Good Beach Fences...

Enough with the snow already!  It is starting to melt a little around the edges, anyhow.  Sure, maybe we'll get another snowfall or two, but winter is essentially over.   Our mailbox will resurface one of these days and Olive, the pug, will get her yard back.

But at this moment, most of the fences around here are still covered with snow and are not clearly visible, so I am taking a little trip back to Florida to Inlet Beach where we stayed in January.  Here are some of the nice beach fences that were near our condo.

Ahhhh, that's nice for a change!

LINKING UP WITH THERESA'S GOOD FENCES!

By the time we got to...

Galveston, I had that Glen Campbell song stuck firmly in my head. It was raining pretty good so we didn't do a whole heck of a lot when we got there. Found our house, did some grocery shopping, stopped to buy umbrellas, let the dog get used to her new environment, listened to it rain and went to bed.

The next morning dawned bright blue and beautiful. The house we rented was steps from the beach and we took Olive over to check out the surf, which is her favorite thing.

We were also just a short distance from the Pleasure Pier, but with neither of us really being “ride” people, we knew we wouldn't be taking advantage of that, but I must admit, it makes a nice, colorful background.

In general, we had a nice relaxing time in Galveston doing some leisurely exploring on The Strand, roaming around and taking in the Tree Sculptures, which are carved out of oaks destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008. The Tree Sculpture Tour took us through a beautiful Victorian neighborhood.

I spotted this little girl on The Strand, where it is fashionable to have your clothes match your candy, apparently.

This Tree Sculpture of the Tin Man & Toto is in the yard of the house where King Vidor, one of the directors of The Wizard of Oz, was born in the front downstairs bedroom.

In Memoriam - Galveston's Lost Oaks - September 13, 2008

One day, we went to Sonny's where Greg was happy to order their mug of oysters. I said, “Yuk!” as I always do when Greg has oysters and had an excellent muffaletta for myself.

When we got to Galveston, I could only remember one verse of the Glen Campbell song about Galveston and it went through my brain over and over and over, so I looked it up on the interweb when I got a chance. Apparently, it is a song about a soldier missing his girl back in Galveston, written by Jimmy Webb, who wrote so many of the songs I grew up with.

Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin'

I still see her dark eyes glowin'

She was 21 when I left Galveston

Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea waves crashing

While I watch the cannons flashing

I clean my gun and dream of Galveston

I still see her standing by the water

Standing there lookin' out to sea

And is she waiting there for me?

On the beach where we used to run

Galveston, oh Galveston, I am so afraid of dying

Before I dry the tears she's crying

Before I watch your sea birds flying in the sun

At Galveston, at Galveston

Sorry for the earworm.

By the way, here's some travel advice from me. If you stop to buy umbrellas, it won't rain for the rest of your trip. At least that's what has happened for us so far.

Hunting…

Taking a break from my travel pics, I actually got my camera out this week and found some stuff for this week’s Scavenger Hunt.  I had to stretch it a bit but I got stuff.

SHINE:  Well, kind a of dull shine but a shine nonetheless.

FAST:  Our neighbor Doug had his dog Shelby down at the beach this past Friday.  Shelby, being a Golden Retriever, had to go in the water and Doug was hot on her trail trying to make sure she didn’t shake pond water all over everybody.  Doug won and Shelby got a ride home in a golf cart.

LEFT:  We sure have a lot of signs in our town admonishing us to stay left or go left.

PEACE:  I love being down at our beach in the evening with friends.  We get together each Friday in the spring and summer when the weather cooperates.  It feels like peace to me.

PLAIN:  Now, tell me, is there anything plainer than white bread?

Linking to Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday.

No worries...

One of the things we truly love about St. John, USVI, and especially the Coral Bay side of the island, is that it isn’t crowded.  I think that there are three reasons for this.

One is that unless you are on a relatively small boat, you can’t get there directly.  If you want to go there, you have to fly to St. Thomas and take a ferry over.  It’s not really a big deal but for people who don’t want to wait to start their vacations, it might be an issue.

 

The second reason is that large cruise ships can’t dock there as there is no deep water harbor available.  On this trip, we noticed that some smaller cruise ships are stopping by and tendering their passengers onto the beaches and sugar plantation ruins and you can certainly buy excursions from St. Thomas to St. John if you are a cruise ship passenger, but Royal Princess’s Behemoth of the Oceans isn’t going to be docking at St. John and letting off thousands of people seeking good beaches and cheap rum drinks.  I certainly have nothing against cruising or cruisers per se, but it is nice that they have to “work” to get to St. John.

 

The third and probably most important reason that St. John is not crowded is that Laurence Rockefeller purchased a lot of land on St. John and in 1956, he donated most of that land to the United States National Parks Service.  That means that about 60% of the island is national park and will not be developed further than it already is.   This also serves to help protect much of the coral reef that is included in that park.  Thanks, Mr. Rockefeller.  You did a truly good thing there.

But beware if you are planning a vacation to Coral Bay.  The driving on the island is not for the faint of heart.  I mentioned yesterday that it takes seven switchbacks to get us up to Reef Madness.  We like that the road is paved.  At our last villa, it was not.  It made it kind of exciting to get home especially after dark.   And, well, all that driving is on the wrong side of the road…sorry, I mean on the left side of the road.  We’re just lucky that Greg has yet to meet a driving challenge that he won’t take on and we are more than happy to leave all the driving to him.  And while there may not be much traffic, you do run into (not literally, I hope) donkeys and goats moseying along and the occasional iguana or mongoose.

Things such as food and gas are expensive there.  It’s an island after all and most stuff needs to be shipped to the location.  And water is at a premium so it has to be used sparingly.  Sure St. John is surrounded by water but it’s not so good to drink.  Water is caught in cisterns on the roofs of the buildings from rainfall and filtered for human use.  Conservation is a good thing.  Something we need to consider even in this wet climate.

And don’t get hung up if a chicken, lizard, cat or dog wanders into the restaurant where you are enjoying a nice island lunch.  That’s just the way it is, mon.

 

Here’s the payoff:

Looking down on Trunk Bay.  This is often considered one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Good for snorkelers.

View unobstructed by sunbathers and other living things.  Can you spell r-e-l-a-x-i-n-g?

Goats in the road.  No worries...