Meriwether Navigator Brittany Highland and Captain Eric Highland of RV Wanderlust- Date: 06-03-2014
- Current City: Galveston, TX
- Current Location: Bayou Shores RV Park
- Site Number: D-18
- Wi-fi Signal: Verizon – Medium / AT&T – Medium / Campground Wi-fi – Slow
- Mission: Enjoy the beach, work for clients, explore.
- Compliment: 2 Officers, 1 Crew, 0 Guests
- Captain: Eric Highland
- Navigator: Brittany Highland
- 1st Mate: Trogdor the Burninator
- Guests: None
- Weather: Scattered Clouds / 84°
- Precipitation: 30%
- Humidity: 76%
- Wind: 15 mph
- Fuel: 75 Gallons of Diesel – 3/4 of a tank
- Odometer: 101,506
- Generator Hours: 4611.8
- Estimated Date of Departure: Saturday, June 7th
- Next Destination: Aviation Arbor RV Park in New Orleans, LA
Special Orders: None.
Captain’s Remarks
15:04 – You may think we’ve been MIA, but the truth is we’ve been so busy these past few days that I’ve literally had to force myself to stop and write. We arrived in Galveston on Saturday the 31st. Met with Kay at the front desk of Bayou Shores RV Resort and got checked in.
Brittany with Miss Kay of Bayou Shores RV in Galveston, TX
Our home for the week in Galveston Texas at Bayou Shores RV.Kay was a sweetheart, and happy to recommend some local spots around town. We knew we’d take her up on those spots later, but right now we were focused on one thing… getting to the World’s Largest Amateur Sandcastle Competition.
15:07 – Immediately after parking Meriwether, we headed out in Smaug to East Beach. The only thing was that when we got to a certain point, traffic just came to a standstill. Lucky for us we had our bikes on the back of Smaug so we found some street parking and hopped on our bikes to make it out to the sandcastle competition.
What we didn’t realize is that it was still a good 2 miles away, and you had to ride on a sidewalk with a 6 foot drop off, then through puddles of mud and sand and New York style in between cars to get to the spot.
We finally made it though and we were rewarded with amazing sights like this…
The winning entry: Enter The Dragon. At the AIA Sandcastle Competition 2014 in Galveston, TexasWe walked up and down the beach looking at all the entries, there were 62 of them in total. I’ll post some of the best ones here for you to look at.
A Mario themed sandcastle.
Hungry Hungry Hippos in “The Original Hunger Games” entry at the Sandcastle competition
Through the Looking Glass aka Alice In Wonderland sandcastle.
And just a reminder that sandcastles are for kids.About half-way through we got a couple of sno-cones. Grape and Strawberry mixed if you must know. They really hit the spot. Then we found a couple of beach chairs with an umbrella and just sat down for awhile to take it all in.
Finally we decided to make the trek back to Smaug. We (and our bikes) were covered in mud and sand.
However we didn’t let that deter us from heading out to dinner at this fun place called The Spot. We had a table on the second floor over looking the Gulf. The view was awesome and The Spot was a ton of fun, we knew we’d be back.
15:17 – On Sunday we washed the bikes then we went to an area of town called The Strand. It is the historic district of Galveston and very close to the cruise ship terminals. We loved this area, and more importantly, while there finally decided on the “theme” for our interior decor of Meriwether. We’re going to have a nautical theme.
We purchased two pillows as our first purchase toward this theme and saw a bunch of other things that we think would make Meriwether come alive with both character and style.
Brittany kept me on a tight leash though and we walked out of the store with just the pillows.. for now..
We then did a little clothes shopping. Brittany got a new elegant beach outfit, complete with a floppy beach hat and I walked away in a new pair of flip flops.
Brittany in her new outfit. It was too windy to wear the hat!We also found a military surplus store that was huge! We spent a good hour in there browsing around and enjoying the history of the items found therein. It was Brittany’s first time in a shop like that and she really liked it.
After our time at The Strand, we decided to stop at a place for lunch that several folks had recommended called Shrimp and Stuff. We had a nice lunch on their outdoor patio. The restaurant itself is a casual place with mostly fried food.
Just outside Shrimp N Stuff in Galveston, TexasIt was a nice outing but not my number one pick to recommend, the ambiance was a bit lacking. Having said that, their shrimp po-boy was pretty outstanding.
Following lunch, we jetted home to get our swimsuits and drop off our loot and then we headed to the beach.
The seaweed was pretty crazy so we didn’t literally go swimming, but we did wade out into the warm waters of the gulf and spent time lying on our blanket soaking in the rays and listening to the Beach Boys on our bluetooth speaker.
