We opted to try out the Hilton on the seawall this time. We loved it! It felt like a true mini-resort. Their customer service bent over backward and the rooms were quite plush. We reserved a room with a balcony and gulf view so we could even enjoy the lovely weather. Only drawback was that the balcony is a bit small and perpendicular to the beach. But still within sight. And we also got an awesome view of the hourly fire-spewing volcano at the Rainforest Cafe next door. It was close enough to feel the warmth of the fire. Our view from the door of the room was good. The fifth floor balcony view-- even nicer.
After arriving mid-afternoon, we headed straight to the beach. It had been two years since we had been here. The kids had varying reactions. David adored it! Waves, sand (even though mostly hard packed), and sun. Abigail enjoyed it if she kept busy. Missing naptime did result in a "big lower lip" a time or two though. And Elizabeth wasn't as sure of the whole thing. She didn't like the taste of salt water that she kept getting in the waves. And being "dirty" from the sand wasn't her favorite thing either. The kids built a magnificent sand castle with the help of our buckets, coffee cans, and a some adult muscle power.
When beach time concluded, we crossed the street, washed our feet off under the outdoor shower and jumped in the hotel pool. The pool is ovoid shaped (gets to about 5 feet in center about 3.5 feet on either end) and attached to the end of the egg, there is a round circuit of water that encircles a rock waterfall and a swim-up bar. We were early enough to miss most of the crazy crowd. It was quiet and I got to swim laps around the loop. The girl's loved the arched bridge over the loop...and the hot tub with bubbles. We also dried off before heading up to the room by jumping in the sauna for a few minutes.
We cleaned up and went to Bubba Gump's for dinner. It is on Pleasure Pier (not my favorite spot but beautiful view). We showed up just before sunset. We were seated on the balcony. Unfortunately, I spent the next 10 minutes trying to order for the kids and with my back to the water, I missed the whole sunset. I do know that it was lovely...according to M. The dinner was not too relaxing since it was so incredibly windy! I spent most of the dinner trying to keep our papers/napkins/etc...from flying away. That and keeping E from dropping her shoes (or herself) into the water. Oh, and waiting for M's food didn't help either. I had finished my meal (he told me to go ahead since it was fish) before he even got his! Exhaustion set in...
We headed back to the hotel and enjoyed a few of the previously mentioned displays of fire from the volcano next door before drifting off to sleep.
I resolved not to miss sunrise after the previous night's disappointment. I woke before dawn and headed to the balcony. It was quiet and a bit less windy than the night before. Sunrise was magnificent and well worth the early rising!
Our day began with a drive to track down breakfast. Our original plan of Chickfila didn't pan out since CFA isn't open for breakfast on the island. We watched the crazy weather as we drove. Raining at the hotel, but just a few miles down the road to the east it wasn't raining... Another mile and it was sunny as if no rain at all! We drove the other direction and saw the same thing. In fact, you could see the downpour of rain from the clouds. We ended up at Kroger's. A perfect breakfast of milk and a dozen donuts/fritters which we brought back to the room to eat.
After breakfast, we opted to go back to the beach for a little while before checking out of the hotel. We spotted a few remnants of the sand castle from the day before. We did lots of body surfing and wave jumping. This time at the beach was really nice. Even E enjoyed it and wasn't eager to leave. And while it was a bit cloudier than the day before, it did not rain while at the beach. (but note the rain downpour in the distance--especially last pic)
We then did another quick tour of the pool and hot tub. It was more full than the day before and got even crazier and more full after we left.
After cleaning up again from the sand and chlorine, it was checkout time from the hotel.
We headed next door for lunch at the kid's request. The Rainforest Cafe was as intriguing as always and made for a more relaxing lunch than the previous night's dinner. We were seated right across from the talking gorillas. And yes, that half gallon of milk on the table was ours...(leftover from breakfast).
We concluded lunch and decided to go on a driving tour of the coast of the island. A surrey ride was out due to thunder and pending rain storms (that never really came), and I was inwardly relieved since I was still rather tired out. Next time... We drove by all the stilted homes...the newest ones higher than any of the previous. Quite a few vacant lots with slabs where houses had been destroyed in some storm or another. And miles of beaches with driftwood from past storms. I had no idea Galveston island was as long as it was. We drove almost the length of it, but time ran out and we had to turn around before getting to the end. We also enjoyed a rather anticipated rainbow (remember the odd rain and sun combo?).
Overall, a very pleasant and relaxing trip. Just nice to get away to such a close spot for an overnight.
FYI: I opted to leave my nice camera at home and make do with my cell phone (so-so), my non-waterproof sport camera (quite nice) and a junky waterproof go-pro lookalike that I had yet to really try out. Picture quality rather poor across the board (except the few with the non-waterproofed sport video cam) but nice to mark the memories...even if the date and timestamped photos are all wrong.
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