Weekend At The Coast

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with the fam, and that weekend we took off for the beach.
It is only five hours south of us. Hubs usually goes in the spring to the Corpus Christi area (10+ hours), and this year he couldn't go.

I love to go too, and really felt like I missed out, so I planned to 'run away' this last weekend, just the two of us.

We were really on a scouting mission, to check out future camp sites. Just driving around was so fun.
The Galveston beach area was hit hard by a hurricane, and all tho it was wonderful to see the clean up, the damage was a bitter-sweet reminder of the destruction. In 2004, hubs and I stayed here. My step-daughter had graduated in 2000, all the way in WI and that was a fun trip. We couldn't afford to take the kids, and going alone was a blast:).

Then in 2004 my step-son was graduating. We were all packed and ready to go to WI, when we got the call that he would not be walking the stage, instead he would be going to his grandfather's, who just had open heart surgery (and did very well I must add)). We were bummed. Bummed for our step-son, his grandfather, our step-daughter,
and us-we really wanted to get away. We decided to go anyway. After all the truck was loaded, sitter was arranged, day's off were set up. What the heck. Instead of north to WI we went south to the coast. Hubs insisted we stay here, on the beach, it was wonderful. We went to the Moody Garden's aquarium (first one I have been too, and I must say amazing), ate at fancy restaurants, and took a sailboat ride at sunset.
Later I asked what his favorite thing was, and he said "Walking with you on the beach."
(how romantic:)

Such a powerful reminder of the strength of Mother Nature...
The Flagship Hotel,

The old fishing pier...

Even the concrete beams and pillars have fallen...

Most the beach at the seawall gone...

Then I realized I was only taking pictures of the destruction...

So I focused more on the beauty...

Pictures do not do this justice...

The sounds...

The colors...

The smells...

The company...

The peace...

We drove around Galveston, and on down to Port Arthur (two hours east along the coast), we walked along the beach, and in Crystal Beach we drove along the beach and hunted shells (found the best on Crystal Beach). The weather was 70 and over cast, very few people were out and it was lovely.

Just Lovely...