From Houston, did you enjoy going south to Galveston?

You don't leave the seawall heading east. Unless your car is amphibious. Heading west, that would be Cafe Michael Burger.

 

On my way to 18 mile right now

 

I couldn't guess how many of those I ate back in the day. Good stuff, glad to know they're still around.

 

It’s my Home beach getaway. I love it through its ups and downs. I think the fact that the island has been decimated and continues to come back to life just gives it this feeling and charm.

Grew up in the clear lake/Friendswood area so i just took for granted being down there all the time.

And yes there used to be good winter time surf before the sand bars got jacked up the past few years. It makes me sad nobody seems to surf down there anymore. The right side of the flagship had a really nice couple spots when it was waist high and above.

 

Olympia Grill at the pier (seafood & greek)
Benno's on the Beach is good seafood & more casual
Rucy & Paco is fancy & delicious
Shrimp N Stuff downtown is very casual and delicious
Sunflower Grill for breakfast

I'm sure there's some newer places that I haven't been to.

 

Not a big fan of Galveston restaurants, but this sandwich place has one of the best sandwiches I've had anywhere in Texas. This and Noble Pig in Austin are maybe the only standout sandwiches I've had in TX. https://www.yelp.com/biz/old-moon-deli-and-pies-galveston

You'd think you'd want seafood, but Houston has superior, fresher seafood in every sub-category imaginable.

 

Yes, on weed.

 

Galveston does its best, and it's better than nothing. I like how they've built it up with Schlitterbahn and the Cruise Terminal. It's also a busy enough port, so that aspect makes more useful and profitable to me. I'll spend some leisure there soon and enjoy the Seawall and other attractions. It's cool seeing water.

 

It’s good thing Galveston is closer to Houston. Once you had been in Houston for so long time, u wanted to get out of town for a break and see the beach and be in relaxing spots in Galveston.

 

No. 13 Steakhouse
Riondo’s
Vintage Crown for micheladas
Gypsy Joint
DTO has already been mentioned (Daquiri time out.... great drinks)

 

I generally agree.......in fact, I'm pretty sure I've said basically the same thing on this site more than once over the past 20 years or so, but I'll say this again: I think the cajun Greek has upped their game. They certainly have some of the best crawfish around.

 

+1 for Shrimp and Stuff that place is my jam!

 

The best book about the 1900 storm is The Great Galveston Disaster. My grandmother left me her copy, over a hundred years old now. It was published not long after the catastrophe and is filled with shocking photographs and stories by those who survived. Copies can be found sometimes at antique/collectible shops by the Strand. Images of barges filled with the dead in their hundreds, for example, which was an act of desperation in an attempt to prevent disease. They were towed out into the Gulf and emptied, then came back for more. Sadly, bodies washed up along the beaches of Galveston and other beaches in the area for days after.

Images of the destruction of the city are stunning. Most of the structures were wooden, of course, and you can see huge areas of what were once homes in middle class and working class neighborhoods looking like great piles of broken matchsticks. That there were survivors found in the debris is difficult to believe, and the many stories of how one person, for example, from a large family lived, watching the rest screaming for help as they were washed away, are heartbreaking. Yes, there were brick and stone structures, churches, and homes of the wealthy that survived the destruction, but they were a very small remnant of what was, at the time, a very important city and port. Anywhere from 6,000 to 8,000+ dead was the estimate at the time, but it could have been higher than that. A very large number were injured, of course. Those who lived in the poor neighborhoods, which were obliterated? The numbers of dead were guessed at.

Galveston never really recovered. I've mentioned before somewhere that my grandmother, a kid living in the Heights in a wood frame house on blocks at the time and part of a large family, remembered the storm. People tend to forget that Houston was also hit pretty hard. She said that several families close by crowded into their home, which was better built than some, and she sat on a bed while the wind howled and the area flooded. Their house literally floated off the blocks and a little way down the street, but still held together. Later, it was moved back on the lot.

They didn't move from the Heights and my mother grew up there. She had fond memories of riding the streetcar that went downtown with my grandmother for lunch and shopping on Saturdays. Grandpa had a diner across from the Ford plant and I still have pictures of them inside, my Mom, 5 or 6, standing on the lunch counter dressed up for school, a grin on her face. You can see the menu on the wall, written on a blackboard.

 

Galveston has been having some rare blue water days recently.

 

Underage drinking and Crystal Beach was fun in my youth.

 

those pics are just camera tricks. When the water is clean, it's green, when it's dirty, well you'll know cause usually the water there is sandy brown.

 

The water in Galveston is always brownish. It's not that it's "dirty" it's that the water is full of minerals and mud washed out from the rivers that flow into the Gulf. It is blue right now (not camera tricks) because a storm has changed the water temporarily. Should be back to normal in a short bit.

 

yeah not quite "dirty".

 

There are more blue days then most people realize... but nobody needs to really know about that.