The beach in Galveston. I really liked the grandfather who was playing with the grandkids all day.Not done yet, we decided to head back to The Spot for chips and drinks and a little live music. Brittany really enjoyed her margaritas (yes that was plural) and I enjoyed my water. I’ve been doing really well with my diet and exercise and I’ve lost 5lbs so far.
We finally came home and called it a night.
15:31 – Yesterday (Monday) I decided to tackle our turning light issue. For those of you faithful readers you’ll remember that all of a sudden all of our turning signals stopped working. I checked the fuse and it was good. Stumped, I polled my friends on Facebook only to find that the issue was a flasher, commonly called a relay.
My friend Lee C., walked me through the troubleshooting and together we were able to find the culprit. It was this little guy…
This relay, commonly called a flasher was the reason our turning signals weren’t working.If you are reading this, thanks Lee!
So $15 later, our turning signals were operational again. I went out to buy a relay to replace the broken one and stopped at the Coast Guard base here in Galveston to do a little shopping. I came home with two bags full of loot including a unit ball cap from the very first ship I was ever stationed on, the USCGC Dauntless.
After work we decided to take the ferry out to Port Bolivar. The ferry is FREE and it was a nice little ride.
On the ferry to Port BolivarFrom there it was a straight 12 miles or so to Crystal City and dinner at the Stingaree Down Under. I highly recommend this place! The food was excellent, the beach bar atmosphere is exactly what you’d hope for and they have a lovely deck right on the water where you can just hang out. And that we did.
15:42 – And that brings us to today. We’ve been working all day, we’ve started working with a new client and we’re full throttle and full capacity. But things are getting done and getting done well. Not sure where our adventures will take us tonight, but wherever it is, I’m sure it will be a blast.. after all.. I have my best friend with me.
Nothing like living life with your best friend.Remarks – Being in Galveston, away from Austin has given Brittany and I a chance to breathe. Though it may seem as though we’re constantly busy, and we are, we actually have more time for each other when we’re out on our adventures. Last night, sitting on the deck at Stingaree we had a long conversation about all kinds of things. The kind of conversation that doesn’t revolve around work, but around our philosophy on life. At one point in time I was told, “Your opinion sucks.” Haha. I love my Brittany. We live uncensored, we love each other fully and without reservation and we respect each other enough to be candid about all things. ~ E
Navigator’s Addendum
16:51 – It’s 5 PM, I’ve been working for 9 hours, and I’m ready to be done! But Eric put so much time into catching up on our Captain’s Log today, that I’ll take some time to put my own effort into it.
I have loved being in Galveston – more than I thought I would.The summer crowds aren’t here yet, and life’s pace is slower than what we’ve been used to in Austin. My friend (and talented Austinot blogger) Samantha Champion has spent a lot of time here, so she’s been suggesting all kinds of things to see and places to eat. She hasn’t steered us wrong yet! Here’s her list:
- Shrimp N Stuff – DONE
- Mosquito Cafe
- Take the ferry to Port Bolivar Peninsula/Crystal Beach – DONE
- Eat at Stingaree – The Stingaree is closed on Monday/Tuesday, but we ate right downstairs and it was awesome
- Pizza recommendation: Mario’s
- Seawolf Park – The park features the USAA Cavalla (a WWII sub), the USS Stewart (a destroyer escort…and I guess there’s only 3 in the world?), a fishing pier and a playground
- ShyKatZ and Jimmy’s on the Pier for breakfast
- Star Drug – “Cute and down on the Strand for an old school drugstore lunch of burgers, shakes and sandwiches”
- Gaido’s – “Old school fancy”
- Alex’s Seafood Market – “If you want to cook, it’s on the end of the island”
No, I don’t want to cook!
I have a blog post of my own brewing…”Good Times in Galveston.” Hoping to share some more photos about our adventures here. -B
Hey Guys! Looks like you’ve been busy. Those sand castles were amazing! I love the Hungry Hippos one 🙂
They were pretty incredible Greg. The sandcastle that won the competition was something to see in person. The detail on it was astonishing!
Looks like a terrific time you’re having! Wow, those sand castles are pretty impressive! Bill and I are ‘besties’ too so every adventure together is pretty sweet…we can relate! With all of those amazing restaurants to check out, cooking would not be on my radar either Brittany
Wow! Looks like you have a great spot yourself there Nikki!
ShyKatZ and Seawolf Park FO SHO!! Glad y’all are enjoying Galveston.
Thanks Matt! We loved Seawolf Park, that was awesome! Never made it to ShyKatZ but next time. I’m sure we’ll be back!
Fish Tales has some great food. The tour bus right by the Pier gives you a great overview and lots of fun Galveston history.
We saw Fish Tales but never stopped. Good to know Colleen! Thanks for the tip!