Well, it's an excellent distraction.

[cjsmith]

Dodged a line of thunderstorms on the way in. Rob has impressive weather tracking capability in the air. There was a massive line of nasty cells between where we were and where we needed to be, and we got here anyway, and we didn't do anything dangerous.

I am now on Galveston Island, Texas, possibly one of the odder places I have ever been. The breakers rolling in from the Gulf are beautiful. The deep red sunset behind the cumulus was beautiful. I do not know why I didn't expect the humidity: because I am a moron? Anyway, it's humid. And warm. I'm sitting around in a lightweight rain jacket because I ate a chocolate-covered ice cream bar in the warm air, with predictable results, and oops had to wash my shirt in the sink.

Some of the streets here are narrow enough that two cars can't pass. Unlike sane places such as Scotland, there aren't pullouts; each vehicle just puts a couple of wheels on the edge of someone's lawn.

Architecture here is weirder than we predicted. 1) It is illegal to set foot on the dunes, so every house by the beach has its own cute little boardwalk and all beach access points have their cute little boardwalks. Please don't ask me how they're constructed if no one can set foot on the dunes. 2) Air conditioners stuck into the sides of seventeen-foot-stilted houses get their OWN little seventeen-foot-stilted platforms to SIT on. It is the most hilarious thing I've seen all day, and this is coming from a woman who has seen those boardwalks.

Google Maps gets negative points for telling us the Sea Isle Grocery Mart was about five miles west of its actual location. We almost paid the toll to get off the island westbound ("WARNING: THIS DIRECTION IS NOT A HURRICANE EVACUATION ROUTE") looking for the darn thing. I want a picture of the sign saying THIS DIRECTION IS NOT A HURRICANE EVACUATION ROUTE.

If I can even think about my current Life Ick by tomorrow, I will be pretty surprised.

Comments

West end impressions

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

1. Warm
2. Humid
3. Wild-haired people in bathing suits and T-shirts wandering into the only mini-mart for miles and buying a couple six packs of beer
4. Bugs

You can probably skip impressions 1, 2, and 4, because those are mainly the contrast from California. :-)

The beach is truly pretty. Seems like that's what people come here for: sit around, drink beer, swim, watch the waves. It's a very relaxed sort of place.

Re: West end impressions

[curmudgn]

You're thinking the Galveston beach is pretty? Which side of the island you on? The parts in front of the seawall that I've seen are tolerably unimpressive. 'Course, I admit that my standard of comparison is South Padre Island near Port Isabel as it used to be forty years ago, before there was ANY development down there, much less the overexploited mess they have today.

If possible, while you're in Galveston go through the Seaport Museum and take a tour of Elissa. She's damn impressively restored. My wife and oldest daughter used to crew as deckhands on her six-seven years ago.

Re: West end impressions

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

We're far enough toward the west end that we're kinda on both sides of the island. :-)

Thanks for the tip!

Re: West end impressions

[lkeele.livejournal.com]

1. Warm
2. Humid
3. Wild-haired people in bathing suits and T-shirts wandering into the only mini-mart for miles and buying a couple six packs of beer
4. Bugs

Ah, so it's just like here, then, only with a beach? Sounds perfect!