Galveston, Texas

At the end of our quick trip to Texas, we spent a weekend in Galveston exploring this part of Texas that we had never been to before. Our hotel was right across from the seawall which was conveniently located for walks on the beach. We also quickly learned that at night Seawall Boulevard is a hotspot for cruising - it made for some interesting people watching from our hotel balcony. 

The view from our hotel balcony

Looking to the north from our hotel was Paradise Pier

On our first full day in Galveston, we drove to the Historic Seaport area where we toured the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum. This is a retired oil rig that has been turned into a museum and tells the story of the Gulf Coast's oil and gas industry. It has three levels of very interesting exhibits.

In front of the oil rig museum

After the museum, we wandered around the historic Strand area browsing through a few shops before finding a yummy spot for lunch - Mama Teresa's Flying Pizza.

One of several murals in The Strand

After lunch, we went back to the historic seaport to tour the Tall Ship, Elissa. The Elissa was first launched in 1877 as a merchant vessel and sailed under Scottish, Norwegian, and Swedish flags, before being purchased by the Galveston Historical Foundation in 1975. She underwent extensive refurbishment and remains one of the oldest sailing hulls still in operation.

The Elissa

On our final day in Galveston, we thought it would be fun to see if we could locate several of the Galveston Tree Sculptures. In reading up on the sculptures, we learned that Galveston experienced a hurricane tidal surge in 2008 that killed many of the island's trees. The stumps of several of these trees were resurrected by sculpture artists who have created whimsical statues.

"Peace"

"Tall Ship Elissa Figurehead"

"The Tin Man and Toto"

"Angel Carrying Bunny"

This sculpture was dressed in support of the Houston Astros

Our Last stop before leaving Galveston to head toward the airport in Houston was the Moody Mansion.  The Moody Mansion is a 28,000 square foot, four-story historic home that was purchased by W.L. Moody in 1900 and was lived in by members of the Moody family until 1986. It is a beautiful home and was lots of fun tour. 

The Moody Mansion

The grand front porch

Houston, Texas

The day after Brooke's track meet in College Station, we were up early and on the road headed to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. We spent most of the day touring the facility including the tram tour which took us to the astronaut training facility. Here we were able to see where the NASA astronauts train for current missions and where scientists/engineers are developing the next generation of vehicles for space exploration. 

Jim standing in front of the space shuttle replica Independence

 

The astronaut training facility

The NASA Valkyrie robot currently being worked on

Rocket Park at Johnson Space Center

The Saturn V Rocket completed 9 trips into space

Another view of the Saturn V

After a full day of the Space Center, we got back on the road to get to our final destination for the day -Galveston!

College Station, Texas

Brooke qualified for the NCAA Western Regional Track Meet in College Station, Texas, so naturally Jim and I jumped at the chance to attend the meet and then tack on a few days of sightseeing in southeast Texas. On the day of Brooke's event, we had some free time in the morning so we drove around the Texas A&M campus, stopping at the Bonfire Memorial. We learned that a bonfire was built every year starting in 1907 as a way to promote school spirit prior for the annual rivalry football game versus University of Texas. Apparently, attendance at the yearly bonfire burning ranged from 30,000-70,000 students and community members. Sadly, on November 18, 1999, the bonfire collapsed during construction - killing 12 students and injuring 27 others. The Bonfire Memorial sits on the site of the collapsed bonfire structure and contains 12 sixteen foot tall portals each dedicated to one of the students who died. The portals are positioned to face in the direction of the student's hometown and have a bronze plaque engraved with the student's portrait, their signature, and remembrances of the deceased written by family and friends. This memorial is a beautiful, yet somber place on the Texas A&M campus.

The Bonfire Memorial

The portals representing each of the students who died in the collapse

The inside wall of the portals contain bronze plaques

The bronze inscription memorializing one of the Aggies who died

While at the campus we would have liked to visit the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, but it was closed due to Covid-19. We'll just have to come back another time.

Death Valley National Park - Day 2

We had heard great reviews about the hike from Golden Canyon to Zabriskie’s Point, so we decided to start our day with this hike. We did the hike by way of Red Cathedral which is an impressive wall of towering red rocks. We did some rock scrambling to make it part of the way up the Red Cathedral. 

