Galveston! We are HERE!

We left Sunday afternoon and headed south on I45 to Galveston Island!

We debated whether to take the car or the truck and the car won out.

I did the driving and we sailed right along! I always go at least the speed limit and have been known to go 6 miles over while Louis Dean goes 5 miles under!

We get there faster when I drive!

Plus I used all the available Express/Toll/HOV lanes.

We only stopped 3 times for potty breaks.

The last one was 17 miles from Galveston. It was a McDonald's and while I went inside, Louis Dean walked around the car to stretch his legs.

That's when he noticed the passenger side back tire. 

There was not one bit of tread on it! It looked like a black rubber band!

How did we not notice the tires before now?

I drove much slower those last 17 miles.

The tire stores were all closed when we arrived - it being Sunday and all.

So we checked into the hotel and drove down to Benno's on the Beach - our favorite restaurant! 

The line was out the door so we decided to save Benno's for another day.

We drove back to Tortuga's - our second favorite place!

This is right across the street from Casa Del Mar where Jutta - my friend from Finland - stays when she visits Texas from time to time in November. Our hotel is right behind Casa Del Mar so it's just a couple minutes walk from there.

After the stress of the drive - and the tire situation - it was good to sip a margarita and relax.

God was so good to us! 

Good food and good drinks!

Good memories of my visits here with Jutta and all the good times we have had in Galveston.

Twice she has planned her annual visit to the US in Texas. Usually she chooses Florida where she can fly non-stop from Finland. 

Someday I may visit her on her island in Finland.

Can you imagine owning your very own island?

So special.....

We had been gone over 2 hours and when we got back to our room - the door was open!

Apparently you have to slam it shut for the lock to catch!

Louis Dean's guitar, both our laptops and my iPad plus all our 'stuff' was exactly as we left them!

Talk about Guardian Angels - I do believe we have one!

I went to bed last night thanking and praising God for his protection and woke up this morning doing the same.

We slept like babies last night! I woke at 10:00 and Louis Dean slept on until after 11:00.

That may have been because he woke up at 1:30 in the morning and was eating his leftovers from Tortuga when I rolled over and noticed him sitting at the foot of the bed munching away!

At 4:30 I woke up again - he was eating Frito's and bean dip and that was a lot noisier!

Have you ever noticed much noise a Frito bag makes when you are rummaging around in it??

Note to self - make sure Louis Dean eats a hearty snack before he goes to bed!

We both need to get a good night's sleep!

Storms rolled into Galveston this morning which made for really good sleeping weather.

I could hear the rolling thunder and the seagulls calling when I woke up but I stayed still allowing him to sleep a little longer.

We had our coffee and reading time and then he left for Walmart which was the closest place to get a new tire. I stayed in the hotel since Walmart is only .03 miles from here. I knew I could walk down there and check on him if I needed to! It took several hours but he came back with not one but FOUR new tires! Turned out they were all bad - but the other three were nothing like the totally 'bald' one!!

We proceeded on with our day by going back to Benno's!

I love how they serve their wine in beer steins.

When I ordered I mentioned that I love the beer steins and that once I asked about it and the server said they tried wine glasses but kept breaking the stems. She said Benno's opened in 1983 and she has worked there since 1988 and they have NEVER used wine glasses!!!

So you can't believe everything you're told!

I nearly always order the shrimp pasta salad!

There are leftovers in the fridge for supper tonight.

Louis Dean ordered shrimp and extra fries instead of the coleslaw.

The lady gave him the coleslaw (She heard me say I would eat it!) and said, "No one needs EXTRA fries!!!" Go, Benno's!!!

It was a dark, windy, wet day in Galveston but we enjoyed every minute of it!

Louis Dean was so relieved to get those good tires on the car!!!

He was in such a good mood!

We didn't have a lot of plans for today since we knew we would be tired from traveling.

But you know I always go to Goodwill so that's what we did this afternoon.

I'm writing this journal entry by the light of my new lamp.

For $3.99! No discount since that's on Wednesday here - and trust me - we will go back on Wednesday!

I love this orange bag from Neiman Marcus!

I will be taking it to the beach with me tomorrow.

Can you tell what this is??

It's a stand for your computer that will slide under the bed and you can sit up and work as you recline against the pillows. Alas, the beds in this room are solid. But Louis Dean is excited about buying it and will use it at home.

Books and the beach are on my agenda for tomorrow!

We stopped and bout a chaise lounge for me and a big director's chair for him at Academy on our way back to the room this evening. I have a stack of books to read - not the least of which is my Bee Keeper's book! Plus I brought needlework ......

and Louis Dean brought his music as well as a book of his own to read about the Mexican War.

I'm signing off tonight just so grateful to be here with Louis Dean and making new memories to go with the ones we have made in past years on our anniversary!

One year we came in June and July because I got confused and made the reservation for JULY 26th instead of JUNE 26th! No worries! We came twice!

Having FUN in Galveston!!!