Monday, April 11th – Austin to Houston to Bolivar Flats, Texas – Day 62
The morning featured a much-needed car cleaning. We had a plan to move all three children to the middle row of the car so that we could have the back free to store things. Previously, we had about a foot of space to pile things behind the last row of seats. We constantly had to hook bags over the head rests to keep them from falling out. With the car freshly organized, but desperately needing a vacuum, we headed out.
We’ve been looking for a place along our route to stop at to have our trailer’s brakes looked at. We looked at several places on our route to Houston hoping that someone could look at them. Apparently, it’s busy season because no one had the time. We will eventually be going to Colorado and the Rocky Mountains so there is a bit of a time crunch. Worst case, I’ll put the spare on and we can gradually start eating away at that tire when it locks up every time we press the brakes.
Gen was researching what the best things to do in Houston were. We were debating whether to stay a night in Houston, or do a quick stop and continue on to the Bolivar Flats near Galveston. Even though it was a big drive, 4.5 hours, we decided to head straight to the flats so we could spend the night at the beach before our reservation at Galveston Beach State Park. Gen loved the idea of staying for free on a beach.
Our stopover in Houston started with the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. We had a quick lunch alongside a shaded pond where turtles and frogs were hanging out. The kids then discovered the play structure which was unique. There was rope webbing, a dozen poles with foot holds every three feet sticking out of the ground to climb through, and a raised mound with four foot diameter weeping tile plastic tubing leading to a central space. John loved it and didn’t want to leave.
The nature centre consisted of aquariums and terrariums with an iguana, tarantula, frogs, turtles, beetles, snakes and more. They had blocks and toy animals to play with, skulls to touch, hides to feel and microscopes to investigate everything from a turtles shell to pond water. Aisling and Charlotte spent a lot of time looking around. It was great.
We got a recommendation for a hike and walked along a boardwalk through a pond and prairie. The kids had a competition to see who could spot animals. I found a turtle and a rabbit (I think it might have been dead but the kids didn’t seem to notice), Aisling found a water snake camouflaged in the pond (a really good spot by Aisling), John found a frog and Charlotte was feeling really left out. Then she spotted a beetle walking across the path. She needed to stop us to let us know: “Beetle crossing, Beetle crossing”. She then stopped the people walking along the path behind us to let them know the same thing.
A few more minutes on the play structure and in the nature centre, requisite washroom stops and wattle bottle filling, and we were on our way.
Next stop was the Water Wall in a park in Houston surrounded by condos. The wall was 64 feet tall, and water was falling from the top along a rough surface. It was impressive and loud. We stayed 10 minutes to walk around and take some photos. The kids dipped their feet in the pool at the bottom because that is what they do. It was a bit of an effort to get them back into the car.
As a reward/bribe, we took them to McDonalds. This is our third trip to McDonalds on this trip. We got breakfast once on the way to Disney and I bought the kids a snack in Atlanta. A few other times we used their washrooms. Once I made the mistake of ordering a coffee. Not bad when they point out McDonalds every time we pass it. The kids loved the food.
Another hour and a half and we were in Galveston. The next step was to get on the ferry to take us to the next peninsula. Luckily, we drove up and drove onto the ferry. The kids loved going to the top deck and looking at the harbour. There were lots of container ships and some oil infrastructure to check out. The ferry ride was short, 15 minutes and we were ready to drive off.
When we exited the ferry it was seven minute before we reached the beach access road and drove onto our next campsite. There were washrooms at the entrance to the beach and garbage cans every hundred feet or so. We passed three or four other campers before we reached a spot that we thought was good and set-up.
The weather wasn't great. It was periodically drizzling and there was a serious wind coming from the water onto the beach. At times, it blew the trailer door down until I put more effort into securing it. The trailer was shaking back and forth yet again. The wind created some serious waves. Gen went for a quick swim. The rough water prohibited the kids going beyond ankle depth. I made a dinner of chickpea wraps. The kids were going crazy so we put on a movie to help settle everything down and we all went to bed.
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