Our five day trip to the city of Galveston, a popular resort town and a popular cruise ship destination!

 

Downtown Galveston, Texas

Growing up as a Generation X, meant that I watched plenty of television.  Starting with the requisite Looney Tunes cartoons as a kid, I gradually gravitated towards watching any and all television shows on channels CBS, NBC, and ABC.  By today’s standards, just having three television channel choices seem pretty low.

I can assure you that I, nor any of my friends thought that, as we didn’t know what cable channels were until the late 80’s.  Three channels would be perfectly fine for Americans, until cable took off, bringing with it so many channels.  One can argue the merits of having more choices vs just three choices, but that’s for another day…

During one of those many television viewing sessions, I encountered the city of Galveston.  I learned that it was a popular destination for cruise lines, and it was also a popular local resort town with a beautiful beach.  While planning for our (my wife and myself) epic cross country trip going from North Carolina to California, we wanted to include the city of Galveston to our list of destinations.  

On the morning of December 11th, we left our nephew’s place in west of downtown Houston to meet up with my wife’s friend (and her husband) who were living in central downtown.  We were to meet up at a local wine bar named Postino Montrose at around noon.  

Even on a Sunday morning, the place was packed and we couldn’t find parking at the restaurant.  We drove three blocks and was finally able to find a spot.  Wow, Houston is happening!

We walked into the restaurant and found them!  After exchanging greetings, we sat and ordered food.  The place is a wine bar serving awesome shareable plates (tapas), but it also serves hearty portions for hungry folks like myself.

We ordered bunch of things including two sandwiches and several tapas, which we shared.  Every one of the dishes was tasty and perfect for sharing.  After sharing good food and laughter, they invited us to their place which was about a mile away.  We all walked back to their beautiful place to see her works of art.

She is a painter like my wife, and we viewed her awesome works.  We also met their great dog, who was super friendly and sweet.  We bonded immediately over his favorite treats and petting sessions.

Before driving us back to the restaurant, they took us to the roof of their apartment complex with great views of the city.  They mentioned the roof was their go-to spot to view fireworks during Fourth of July and New Year’s celebrations.  We agreed it was a great view!

Houston downtown 

View from the roof!

Shortly thereafter, they dropped us off at our car, and we all said our goodbyes.  We all agreed we would see each other in the near future, and that the next meal would be our treat.  *They graciously picked up the tab at the Postino Montrose.  You know my motto:  Whoever gives me free food or lodging is my best friend.

We headed out to Galveston to our hotel, Beachfront Palms Hotel, which would take about an hour.  We checked into the hotel without a fuss, then took the elevator to the third floor.  The room was rather cozy, and it was really, really humid, even with the air conditioning going.

View outside our room with Kroger’s next door

Our room

Despite these two challenges, we did like several things about the hotel: 1) Buffet breakfast, 2) Ocean view, 3) Kroger’s (a supermarket chain) right next door, and 4) Great value at around $55 per night.  We were actively looking for an inexpensive place to stay near Houston to save some money on lodging, and this was a perfect choice.  The fact that it was right across the street from the ocean was an added bonus!

We were famished by the time we had settled in to our room, so we took full advantage of Kroger’s next door.  It was a huge supermarket that also sells hot foods by the deli.  We bought some ready to eat pre-packaged salads, pasta salad, potato salad, and coleslaw for dinner.  

Sunset view from right outside our hotel room

Our routine would continue for the next three days as weather was not cooperating.  It rained on and off, with periods of brief sunshine.  I would run over to Kroger’s to pick up food, which included: sushi, tacos, salads, and snacks.

We at least enjoyed watching the rain falling, from the comforts of our room.  Our plan to save money during this trip became a reality, as we really saved money on food and lodging.  We didn’t eat out or do takeout from a restaurant during the 5 day trip, which is a first.

All in all, the foods we ate were all from Kroger’s or Walmart (once).  The pre-packaged salads were great as we got our daily serving of vegetables for a nominal cost of around $5.75, which we would share.  We would eat the salad, along with pasta salad/potato salad, and/or snacks we had purchased.  It was more than enough to satisfy our hunger as we weren’t hiking or exploring outside during those 3 days.