Red Cathedral - for some reason the pics don't show much red, but in person the rocks are quite red

Jim at Red Cathedral

After the detour to Red Cathedral, we continued the climb up to Manly Beacon and then on to Zabriskie’s Point. The views were magnificent of the very unusual landscape. In total we hiked 7+ miles and were happy to make it back to the truck to rest our legs and enjoy a picnic lunch.

Manly Beacon in the background

At Zabriskie's Point

Once rested and refueled, we drove along the 9 mile route known as Artist’s Drive which took us past colorful hills of oxidized metals containing bands of reds, yellows, greens, and pinks. The Artist’s Palette is one particularly vibrant section of the drive where we pulled over and took a few pictures.

There is a Borax Museum in Furnace Creek that was our next destination. Unfortunately it was closed when we got there, however we were able to walk through the back lot of the museum that contains lots of old mining equipment. 

Jim checking out the equipment at the Borax Museum

With just a little bit of daylight left, we decided to drive the 20 miles down to the Dante’s View overlook. This viewpoint sits at 5476 feet and affords a beautiful view of Death Valley and the Badwater Basin which sits directly below it on the valley floor. We had been enjoying temperatures in the low 80’s all day, but when we got to Dante’s View, the temperature had dropped to the 50’s. So we took a few quick pictures and made a beeline back to the warm truck. We made our way back to our campground in Stovepipe Wells for our final night in Death Valley. Tomorrow morning we must head back to Fresno.

Looking down at Death Valley from Dante's View

Death Valley National Park - Day 1

 We drove into Death Valley National Park from Ridgecrest and headed straight for Stovepipe Wells to secure a camping spot at the first come first serve campground since the few reservable sites were already booked. Because there are no hookups at this campground, our camp set up was quick. From the campground, we drove to the Mesquite Sand Dunes where we had a picnic on the tailgate of Jim’s truck before exploring the dunes.

The Mesquite Dunes

We continued on toward Furnace Creek with a stop along the way at the Harmony Borax Works site. Borax was discovered in this area in 1881 and soon after a plant was built here that produced over 3 tons of borax daily. 20 mule teams transported the finished product 165 miles to Mojave.

Jim checking out the old machinery

The 20 Mule Team wagon

Harmony Borax Works

In Furnace Creek, we stopped at the visitor center only to learn that it was closed due to Covid-19. The bookstore was open though, so we were able to pick up a park map and get a park stamp. Our next stop was Badwater Basin which lies 282 feet below sea level. It is the lowest point in the United States and is a vast saltwater flat. There is a sign on the surrounding mountain that denotes sea level - it’s kind of surreal to stand and look so far up to sea level.

On the salt flats

From Badwater Basin we drove north to the trailhead of Natural Bridge. It’s a quick 1/2 mile hike from the parking lot to the natural rock bridge. It was an enjoyable stop, especially for Jim, as he is a big Star Wars fan and this is one of many locations in Death Valley that was a filming location. 

At Natural Bridge

A little further north, we stopped off at the Devil’s Golf Course which is not a golf course at all. Instead, it’s an area of crystalline salt that has been eroded away into jagged spires of salt. 

The Devil's Golf Course

On our way back to our campground we drove through Mustard Canyon. We thought the Mustard Canyon looked as if it were made the same way drip sand castles are made. 

With daylight beginning to wane, we drove back to Stovepipe Wells and settled into the trailer for the night.

Channel Islands National Park

 Our ferry ride with Island Packers left the Ventura harbor for Santa Cruz Island at 9:00am. The ferry ride to the Channel Islands was amazing! During the 1.5 hour ferry ride out to the island we saw several humpback whales, hundreds of dolphins, and plenty of sea birds.

Our Island Packers ferry

Once on Santa Cruz Island, we met our kayak tour group and starting paddling along the coast of the island. We made our way to Pelican Bay and an area with a small sea cave and archway that we paddled through. Along the way, we saw sea urchins, an octopus, and a pod of bottle nose dolphins. Our guide was a wealth of information telling us all about the history and ecology of the Channel Islands. 

After kayaking, we took a quick hike to a few scenic overlooks of Santa Cruz before boarding the ferry for our return ride to Ventura. The ride back was just as exciting as the ride over - we saw more whales and dolphins and the most gorgeous sunset.

Views from an overlook

Santa Cruz Island

Ready to board the ferry back to Ventura

One of the humpback whales that we saw on the ride home

Hundreds of dolphins swam in the wake of the boat

A gorgeous sunset!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at The Channel Islands!