Galveston Island – Live Laugh RV

Let’s talk campgrounds

February 6, 2015February 6, 2015by Ingrid49 Comments

I don’t normally do campground reviews or talk too much about the places we park. First, there are a lot of great bloggers out there that do a much better job in that department than I could ever do. Second, reviews are subjective. I’d feel badly hurting anyone’s feelings or recommending a place only to have someone else sorely disappointed.

After our 3 month Texas Gulf Coast adventure, I’ve had a few bloggers express interest in the places we camped and would appreciate a little more information. Thus, I’ve decided to do a quick and dirty on my Texas campground experience.

So let’s grab a drink and I’ll tell you the where, why, and MY opinion.

I’m not always fond of making reservations because I like to keep our plans fluid. What I mean is if we really enjoy a location and want to stay longer, I want that flexibility. The opposite holds true as well, and yes, there have been plenty of places that were a total let down and I couldn’t wait to move on.

But alas, reservations are a necessity especially in popular places and during holiday weekends or special events.

Another tidbit that’s important to ME are views and space. Therefore we prefer staying in State Parks, National Forests, or boondock in the backcountry. I’ll gladly give up the convenience of hook-ups for nature and views. But there is a time and place when a Private RV Park is the perfect venue, especially when near a large metropolitan area.

Knowing I wanted to spend a month on Galveston Island had me searching for Private RV Parks for that leg of our journey. The Galveston Island State Park was already booked on the weekends during our time frame, plus you can only reserve a two-week stay. I liked the idea of staying near the state park so I could do some hiking and bird watching there and that was the main reason I chose the Jamaica Beach RV Resort.

It did not disappoint. All sites are pull-thru, concrete, and level. Each site offers a picnic table, full hook-ups, and are relatively nicely spaced. A monthly stay in a private park is always the most economical rate versus the nightly rate with the exception of the discounted nightly rate with a Passport America or Escapees membership. Do note: be informed and don’t assume, as discounts are not always applicable or honored and usually apply to a one or two night stay only and quite often not on weekends.

The Jamaica Beach RV Resort has two swimming pools, a mini golf course with a cute pirate theme, and a pond with ducks.

The on-site laundry facility was also convenient and rarely busy.

The one big negative is the beach is located across the street (a busy road) at a public access point. Also, road noise can be heard within the RV park especially at those sites located closer to the busy road.

We did enjoy our month at this park. I would stay here again and even recommend it, but we did check out a few other options in the area for future reference.

Galveston Island State Park is ok and offers two different types of camping experiences. They have a campground on the ocean side for those beach goers and another on the bayside for birders, kayakers, and anglers. Our friends MonaLiza and Steve stayed on the bayside and wrote a review. Click here to read Steve’s review. Do note; the state park does fill up on weekends. Thus, I would highly recommend a reservation.I did visit the state park regularly during my stay on Galveston Island. I found the trails the majority of the time were too wet to navigate with tennis shoes. Muck boots would be more appropriate, but I still managed to find plenty of photographic opportunities.

Here are a few other options of places to stay for a Galveston Island visit;
Dellanera RV Park is owned and managed by the county and is in a great location. There’s few amenities, the sites are gravel, and it’s on the ocean. It looks ok.
Bayou Shores RV Park would probably be my last choice. I didn’t like the location and it seemed a little unkempt.
Ron Hoover Oasis RV Park is connected with the RV retail store. We found ourselves visiting their parts department several times. The RV park looks nice and private. It’s even located next to a large county park (not visible from the RV park) with water access. It’s actually located on the mainland and not the island near exit 10 thus it’s not that far from Galveston. Anglers and Kayakers would like this place.
Tiki Tom’s looked like an interesting place and is definitely geared toward anglers and boaters.

Is there boondocking on Galveston Island? I wouldn’t plan on it. There’s no overnight camping allowed anywhere on the beach on Galveston Island – county ordinance. I’m not sure they’ll even allow you to overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Sorry, I failed to confirm that tidbit. Throughout the island we did notice lots of signs stating, “No overnight parking”. So if there is boondocking, we didn’t find it.

Next up, we’ll move on down the coast.

The Next Exit 2015: The Most Accurate Interstate Highway Service Guide Ever Printed

Texas

Quacking Carolers

December 21, 2014January 30, 2015by Ingrid60 Comments

I think its obvious based on my last few posts that hubby and I enjoyed our month on Galveston Island immensely. Hopefully I’ve done the island justice by sharing our discoveries and adventures.

The one thing left for me to share is where we stayed. Galveston Island offers everything from high end accommodations like the San Luis Resort, to vacation home rentals, to a State Park, and everything in between.

