7 Days in Houston

As it turns out, we spent a week at the Bay View Harbor RV, near Houston.  We travelled all around the area including a trip down to Galveston.  Houston is a huge city with a very diverse economy, but there are large sections of town that are very ugly because of the oil refineries, chemical plants.  But there is money there, beautiful homes on lakes and the seashore, huge office towers, a nice rapid transit system, and a different venue for each of it's professional sports teams.

Laurie and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary at Minute Maid Park in Houston watching the Astros play the San Diego Padres.  (relax ladies, we did go out the next night for a very nice seafood dinner.

Our trip to Galveston was an interesting drive as we took the freeway down from Houston and then took a small ferry from Galeveston to Port Bolivar and drove back to Baytown on backroads.  Galveston Island is one of those sand spits I spoke of previously.  It basically is a long (15 miles) sand spit that has been developed into an island.  The Gulf of Mexico side is 'tourist city' with beaches, restaurants and motels.  The other side of the island is industry; it is two extreme opposites.  Galveston was hit by hurricane Ike 2 or 3 years ago and some of the business are still boarded up.  Some of the piers collapsed and they haven't repaired them yet.

 Since we have arrived at the Gulf of Mexico, Laurie and I have seen cities and homes built right along the coastline, even on the sand dunes.  One of the things that is obvious when you live along the coast is that they know another disaster is coming, not if, but when.  But they just keep re-building.  They are building their homes on stilts (some 20-25 feet in the air), even the businesses; motels and hotels (see the photos).  Laurie says it reminds her of a tree fort.  It all seems so strange to us in that disasterous weather is usually not an issue in the Pacific North West where we come from.

Having a bite to eat at a restaurant called 'the Spot' on the beach in Galveston.

When hurricane Ike hit, the storm covered the Island with salt water and sand.  Many of the old, beautiful oak trees where killed by the salt water.  They asked the clean-up crew to cut the trees off leaving 10 foot stumps.  Then they brought in artists to carv the stumps so that people would remember their beloved trees.  There are 20 different carvings around town like the "Tin Man" pictured here.  The old town of Galveston has many incredible examples of Victorian architecture.  It really is quite a place.

Then we took the ferry from Galveston to Port Bolivar and drove back to Baytown.

We left the Houston area on May 11 and headed for a town called Port Authur.  The travel brochure described it as a nice little town with camping on an inlet and it had some historical significance.  When we got there we were hugely disappointed as it seemed that the economic engine for the town had diminished.  Stores were boarded up, there were no shopping malls, and the tourist attractions were minimal to say the least.  After a quick stop, we headed for Louisiana.

Observations:

* We were in Texas for 19 days.

* Using I-10 Highway, Texas is 878 miles across.  Of course, we did not follow a direct route.  We travelled 2500kms/ 1550 miles while in Texas.

* There appears to be a clear division between the wealthy and the poor.  It is hard to find a middle class, even more so than in BC.

* Fishing is a major thing down here, both commercial and recreational.

* There are many in Texas that believe that the Republic of Texas should strike out on it's own.  They are a loyal and proud people.

* Texas builds lots of freeways and bridges (some of which are very steep inclines)