Bay in a little town called Saint Leonard in Calvert County Maryland, which is a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides, the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and the Patuxent River. I love being around water. There is something about water that makes me peaceful. It must be wonderful to live here on the west end of Galveston Island on the bay side.

I took this picture from the dock of the Waterman Restaurant on Galveston Island. Nice! It must be amazing to wake up every day and look out the window and all you see is water, calm bay water.

Okay, so I pointed the camera in the other direction and here is something much more manageable. A little town home on the bay would work just fine for me.

As I was leaving this area I pulled into a neighborhood with homes on canals. This would work even better for with me. Although I don't have a boat, I bet I could find one.

There are lots of homes for sale on the bay side of Galveston Island. I think I might need to do some home searching!! Do you or have you ever lived on or near the water? Growing up I lived on the Chesapeake Bay and then many years later I lived on the Atlantic Ocean in Cape Canaveral Florida. They both had their advantages. I would love to live near the water again. I can hear it calling my name! Have you ever been to Galveston Island or Gulf Shores? I will share with you some more another time about the historical district of Galveston, Bishops Palace and Kemah, TX.