3/23 Galveston Beach State Park, Galveston, TX

I had never been to this part of Texas, so thought it would be a good place to explore for a few days. Once I got to the San Antonio area, I noticed that there was green grass and leaves starting to pop out on some trees.  Nice to see an actual Spring! 

Unfortunately, the warm weather and sun of the western part of Texas was not in evidence when I arrived at the beachfront campground, just a lot of fog.  The state park is about 10 miles away from the town area of Galveston, so it is nice and quiet here farther down the beach.  However, there were a couple of unofficial greeters to meet me.  These are laughing gulls guarding the entrance. 

This is what used to be the back part of a large oval campground with 50 sites.  There were actually three such loops in this state park, but Hurricane Ike wiped out all of the buildings and most of the campground.  Only 12 sites in each of three campgrounds were usable.  The roads are not in very good shape, but at least they are there.  They have rebuilt the beach store and registration office, two restrooms, and the nature center across the road, but need funding to rebuild the campgrounds.

The fog cleared this morning, and the drizzle stopped for a while, so I decided to go out for a walk.  I thought all the warning signs were a bit much, especially since the green flag sign said it was calm and good swimming!  (Made this picture bigger so you could read at least some of the signs.)

 And just onto the beach was this unique sign.  Never had to worry about snakes in dunes before.

One nice thing about state parks, especially in bad weather, is that beaches are often deserted.  I chatted with a young couple with two small children, but other than that, I had the place to myself.

 

I started to take a walk, but the rain started again, so I headed back home where it was warm and dry!  Did not see any tar balls, but there was another oil leak in Galveston Harbor yesterday, so there is still hope and I will continue looking for souvenirs.

 

Tomorrow I pick up a rental car and will do some sightseeing.  I have a ton of food I need to eat, so no grocery shopping needed.  I try to carry a lot of everything, and I really stocked up a couple of days ago at a grocery store in San Antonio I really like.  There are some museums and a nature center to visit, plus I want to walk around in the area where there are some shops and a public beach in the town.