Galveston, Texas

Dear Riley,
We are finally home from four long days in Galveston. Paw-Paw and Timothy went with us; we had a great time!

You idolize Timothy, or Tio as you call him. You love to play with him and probably get in his way a lot. But, he doesn’t seem to mind.
Four hours later, we headed straight to the beach. This was your first beach experience, but you knew it was the beach and you knew what sea shells were.


You’ve only ever been exposed to fresh water lakes and swimming pools. You were in for a real shock when the first wave hit you in the face. All you would say between gags was, “I need a drank! I need a drank!”

You loved finding sea shells and running from the waves. However, you were mad at one point when you figured out you couldn’t “sit” on the waves.

One thing about going anywhere with Paw-Paw: he likes to eat well. Our first stop was Gaido’s.

Yum! This was my favorite restaurant of the whole trip. Riley, you are about as photogenic as I am, which isn’t very much.

We also got some souvenirs at Murdoch’s.

We loved our hotel, The Beachcomber! It was about 1/2 a block from the Seawall.

The next day we went to Schlitterbahn. You and Tio had a great time!
We also checked out a local used bookstore, Galveston Bookshop. This bookstore was completely destroyed by hurricane Ike, which hit Galveston 3 days before you were born. Their website has some amazing Ike pictures.

Our second night we ate at Fish Tales. Fish Tales was highly recommended on Facebook, so we decided to check it out.

After dinner we went to ride the Bolivar Ferry. It was really awesome at sunset! We saw several porpoises too.


Our third day was spent mainly at the beach. We were supposed to tour the Galveston County Historical Museum, but it was closed when we arrived. If you ever want to make Paw-Paw mad, just try to go to a museum and it be closed.
On our last day, we rode a train around historical Galveston. This was one of my favorite activities the whole vacation. You weren’t that crazy about it, but you did enjoy riding the train.

I love Galveston and I think you had a great time as well. On our way back home we stopped to visit Aunt Dot. I love Aunt Dot, she is a hoot!

We were very glad to be home! I loved being with you when you first tasted the ocean and when you picked up your first sea shell. I see many more beach trips in our future!
Love you, Mama