We enjoyed a leisure pace of traveling from the Gulf Coast up to Austin for our new camp hosting gig. We took the ferry from Bolivar Peninsula back to Galveston and stayed at the Galveston Island State Park on the west end of the island. I had camped there two years ago on my solo Heart Sparks Road Tour, and wanted to share the place with Marika.
The park has two camping areas, one on the beach side that is popular, but very windy. The other area looks out over the mudflats and the West Bay, and it is stunning. Cody and walked along the sandy mudflats every morning, and Marika explored the birding trails. And every evening we took our beach walk along the Gulf.
One day we drove into Galveston for lunch and a tour of the Texas Seaport Museum and the fully restored sailing ship, Elissa, from the 1800’s.
After four relaxing nights on the bay, we headed up to Houston for some big city sightseeing. We haven’t been in the throes of serious traffic since we left Phoenix in January and, let me tell you, Houston drivers are crazy! It was so stressful that we asked our friend to do the driving around town.
We checked out the National History Museum of Funeral History where we learned about embalming, saw beautiful hearses from the 30’s and 40’s, and replicas of several Presidential caskets.
We had the most delicious lunch at a real, flown-in-from-New-York-every-day Jewish deli, with amazing corned beef and hand-sliced belly lox, and found a small and delicious Thai restaurant just a few minutes from our RV park. And we had to stop at the Tastee Treat for dessert.
On Saturday we left Houston and headed to Bastrop, Texas, where we are now camped for the next 30 days, working as camp hosts. After a month at the coast, it’s fun to be in the Pineywoods, surrounded by the songs of cardinals, warblers, and jays. The lake is beautiful, and the kayak launch ramp is right around the corner from our spot.
Cody and I followed a trail, first along the lake, then into the woods. I had looked at the map, but didn’t have one with me. It seemed like we were walking further than the signs indicated, but my phone wasn’t registering my steps. When we reached the marker for the second trail, I realized we weren’t on a loop trail, so we turned around. We were both a bit tired and thirsty, but we kept going. The heart of pine cones on the trail helped. By the time we got back to camp, we had walked 3.5 miles, our longest hike ever.
We’re excited to be here for the month, to explore another part of Texas, and spend some time in the woods. And we have some friends in Austin who we can’t wait to see. I’ll be exploring the lake in my kayak and I even got my bike out of the car for some around the park riding. And we’ll be cleaning fire pits and picking up litter, and sharing this beautiful pace with other campers.
