Then I'm afraid anything closer doesn't exist (except of course Galveston). You should really take a trip there and check it out one day. How about a lake trip to Austin?
not much different from galveston...honestly, i don't think folks from california would be all that impressed.
I always like Sea Rim State Park, west of Sabine Pass. Pretty remote and harder to get too since the state never repaired the highway between High Island and Port Arthur after it was washed out. Galveston is a better choice since there are places to eat!
I'd check out Moody Gardens. The beach isn't real, but it's a real clean place with different things to do.
Surprise this hasn't been brought up, but ... the beach is kinda an odd destination in late November / early December.
my parents used to have a beach house on pirates beach. november/december was my favorite time there. quiet weekends. grey skies. cool temperatures. kinda felt like you had the island to yourself. don't get me wrong..i love the sunshine and the summers i spent at the beach...but something so chill about being down there during the fall and winter months.
The nicest beach I think is along the seawall right across from the hotel next to the Holiday Inn with the waterfall. I forget the name of it. The owner of the hotel rakes the beach everyday(at least during summer.) It isn't crowded, doesn't have a lot of hip young hot babes or anything, but the beach itself is always as clean as a Galveston beach gets, and the sand is in good condition.
Quintana Beach (south of Freeport) is secluded and relatively clean. You can drive up and down the beach, camp, and have stretches all to yourself. It's not perfect, but it's better than the nast and traffic of Galveston.
hmmm.. that's just southwest of surfside.... I wouldn't need a 4wd vehicle to drive on the beach there, would ? -- droxford
or better yet, New Orleans? ...i know it's kinda far, but it's somewhere people from california would probably be interested in seeing...you can cruise at 80mph down I-10 and get there in less than 5 hours, so it's not too long of a drive... ...my cousins live in southern illinois (near carbondale) and we take day trips to chicago all the time when we're up there (the distance is exactly the same as from houston to new orleans)
