Visit to #Galveston #Texas 19th-20th Sept

After a couple of restful days in Port Aransas, we set off for Galveston. We had seen the bad weather reports about the Tropical Storm Imelda, but everything seemed fine when we left. Having stopped for a break in Alvin, Sue took a turn  at driving. As is often the case when Sue drives, the weather soon deteriorated. We thought about turning around but we were two thirds of the way there.  Fighting our way through heavy rain, and  flooded streets, we finally managed to get to our destination and settled down for the night, hoping the car hadn't been washed away the next morning!

To our surprise we awoke to sunshine, and so after an excellent breakfast cooked by our guest house hosts, set off to explore the City of Galveston. We started with the downtown area.

Here we looked for art galleries, but several of these were still barricaded against the floods that had swept over the area, leaving over a metre deep of water in places. I did manage to get a few pictures through the windows though. Eventually, we found the Third Coast Gallery, where they had just finished mopping out the lower floor. Interestingly, the first exhibition, in there, was of watercolours depicting city scenes, and this was the first time that we had seen this type of landscape on our travels.

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After a walk to the coast and a stroll along the beach, we finished the afternoon by doing part of a sculpture trail. Apparently, after  Hurricane Ike in 2008, lots of trees were uprooted and the residents decided that local artists could create sculptures from these, as well as a further 8.000 new trees being planted. Guided tours are now organised or visitors can just walk along the streets with a map, showing the houses with the sculptures in their gardens.

The other trees were used for restoration work and a variety of art pieces. This seemed an excellent idea and one that other areas could adapt, recycling what otherwise would just be sent to landfill.