Our final day in Texas

We left Houston, Texas today with the intention of going to Galveston Island, along the Gulf coast. Greg was looking forward to a few laid-back days at the beach. However, what we didn't know was that this past week was spring break for schools in Texas. Add to that congestion from lots of ladies (and some pink Cadillacs) at a Mary Kay cosmetics conference there. Now add a cruise terminal with two ships loading and unloading passengers. Although the island has miles of beachfront, there were lots of people everywhere.

The mainland skyline, with its many oil refineries

We did check room rates in one chain hotel and they were double what had been posted at other times. Maybe if we'd arrived two days later, at a mid-week, off-season time, things would have been different. However, we decided to move on, away from the hustle and bustle.

Oil tankers could be seen in all directions

There is a free ferry that connects the island to the easterly part of the mainland. Not surprisingly, we had a long wait to board the ferry, but eventually we made the crossing and continued our travels east.
Here's a photo taken as we drove onto the ferry:

This is one of the five ferries that I didn't want to get. Can you see why?

Who wants to put their trust in a vessel named "Dedman"!

After the crossing, we passed miles and miles of beachfront houses that were built on wooden stilts. We later learned that when Hurricane Ike came through in 2008, it levelled all but one house. You can see the devastation in the previous link. We were told that the area is only now really starting to get back on its feet.

Bye, bye, Galveston Island

We ended our day at Winnie, Texas, population 3,254. There were about six chain hotels clustered there, mainly to service travellers from the nearby interstate. It's likely that these hotels are a big source of work for the people of Winnie. Hey, don't Pooh-Pooh my idea about Winnie!