April 5 – 11, 2024
One flight Orlando to Houston and back
With Minnesota Patty and Texas Anne and Larry
No Tour Guide. Anne and Larry outdid themselves planning and creating a fantastic and fun trip!!
but first!!!! My recent paddleboard trip to Central Florida!
Since my trip to Galveston, I had a wonderful day at beautiful Ichetucknee Springs 2-3/4 hours from home in the center of Florida. Loved being with manatees, fish and turtles!!
Click on this video and watch the manatee surface and snort. They can stay under for up to 8 minutes, so it was great to see them surface so close to us on a paddleboard and kayak!
This one was right beside me when he decided to surface. Click
GOAT YOGA!! This is where city girls go to a farm to have little goats climb all over them while the girls are (trying to) do yoga. They had a very chill dog named Lolo, little baby goats, larger goats, a pet cow who liked to run and play, a very loud goose demanding attention who has four wives/girlfriends and a couple baby geese.
After yoga, the owners let all their farm animals loose to come eat the kibble left on the yoga mats. What a mess they made.
He was just a cutie. His name is Teddy, named after Theodore Roosevelt. They also have Laverne and Shirley.
I couldn’t decide which videos to include, so I included them all. Hilarious!
Listen to the rooster and the chickens.
The bigger goats were too heavy and painful, so they were replaced by the unruly baby goats.
Listen to that goose!
They insisted on eating my hair!! And there’s Lolo, the dog.
Teddy. He likes to head butt people and push them around.
It was a goat playground! If you don’t provide enough for them to do and keep them busy, the goats will start eating the fences and doors.
They all made a mess of the yoga mats!
This farm also rented out the hay loft over the barn and the yurt under the open roof at the river which you can see in the picture at the left hand side. These photos were inside of the yurt, with AC and a heater and this toilet is in a separate room. It costs $165 per night. And someone will pick guests up on the river outside if they want to go fishing.
It would be a little boy’s dream to stay here.
This was the noisy goose. I got to pet his chest, which was soaking wet. I hadn’t known he had just been swimming in the river. You couldn’t tell by looking at him. And the goats would eat your shirt until you pulled it from their mouths, as he is trying to do with the man’s belt. The little one on the table was in the purse to grab a cigarette and break it in two.
I used the bathroom to wash my hands after touching those smelling little things, when I heard knocking at the door. I hurried out to let the next person in. But when I opened the door I only saw these two little ones pushing on the door, waiting for me to come out. So cute!
We had lunch here at the Seafood Grill after the goat entertainment.
After being told the condo had no record of our reservation, (it finally got settled) and we hit The Strand, the main tourist thoroughfare of Galveston just off the Gulf of Mexico. Very cute restaurants and town.
I didn’t get a good picture; but was surprised to see serious T-shirts about him being back. I think they used his mugshot.
This fun time was on the gulf on our way to our condo.
Anne, Patty and I got pedicures while awaiting the total eclipse of the sun.
Speaking of the total eclipse of the sun, many people were in Texas from other states to see the eclipse. We had our VRBO room cancelled months before the occurrence when VRBO realized they could charge three times as much rent money for the eclipse. It was then we decided to forego the eclipse and visit Galveston instead.
We didn’t even have eclipse glasses. So we were sitting on our condo balcony awaiting the darkness. The atmosphere was a little yellow, like the air when a hurricane is immanent, but NOTHING HAPPENED!! The sun was 92.1% blocked by the moon from our viewpoint. Apparently, the sun is so, so bright that only at 99% blockage does the sky turn dark.
I was very underwhelmed. Until I watched the YouTube videos of Dallas and the full eclipse — very cool!!
In all the places I’ve been, this was a first. It was in Galveston’s Rosenberg public library, where I learned all about the 1900 Hurricane. This was before they started naming hurricanes!
Posed group of workers during 1900 Storm recovery. Galveston, Texas.
The hurricane that destroyed Galveston on September 8, 1900, is the nation’s deadliest natural disaster. Although its death toll will never be known precisely, the 1900 Storm claimed upwards of 8,000 lives on Galveston Island and several thousand more on the mainland. It destroyed 2, 636 houses and left thousands more damaged. The city’s property losses were estimated at $28-30 million.
How should the city be protected from future hurricanes?
The first step was the building of the seawall. On September 7, 1901, the Texas State Legislature approved the construction of a seawall and the raising of the city’s elevation. Work was to be completed within fifteen months. The initial segment of the Seawall was completed July 29, 1904.
This portion, made of concrete, was 3.3 miles long, 16 feet at its base, and 5 feet wide on top, and 17 feet high.
The outer face of the Seawall was curved to carry waves upwards. Riprap was placed along the base facing the Gulf of Mexico to break up wave action. The initial segment was completed at a cost of almost $1.6 million. It proved its worth first during the hurricane of September 21, 1909. Its critical test came with the hurricane of August 16, 1915. The seawall dramatically lowered the loss of life and destruction.
Fun times in Galveston.
One more post is coming about the Red Light District, and the wood carvings as a result of the recent Hurricane Ike.
Leave a comment if you’d like. I’m the only one who will read it.
Linda Jeanne