RV Travels with Dakota Duo: Sept. 10

Tuesday - today we explore Galveston! Had a great plan to get there, headed south on I-45, then took the # 8 East Bypass. We knew #8 was a toll road, but those are usually faster, Usually. We started on the # 8 East Parkway. We went past several ramps to get on the bypass, but they all had these big glaring signs that said E-Pass only, no cash. Not what do we do? The bypass parkway was usually 3 lanes wide, so we moved along pretty well, except for stop lights repeatedly on this route. We finally stopped at an E-Pass Store to find out what it cost to do the bypass, they told us $55 a day. So, back to the parkway, until we came to where I-10 crosses. Then you have to get on the bypass - just for a little while, paid two tolls and then had to get off again! Finally it merged with I-45 and we arrived in Galveston after 2 1/2 hours on the road!

Galveston and the Gulf, we're here. We drove along the bay side and looked at the water, beach, the restaurants and everything else. 88 degrees and very windy. By then it was time for lunch, so we stopped at "The Spot". A cool place where they had moved in 5 different houses, joined them together and had different eating venues in each. We sat in one that had open air dining (and wind). Had great fish tacos and a burger. The waitress filled us in on where to park to go to the beach and the nightspots on The Strand.
On the way down, I had looked at the map closer and discovered that the NASA Space Center was southeast of Houston. Since we were battling the bypass at that time, I made the comment that we should have just planned to stay in Galveston overnight. We decided it was a great idea, pretty spontaneous for us (it helped a lot that we had each packed another set of clothes anticipating going to the beach and getting sweaty with the humidity). So at lunch, we got on Priceline and got a room for the night. Ended up at a LaQuinta Inn, so we went to check in so we could change to go to the beach.
Well, not such a great adventure. The desk clerk was not excited to be bothered to check me in and when we walked into the room, phew! It smelled. OK, we're here, we'll tough it out. Gary wanted a quick nap, I ended up going down to the front desk to get a code to make the TV work. Miss Friendly said they were new TVs and she would call maintenance to find out. As I stood and waited she went in the back, then out to talk to another gal in the breakfast room - not too concerned about me. Finally she said she would find out and come up. I went back to the room and then the maintenance guy showed up with the code. Thank you.
Changed into our suits and off to the beach. Not as pretty as Cancun water, but we watched others picking up shells, swimming and could see a half a dozen tankers sitting out on the horizon. We walked on the beach, took pictures and walked out on the pier. This was a fishing pier, there was a shop you entered where you paid $10 to be able to go out for access to fish, or $2 to go up just to look. Gary was joking with the guy there, so he let us go up and look for 3 minutes when we realized all our money was in the car. He was a crusty older gentleman, originally from Brooklyn he told us. We drove around and looked at more of the island, we were fascinated by all the houses built up on stilts, some had a garage on the bottom. Went back to our room and changed for supper.

We went to the downtown area which is full of shops, bars and restaurants. Stopped in for Happy Hour at the 2 Steppin' Saloon, our server there was from Moldova. We had asked because she had such a distinctive accent. Then we went back to the bay side of the island for supper at Gaido's for seafood. Then back to our smelly room for the night. I was tired, so luckily fell asleep right away.