Al and I knew we wanted to spend a month on the island therefore a RV Park would be our best option. After a bit of research, we booked a reservation at the Jamaica Beach RV Resort located 10 miles south of the town of Galveston and only 3 miles from the state park.

Texas RV Parks — checking in at the Jamaica Beach RV Resort, Galveston Island, Texas

Once we arrived and were all hooked-up, I realized this was the first time in 6 months that we had full hook-ups. Talk about luxury! However, there are always tradeoffs. I may not have had the need to worry about water usage, but I no longer had any fabulous views out my RV windows. I will say the RV Park was lovely and the sites were nicely spaced in comparison to other RV parks.

The Jamaica Beach RV Resort had plenty of amenities as well as an onsite Pirate themed mini golf course complete with Dora, the turtle.

Just across the road was the beach access. With its close proximity to the state park and the beach, this turned out to be a great place to call home for the month. However, the wildlife was a problem…. wink, wink.

A problem instigated by moi, I might add. It all started accidentally. Al and I were reorganizing the basement and the corner of a small bag of bird seed tore spilling some seed onto the pavement. Not interested in continuing to store this bag, I spread the rest of the bird seed into the grassy area. Huey, Dewey, and Louie loved it and thought this would become a regular event.

From that day on, every morning I could hear them singing (in a rather quacky way) as they waddled down the street. The serenade would continue at our door. “Oh, how cute… Quacking Carolers”.

However, I don’t think they were quacking “Deck the halls” as much as they were saying “Feed us more, Miss Ingrid“.

They looked under fed, don’t they? Gosh, I could practically see their ribs. That’s exactly what these three little beggars would have us think.

They do know how to endear themselves and made their rounds throughout the RV Park regularly.

Since we no longer have a dog, I found myself quickly bonding with Huey, Dewey, and Louie… they’re rather cute, I’d say.

I’ll admit, it was kind of nice being greeted by these three entertaining chaps upon our return from a day of explorations. Numerous times, we found the green headed characters napping under our RV. A regular washing down of the RV site quickly became a necessity 😉

Mallard Duck — The Duck whisperer…. How to train your duck!

The three Amigos did add some enjoyment to our stay at the RV Park and made up for any lack of views. I guess I’m easily entertained these days.

We would stay at the Jamaica Beach RV Resort again and feel comfortable recommending it.

With the state park just 5 minutes away, I did spend a fair amount of time strolling around that park. I think if we were to camp at the Galveston Island State Park, we would stay at the campground on the bay side. It seems a little more protected from the winds than the ocean side plus the birding is better.

bird photography — Will sing AND dance for food …. coochie, coochie!

We also checked out Dellanera RV Park and Tiki Tom’s. Tiki Tom’s seems to be geared more towards anglers and kayakers while Dellanera RV Park is geared towards beach goers.

All and all, our month on Galveston Island was a great experience. We’d return 🙂

Texas

A little something for everyone!

December 14, 2014January 30, 2015by Ingrid61 Comments

Our month in Galveston has come to an end and we’ve moved four hours down the Texas Gulf Coast to Mustang Island.

Normally by week four in one location I’m more than ready to move on. Such was not the case regarding Galveston Island.

I was actually a little sad to say good-bye. There really is a lot to see and do on the Island ….. a little something for everyone you could say.

I think it’s safe to say, most folks come to Galveston for the Beach. There are miles and miles of beach with public access for all to enjoy. I assure you, Al and I took full advantage of that beach access with regular walks.

But there’s so much more to Galveston Island than the beach. From that first day as we crossed the bridge onto the island, I knew I had to explore and discover all that she had to offer starting with the three pyramids that I couldn’t help but notice glistening across the bay. Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to figure out what exactly were those pyramids.

Moody Gardens is an educational tourist destination featuring three main pyramid attractions: an Aquarium, a Rainforest, and a Discovery pyramid. Also onsite: Zip Line and Ropes Course, Water Park, Golf Course, IMAX Theater, Paddlewheel Boat.

Although I didn’t indulge personally in taking in these attractions, I did stroll around Moody Gardens out of curiosity. There is a separate fee for each attraction.

Each year for the holiday season they feature a Festival of Lights. This mile long trail boasts over one million lights themed to holiday music.

Moody Gardens huge event this year was being held in a large commercial tent; Ice Land. Thirty-one internationally-acclaimed professional ice carvers from China transformed 900 tons of ice into a holiday wonderland with a Sponge Bob Square Pants theme. To maintain this work of art, the tent is kept at a balmy 9 degrees Fahrenheit. For obvious reasons, I took a pass on the experience.

Besides I got to see Sponge Bob Square Pants at the Dickens on the Strand parade.

And then there’s Galveston’s Pleasure Pier. This amusement park is relatively new having opened in 2012. However, this isn’t Galveston’s first Pleasure Pier. Ah, more hurricanes and history. If interested, you can read about it here.

