GALVESTON, TEXAS W/ DARLING C.J.

I met C.J. in Galveston and spent 3 nights at the Hilton. View from our window. I hadn't been to Galveston in over 25 years. We are on the seawall which has 10 miles of sidewalk. It's supposed to be the longest sidewalk in America.

The Hilton pool is pretty. It has a swim up bar on the other side of the rock wall. The seawall is perfect for jogging, biking and surrey cart pedaling. On the water we saw shrimp boats, kite boarders, stand up paddlers, regular land kites, surfers and dolphins and dozens of pelicans

It was a very short drive from the seawall where our hotel was...to the historic strand area. We went there everyday and sometimes twice a day. This is the Opera House.

We ate so much great seafood!!! These are my fish tacos and lobster bisque. We also ate shrimp, oysters, scallops, crab etc. etc.

Strand St., Post Office St. and one or two more make up the historic district. It has lovely shops, restaurants etc...most of the buildings are very cool.

Loved this arbor of jasmine. The historic district reminded me a little bit of New Orleans and a little bit of Charleston etc.

So we used to take Jamey to Galveston and Port Aransas when she was small before we started going to Cozumel. I pulled this picture of the Flagship Hotel in Galveston off the internet. We stayed there twice. Hurricane Ike destroyed it in 2008.

This is the Pleasure Pier that they built out on the pier to replace the Flagship. I HATE IT! But I must say that the neon lights on the ferris wheel at night are super cool. C.J. and I had a very fun time in Galveston!!

COME TOUR THE BISHOP'S PALACE IN GALVESTON W/ ME....

The Bishop's Palace is also known as Gresham's Castle. I read that if you can only tour one mansion in Galveston...this is the one to see. So C.J. and I went....

There are 2 winged lions that 'guard' the entrance.

Look at all the carving! It must've taken FOREVER! The house was built between 1887 & 1893. I never saw so much stained glass in one building!

The front doors from the inside. The American Institute of Architects has listed the home as one of the 100 most significant buildings in the U.S. and the Library of Congress has classified it as one of the 14 most representative Victorian structures in the nation.

The house has lots and lots of fireplaces.

This house survived the 1900 storm. Six thousand people died in that hurricane. The Gresham's home sheltered 100's of Galveston citizens.

This thingie is SO interesting. The basket was a place for tossing your calling card. Beautiful carved piece!!

The house has 4 floors and was built for $250,000...which in today's money would be 5.5 million dollars.

Loved all the paintings on the walls.

That's Ol' Mr. Gresham in that B&W photo.

Mrs. Gresham painted these cherubs on the ceiling. She had an art studio in the attic. The Gresham's had 9 children.

Sorry for the flash/glare.

They offer 2 guided tours per day but we preferred the audio-phone-type tour. You can go at your own pace and not in any particular order. This is the front foyer.

Stained glass, stained glass and more stained glass.

Guess what? MORE glass!!

This is on the stair well going up the 2nd floor.

Somebody loved lions and cherubs.

The house has pretty balconies.

In 1923 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galveston bought the house for Bishop Byrne and made one of the bedrooms into a chapel.

The chapel. The Bishop's church was right across the street from the mansion.

Ceiling of the chapel. The house was opened to the public in 1963. This tour was the best ten bucks I ever spent.

 

SPRING BREAK 2015

Jamey came to visit for Springtime for the first time in about 8 years. It's always great to have her home.

What a nice picture! She always makes us laugh ALOT!

We went to visit Kay & Jim in Austin for 2 nights. Gene contemplates the morning.

We had to take the dogs. Cherry had never been there and Willie hadn't been in about 2 years.

They were pretty well behaved for the most part.

It's Bolt aka Squeezebox aka Squeezy aka Poos-poos. This is the cat that had the arrow in his head that Kay & Jim adopted from A Pet's Wish in Del Rio.

Our house in Spring...it's very green. Our dogs and the neighbor's dogs love running around the big front yard. We hate cutting the big front yard.

My flowers and yard art. We've had lots of hummingbirds.