Coming to an end

Yesterday we drove down to
Galveston, oh Galveston...looks to be in a lot

better shape after Himacane Ike than I thought

it would be. We drove the length of the island, from The Strand to San Luis Pass. There was lots of new construction with big money behind it. Some of the new beach houses are really gorgeous! The beach was very clean, and the water, surprisingly, cool. Most of the shops on The Strand were open and the place was kind of busy for a Wednesday. You could see that there had been major roof damage (houses either had a blue tarp over the roof or had brand new roofs) and lots and lots of trees were dead.

My sister is walking on the beach, enjoying the surf.

The fools who lived in the house below stayed in their house during Ike, ended up having to get on the second floor, then the roof, and had to be rescued by helicopter. Their truck is trashed, as is the house, and so is most of the pier going out into the sea behind the house. The end of the pier is still standing but the walkway out was washed away.

According to Kiki's son, Will, this place (The Spot) was THE place to eat in Galveston. It was right on the seawall and we sat at a table overlooking the ocean. We split a hamburger which was huge, and very delicioso.

This is the former home of the famous cowboy poet, singer and all around good guy George Ray Russell. Notice the boarded up windows and the peeling paint. This is not Hurricane Ike damage; it always looked like this! Ah, the toga parties, the luxurious inner courtyard and pool, the pseudo-leather sofa with big rips in the cushions with stuffing poking out! Those were the good old days.

These are the appartments that Darla and I lived in during our Post-Master's Fellowship at the Medical School. They also had an inner courtyard with a pool; very elegant! The address was 711 (I think) Holiday Drive, and they are about a block from the ocean. Frankly I was amazed that they looked exactly like they did when I lived there in 1970, despite numerous hurricanes and general wear and tear!

Finally, as any of you who have ever been to Galveston will be relieved to know, Col. Bubbie's still stands, and it's inventory is as replete as ever. I didn't see the cats this time, but I didn't look very hard for them either.

Tomorrow we head out, back to AZ. Kiki has planned out a really nice road trip, and it will be a fun drive. Her IPhone tells us where all the storms are, we've got a bunch of CDs, the Garmin, credit cards, and, of course, three dogs (they are all getting baths tonight). We are going to try to take the kennel apart so it lays flat in the trunk and all three dogs can ride on the back seat. We may have so much fun that it takes us three days to get back instead of two!