Searching for a Retirement Home: Texas Day Three
This morning we awoke with the temperature in the mid thirties, and the rain was slightly raining. We headed east towards Houston and then crossed across the inner coastal highway into Galveston.
After a lengthy traffic delay going through Houston we finally turned south towards the coast. Going south on Interstate 45, we saw signs for NASA's Houston Space Center. Although it wasn't on our agenda, we got off the freeway and found the space center. It was just a quick drive by. Someday it would be fun to actually tour the place.
Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowing.
LoriAnn and I blew into town on a gust of wind. When I thought of Galveston before this day, this is not what I expected. This town is a seaside town very similar to many others that I have visited before. It is similar to Virginia Beach with its tourist shops, motels, and restaurants.
The rain never quit, but we made the most of the afternoon. This was a fun destination, not part of our search for a retirement home. We drove south down the beach road. At one place I pulled over so LoriAnn could climb down the sea wall and get her toes wet. Besides getting wet, they also got very cold.
We stopped at a sea side restaurant and got a bowl of shrimp and sausage gumbo. Then we drove through town admiring the old buildings in town. We found one large home named Bishop palace. I had to take a picture of that place and send it to my friend Terry Bishop. After that we ventured over a bridge to an Island that had a park at one end. Seawolf Park, to our amazement, contained an undersea warfare museum, with a Submarine and a Destroyer Escort that you can tour. Of course we paid the entrance fee and visited the ships.
"The USS Cavalla is berthed in Seawolf Park, as a memorial to the lost submarine USS Seawolf. Cavalla was a Gato class fleet sub, designed and built in the summer of 1943 by the Electric Boat Company and launched on November 14, 1943. She was commissioned on Feb. 29, 1944, the first "leap year" boat built by E.B. On June 19, 1944, on her maiden patrol, she sank the 30,000 ton aircraft carrier Shokaku (veteran of Pearl Harbor and Battle of Coral Sea). This earned her the Presidential Unit Citation."
"USS Stewart began her service operating out of Miami as a "school ship" training student officers. She escorted President Roosevelt in the presidential yacht down the Potomac River to rendezvous with USS Iowa in the Chesapeake Bay for his mission to Casablanca and Tehran. In 1944, she commenced North Atlantic convoy operations, making 30 crossings with occasional enemy submarine and aircraft encounters. Stewart conducted training exercises out of Pearl Harbor until the end of the war. She was decommissioned in late 1945. In 1974, Stewart was formally donated to Seawolf Park."
When at the end of the day, we were topside on the Stewart, finishing up the tour, when the heavy rain started coming down. Sadly we had to make a mad dash to the car in the rain. We went and checked into the motel just after sunset, took a short nap, and then headed into town for seafood. We were rather undecided about where to go, but finally settled for the "Fisherman's Wharf". It was a rather delicious meal.
Galveston was a fun visit for us. Its a place we agreed we would like to visit again, but it was not a place that we would like to move to.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, and we have plans to head North to Tyler Texas. Come back and read about that adventure.
After a lengthy traffic delay going through Houston we finally turned south towards the coast. Going south on Interstate 45, we saw signs for NASA's Houston Space Center. Although it wasn't on our agenda, we got off the freeway and found the space center. It was just a quick drive by. Someday it would be fun to actually tour the place.Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowing.
LoriAnn and I blew into town on a gust of wind. When I thought of Galveston before this day, this is not what I expected. This town is a seaside town very similar to many others that I have visited before. It is similar to Virginia Beach with its tourist shops, motels, and restaurants.
The rain never quit, but we made the most of the afternoon. This was a fun destination, not part of our search for a retirement home. We drove south down the beach road. At one place I pulled over so LoriAnn could climb down the sea wall and get her toes wet. Besides getting wet, they also got very cold.We stopped at a sea side restaurant and got a bowl of shrimp and sausage gumbo. Then we drove through town admiring the old buildings in town. We found one large home named Bishop palace. I had to take a picture of that place and send it to my friend Terry Bishop. After that we ventured over a bridge to an Island that had a park at one end. Seawolf Park, to our amazement, contained an undersea warfare museum, with a Submarine and a Destroyer Escort that you can tour. Of course we paid the entrance fee and visited the ships.
"The USS Cavalla is berthed in Seawolf Park, as a memorial to the lost submarine USS Seawolf. Cavalla was a Gato class fleet sub, designed and built in the summer of 1943 by the Electric Boat Company and launched on November 14, 1943. She was commissioned on Feb. 29, 1944, the first "leap year" boat built by E.B. On June 19, 1944, on her maiden patrol, she sank the 30,000 ton aircraft carrier Shokaku (veteran of Pearl Harbor and Battle of Coral Sea). This earned her the Presidential Unit Citation."
"USS Stewart began her service operating out of Miami as a "school ship" training student officers. She escorted President Roosevelt in the presidential yacht down the Potomac River to rendezvous with USS Iowa in the Chesapeake Bay for his mission to Casablanca and Tehran. In 1944, she commenced North Atlantic convoy operations, making 30 crossings with occasional enemy submarine and aircraft encounters. Stewart conducted training exercises out of Pearl Harbor until the end of the war. She was decommissioned in late 1945. In 1974, Stewart was formally donated to Seawolf Park."
When at the end of the day, we were topside on the Stewart, finishing up the tour, when the heavy rain started coming down. Sadly we had to make a mad dash to the car in the rain. We went and checked into the motel just after sunset, took a short nap, and then headed into town for seafood. We were rather undecided about where to go, but finally settled for the "Fisherman's Wharf". It was a rather delicious meal.
Galveston was a fun visit for us. Its a place we agreed we would like to visit again, but it was not a place that we would like to move to.
Tomorrow is Tuesday, and we have plans to head North to Tyler Texas. Come back and read about that adventure.
Comments