The Lone Star Flight Museum was on our radar but we never did make it there. Although hubby doesn’t miss his aviation career, he still drools over the possibility of going up in a by-plane. His face lights up whenever there’s talk about open cockpits or acrobatic flying.

On one of our last days in the area, we took a quick drive over to Pelican Island to visit Seawolf Park. Before Hurricane Ike hit in 2008, this was known as a premier park to visit complete with restaurant.

The building was destroyed by the hurricane and remains in a state of disrepair. For an additional fee, there’s a WWII submarine and destroyer that can be toured. These days the park is pretty much frequented by fishermen and pelicans, but there are plans for renovation and even putting in a RV park.

Not only is fishing popular around Galveston Island, but so is kayaking. The state park even has paddling trails outlined in their trail guide; land and water trails.

The weather wasn’t always agreeable during our thirty day stay. We did get our fare share of rain, cold, and wind but I won’t complain because during those most inclement weather day’s places to the north were getting buried in snow. So on the bad weather days we would run errands, go Christmas shopping, or do daily chores.

There are plenty of places to shop within 25 miles of Galveston…. from an outlet mall to regular malls and everything in between. I found myself visiting Best Buy and Kohl’s a couple of times.

We also discovered a great RV Center called Ron Hoover RV. It’s a small place with a parts department, service department, and onsite RV Park. We thought the parts prices were very reasonable and before heading out of town, we picked up a few additional items.

Makers Mark Bourbon — Steve, Ingrid, Mona Liza, Al

I think it’s obvious, we loved our time on Galveston Island and were never at a loss of things to see or do but our favorite pastime was running into fellow bloggers. We had a blast sharing a special bottle of bourbon with Mona Liza and Steve in addition to a couple of other get togethers with these two energetic RVer’s.

RV get together — I’m sampling the Makers Mark Bourbon as Mona Liza gets ready to slice into their homemade bread!

I also had the pleasure of meeting Russ from Russ on the Road. Russ is a solo RVer who shares my interest in photography. He and I met for lunch and the conversation flowed freely for nearly three hours.

I’d love to run into him again somewhere along our travels. He’s a very accomplished photographer that I’m sure I could learn a thing or two from.

Hmm, have I told you yet where we stayed? Let’s save that for the next post.

Texas

From destruction to rejuvenation

December 5, 2014January 30, 2015by Ingrid53 Comments

After a morning of birding then sharing a yummy lunch with our husbands, Mona Liza and I bid adios to the guys and off we went to explore more of Galveston. Two days earlier the four of us stopped in at the Galveston visitor center. The gals at the center were extremely friendly and helpful. This was the perfect stop to begin our Galveston explorations.

architecture in Texas — Just one of many beautiful homes in Galveston’s historic district

We left the center with plenty of information, brochures, and maps to assist us in getting the most out of our stay on the island. Mona Liza and I used the ‘birding’ brochure that morning to help direct us to various spots for the best bird sightings.

hurrican Ike — beautiful neighborhood… these trees survived hurricane Ike

Now it was time for us to pull out the ‘Tree Sculpture Tour’ brochure. When Hurricane Ike hit on September 13, 2008, the combination of damaging winds and tidal surge led to the demise of many of Galveston’s tree’s.

A group of homeowners decided to turn destruction into symbols of rejuvenation by commissioning local artists to turn these downed and damaged trees into works of art.

These carved tree sculptures are located throughout Galveston but the bulk are concentrated within Galveston’s East End Historic District.

Although many of the beautiful, majestic oak trees are long gone, they are not forgotten.

With map in hand, ML and I set out to see as many of these sculptures as possible. Although we enjoyed the whimsical sculptures, we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful architecture. Each house was unique and lovely in it’s own right.

Without the tree sculpture tour incentive, I’m not sure we would have ventured up and down all the residential streets, but I’m really glad we did.

I was so taken by the houses, the architecture, and the gardens that I just had to show the area to hubby.

The next day Al and I went for our morning walk up and down the streets of Galveston’s East End Historic District in lieu of the usual walk on the beach.

Tree carving — The owners of the home own a grey Great Dane and they commissioned the artist to carve a replica of their beloved dog. The tree had actually grown around the fence at the spot where the paws grip the fence.

The Galveston tree sculptures represent a very small percentage of the trees destroyed by Hurricane Ike. Several organizations worked together to ensure 100% of the “Iked” wood was kept out of landfills.

Some of the wood was used to restore an American historic whaling ship, 200 tons went to Malago, Spain, to build a full scale replica of the Brig “Galveztown”, and a local lumber yard took a fair amount. And yes, 100% of the destroyed trees were repurposed in some form.

