Howdy Texas! Day 22 Galveston

[CrispyA]

I woke up earlier than everyone else, and spent a bit of time sitting on the balcony reading my book. It was very peaceful and lovely to be in the fresh air.

Once everyone was up, we had breakfast. It was fine, and there was a cool pancake machine, but the room was pretty crowded and we were getting quite fed up of hotel breakfasts at this point. Next time we plan a trip, we will bear that in mind - it was quite a saving but maybe we won't look for included breakfast as a criteria for all the hotels we book. I know nobody made us have them all the time but of course we weren't going to let an included meal go to waste!

After breakfast, we checked out and headed for the beach, which was just across the road. It was a beautiful sunny day, so we wanted to have an hour or so there before we headed back to Houston.

You can see our hotel in the background - great location for the beach.

It was pretty quiet as schools had gone back and so we had plenty of room to hang out.

We played in the sea and enjoyed the sunshine - deciding it was time to head off when we could start to feel it burning. On the way out, we drove to the main sea front and through the historic part which was quite charming. In hindsight, we could have happily spent two nights here - it was much nicer than Port Aransas. There was plenty to explore and we would go back.

On the way back to Houston, we stopped again at Buc-ees to get some souvenirs. In a way, it completely summed up Texas for us - it was huge, it was independent, it was over the top and it made us smile. We must have looked quite insane taking souvenir photos though!

(Evan was not enjoying this photo experience!)

Much happier after a comfort break and some purchases! We got more country CDs, t-shirts, sweets to take back to work and a Christmas decoration and then decided to pose with Buc-ee the beaver himself!

After Buc-ees we looked for a Sonic to try, as we had seen them on our travels but didn't understand how they work. Andrew had laughed at us and then filled us in - you park and then order at a microphone and the server brings your food to the car.

We found one and pulled into a space. Then Paul attempted to order a couple of hotdogs, some tater tots and a drink. The rest of us tried to keep straight faces as he tried several times but the person just couldn't understand him! He hasn't got that strong an accent but clearly it was strong enough for him to be unintelligible at a drive-in! Fortunately the server came over to help us out - and admire our English accents.

The food was nice and the tater tots were particularly good! After eating, we hit the road again, heading to our final hotel - the Country Inn & Suites near George Bush Airport. It was pretty easy to find and we soon got settled in. It was tinged with sadness as it was our final hotel of the trip. However, it was a nice place and the lady on reception was really friendly and helpful.

We got checked in online for our flight home with no problems and printed out boarding passes at reception - although I don't know why we bothered as they give you new ones at the airport anyway! We had a final dip in the pool which was completely shaded and really cold, and then dried off in the sun, reminiscing about our wonderful trip.

We didn't fancy driving to somewhere to eat and fortunately there wa a nice sounding Cajun place nearby - Gumbo Jeaux. We had some lovely food there before heading back to chill at the hotel and watch some TV before bed.

Evan's bear that he got in Big Bend.

Me with my bat from Austin and Paul enjoying a last bottle of Shiner Bock - Texas beer.

[katiebaz]

Last days are always tinged with sadness 😓 but what a great trip. The beach looked lovely in Galveston, and again did you hear the Glen Campbell song?

[sweaty]

What a great report loved reading it

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by katiebaz

Last days are always tinged with sadness 😓 but what a great trip. The beach looked lovely in Galveston, and again did you hear the Glen Campbell song?

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We only heard Glen in our heads but that was fine! The beach was really nice and I'd go back to Galveston - it had a real old time charm to it.

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by sweaty

What a great report loved reading it

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Thank you! We had such a great time - can thoroughly recommend.

[Rob & Jan]

Loved reading your reports-so nice to hear about other parts of the US.

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Rob & Jan

Loved reading your reports-so nice to hear about other parts of the US.

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Thank you - it's a fascinating country with so much to see.

[Melbatb]

I have loved all your posed photos Good that you got some beach time!

[CrispyA]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

I have loved all your posed photos Good that you got some beach time!

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It was a relief to have some sun at the beach - although at least we didn't get sunburn on the beach as we have done in the past

[WileyCoyote]

Sad face, final day but Bucees sounds amazing - who knew petrol stations could be so much fun ! We must look out for one ...
Glad you got some sun at the beach