Thursday, September 24, 2009

Galveston

“Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin”

This year for Labor Day weekend, we wanted to go somewhere fun but not too far away…I’m not a fan of long car trips. So Galveston was calling my name. We got a reservation, packed fast and hit the road. Jennifer & Chris came along too.

We left on Friday and drove straight there. We were meeting Lou Ellen, Charles and Matt at Gaido's, the world renown seafood restaurant: http://www.gaidos.com/

I knew it was pricey…I’d been there once before with Lou Ellen & Charles and had been blown away by the oysters. Good oysters are hard to come by and those were amazing. So we were expecting good stuff! The traffic was light, and the ferry was fast so we arrived first. Jen was reading the menu when she said, “Mom, I don’t see oysters.” And I, so sure of myself, said, “Well of course they have oysters.” Uh, no. Actually, they only serve FRESH seafood, and it’s not oyster season. No way!! Don't tell me that, I've been dreaming about those oysters for a month! We were so disappointed, at least the oyster eaters among us were (this did not include Don). It was a nice dinner, but not amazing. I had the shrimp but the lump crab cakes we had for appetizers was the best thing.

Having fun on the ferry.






Our gang at Gaido's.




Lou Ellen & I posing in front of the copper dive helmets on display. Yes, we look wild-eyed and bushy tailed. That's the Lyons in us.







The next day we went to Schlitterbahn. I’m a chicken when it comes to water, but I figured I'd sit in the sun and do the lazy river. Yes, sometimes you float, but many times you get tossed and thrown around like crazy, with fast moving water...uh, not sure about that, but yes I did it, several times.

After the waterpark, we met Lou Ellen & Charles on the beach for a cookout. They brought Guy, their dog too. We had a ball!!! I love the beach even though sand is a hassle. Charles grilled hamburgers and we just sat around talking. One drunk man came up and wanted to "talk" to Guy. What, he wants to talk to the dog?? Lou Ellen just told him that Guy (the dog) only speaks to family, ha! Hey it sounds good to me. We finished up the night at Yogurt Bear, where Guy licked all our cups clean. :)




Jennifer holding Guy, the family dog.








The day after we were kind of lazy. We got up, ate breakfast at the hotel and headed for Kemah around noon. Kemah's got such a cute boardwalk area, but it was too hot. I want to go back in the evening next time. There was a restaurant nearby that Jennifer wanted us to try but they were closed, so in our quest to ONLY eat at places that we don't have at home, we drove back to Alvin and went to Joe's Bar-B-Q. It was tasty! Then we went back to Lou Ellen's and I made gumbo for supper.






Our last day was Monday, Labor Day. We checked out of our hotel and met up with the gang in Silverlake...don't ask me what town that is, but that's what the area is called. The girls (Lou, Jen and me) hit our stores, and the guys (Don, Charles, Matt) went to Fry's and Bass Pro-Shops. We met at Gringo's for lunch. I found some good bargains (got a pair of bronze Born sandals for $17!) but we ran out of time.

So we had an awesome weekend and all I can say is that I have a new appreciation for Galveston and I AM going back. When Gaido's has oysters. I'll call first. ;)

3 comments:

Jen said...

it was a blast and I'm still waiting for those Gaido's oysters....

Carolina girl said...

Looks like you guys had a great time. We love Galveston too! We haven't been since the hurricane last year though.

On a side note, the other day while I was cooking in the kitchen, I heard "Days Go By" playing in the family room. I thought it was on the radio, until I heard it playing over and over and over. I finally went in to see who was in there. Sarah was listening to it on my ipod and she was dancing around the room. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I'm jammin' Mama!" I smiled and just let her keep on 'jammin'. It was so cute! Apparently she's a fan too.

Susan said...

DGB is a rockin' song, Sarah has good taste!! If you want more Keith songs for your ipod let me know, I've got bunches, I'll burn you a copy.