Tree Scuplture — a Grandmother reading. This tree sculpture sits in a park. How appropriate!

Geisha and Angels — A carved Geisha represents the homeowners love of the Orient. The smaller sculpture “The Angels” represents the homeowners two granddaughters. The Geisha was carved from the trunk of the tree while The Angels were carved from the top of the tree. The tree was originally taller than the home. “The Angels” carving is one of the few sculptures not still rooted in the ground.

No trip to Galveston Island would be complete without a visit to Galveston’s Historic District and that includes “The Strand“…. our next stop!

Texas

Girls gone wild – or just crazy!

December 3, 2014January 30, 2015by Ingrid67 Comments

One of the more delightful aspects to RVing is running into like-minded folks; folks that share similar passions. We first met Mona Liza and Steve a couple of years ago while camping at Cave Creek Regional Park just north of Phoenix, Arizona.

Mona Liza and I connected online via our blogs. This was the first blogger meet up for both of us and we had a great time. We’ve stayed in touch via our blogs and the occasional email ever since.

I’m not sure if Mona Liza’s interest in birding began around the same time mine did, but I will say she and I were both enamored with the Gambel’s Quail during our stay at Cave Creek in Arizona.

Although our travels have taken us in different directions, we knew we’d meet again some day. Therefore, it was exciting when we both realized we were going to be staying in Galveston at the same time this winter.

Reconnecting with fellow RVer’s is always fun and this encounter lead to several get togethers (spouses included). But the day Mona Liza and I were most looking forward to was a day of birding with our cameras and without our hubby’s.

We could go crazy snapping away without the obligatory comment from our husbands, “Don’t you have enough bird pictures?” “NEVER … no such thing!”

While Mona Liza and Steve were staying at the Galveston Island State Park, Al and I were staying just three miles down the road at the Jamaica Beach RV Resort.

Galveston Texas — Mona Liza’s personal viewing platform.

So these two bird crazy gone wild gals set off on a mission to photograph as many different birds as possible.

I picked Mona Liza up with the big dog (F-250 w/extended bed), leaving Al and Steve to fend for themselves.

ML enjoyed her own personal chauffeur (moi) and viewing platform. She served as navigator using maps and information she and I picked up at the Galveston visitor center a few days earlier.

It was a cold, blustery morning along the Texas Gulf Coast. At 8:30 in the morning it was 38 degrees Fahrenheit with 20 mph winds, but these birders refused to let a little wind and cold deter them from their mission.

We had a successful morning photographing lots of birds as well as sharing quite a few laughs along the way. Occasionally our exuberance would get the better of us and we would see birds in the distance only to realize it was a fence post, street sign, or piece of garbage. Hmm, wonder if more than one of us needs eye-glasses!

Mona Liza has an uncontrollable fascination with Roseate Spoonbills these days. It’s hard for her to contain her excitement when she sees one of these pink beauties.

Case in point; we were strolling along a trail near some ponds when she grabbed my arm. She was practically jumping up and down and exclaims in a hushed tone with pointed finger, “There, there… do you see them?” “No”, I calmly responded.

pink birds — this roseate spoonbill was photographed the next day after receiving a phone call from ML, “Come now. They’re here!”

“Look right out there”, she said with almost a tone of frustration, but sense of excitement all at the same time. We kept our voices soft as not to startle any birds.

“Those aren’t Roseate’s”, I exclaimed. While ML says, “Yes, yes they are”, we simultaneously lifted our cameras to our faces and zoomed in our telephoto lenses for a closer look. With slumped shoulders and a deflated tone she whispers, “Kayaks” followed by uncontrollable laughter from both of us.

The entire morning was filled with mixed sightings…. the blind leading the blind you could say. We were equally mistaking foreign objects for birds. “Now, that’s an unusual bird in the distance and a big one at that. I wonder what it is”. “I do believe they call that one a street sign”.

But more times than not, we lucked out and it was indeed a bird.

The cold, the running around, and the laughter caused these girls gone wild to work up an appetite. We headed into downtown Galveston to find a place for lunch. “Oh joy! I get to parallel park the BIG Dog”.

I find a spot along a side street and line myself up with the curb. ML jumps out of the truck and starts providing hand signals to help me park. I’m sure to the everyday on looker they might find our antics unusual, but for these seasoned RVer’s it’s just another day in the life. I figured if she could direct Steve in parking a 40 foot motorhome, this 22 foot truck should be a piece of cake for her. And a fine job of directing she did!

I’m almost parked when my phone goes off. It’s Al. He and Steve just finished touring the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum and were planning on grabbing a bite to eat. Talk about perfect timing. Since we were all downtown, we met at Brew’s Brothers Brew Pub for a tasty lunch.