We did pig out during our buffet breakfast as it included hot food items like eggs, sausage/bacon, make-your-own waffles, biscuits/gravy, fruits, orange juice, and of course, coffee.  We really loved the breakfast for several reasons: 1) It was included with the hotel room, 2) it was delicious, and 3) it was nothing like what we remember, which for the most part, was a continental breakfast, comprising of coffee and donuts, muffins, or bagels.  *Note: This was true at most motel/hotel chains when we used motels/hotels during our first cross country trip 19 years ago.

Breakfast room with ocean views!

We didn’t realize how convenient and inexpensive it is to stay at hotels/motels that offer hot breakfasts!  We absolutely loved it, and we would find other hotels/motels that would offer this amenity whenever we could.

By the fourth day, the weather finally cooperated.  Weather forecast was calling for a sunny and beautiful day, so we headed out to check out the downtown area of Galveston, then the beach area.  

As we were heading into downtown via Harborside Drive, we immediately saw a gigantic cruise ship docked along the harbor.  It was imposing against a backdrop of Galveston waterfront.  We drove around looking for parking and noticed many spots near the popular The Strand was packed.  

We drove about two blocks away from the busy area, and found free parking along 25th Street.  After parking, we headed back towards The Strand, where all the shops/restaurants/bars are located.  Galveston, in person, was somehow bigger than I imagined, seeing it as I did first on television.  

Cruise ship in the distance!

Downtown Galveston, TX

We loved the historic buildings that lend plenty of character to the downtown area.  We walked around looking at different historic buildings and sites.  We naturally gravitated towards the Saengerfest Park, which seemed to be the focal point of The Strand.  

We saw a beautiful Christmas tree all decked out, and a very popular spot for Instagram photos.  I definitely remembered seeing the park on commercials and television shows.

Saengerfest Park, Galveston 

Popular photo spot!

We walked several blocks along The Strand, and took in the sights.  We think the best feature of the downtown are the historic buildings.  We definitely didn’t care too much about the souvenir shops, as there are way too many of them!

It was right after 11 a.m., and we were thinking about lunch.  After browsing the menus of restaurants that were opened at that time, we decided not to do lunch there, as we weren’t in the mood for burgers or pizzas, especially at astronomical prices.

Sticking to our theme of saving money during our five day stay at Galveston, we decided to pick up some light fare at Walmart, easily saving us over $30.  We knew we would be spending plenty of money eventually once we get to places like Las Vegas, and we needed to find a way to save up for that trip coming up...

Before stopping at Walmart, we drove around Seawall Blvd, to check out the beautiful beach.  We saw plenty of lodging options along Seawall Blvd., along with shops and restaurants.  The place looked so much more beautiful that the sun was out finally!

We happily drove to the end of Seawall Blvd., until the beach view stopped, then U-turned back towards Walmart.  Along the way, we stopped to enjoy the beach views for few minutes.  It was truly an awesome view!  The existence of a seawall, about 6 feet in height, added to its uniqueness.  

Beach view along Seawall Blvd.

Finally a sunny day!

We were so glad we finally, after three days of on and off rain, got to see a beautiful sunny day, and a beautiful sunset!  Had we left Galveston after three days, we would have missed this awesome sunny day…We got so lucky!

In conclusion:

Galveston turned out to be a great trip, as we finally got to visit the city for the very first time.  We finally understood why Galveston is such a popular place for tourists, as it has so many historical sites and buildings, not to mention the beautiful beaches!

The trip turned out to be a huge boon for our wallets as well.  The total price for lodging and for foods were quite inexpensive, as we spent around $400 for a 5 night/6 day trip, thanks to buying foods at supermarkets like Kroger’s and Walmart.  Buying foods from supermarkets would turn out to be a common theme during our travels, to save money, and in many cases to eat better.

We were already getting tired of eating fried foods/greasy foods by the third week of our 2 1/2 month long cross country trip.  Eating salads really helped us out both financially and physically!

If you’re planning a trip to Texas, please add Galveston to your list of places to visit.  We think you’ll enjoy it!  Thank you all for reading and happy travels!  Keep up with us on our continuing journey going from North Carolina to California.

Jake

Wandering Money Pig 

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