Galveston 2017
So around Christmas time 2016, my mom and I were looking at beach houses on VRBO, just for fun...Well that turned into us renting one that month and planning a trip for the upcoming summer. It seems to make those cold months more bearable when you have a beach vacation to look forward to, doesn't it? Anywho, I found a house right on the beach, just outside of Galveston, located on Jamaica Beach, just to the side of San Luis Pass. A month or so later we were telling our friends about it and casually asked if they would want to go, to our surprise they did! I'll tell you more about traveling with friends and family later on. Our experience at this little beach house was excellent, and something I highly recommend for a larger family that doesn't fit in a typical hotel room.
PROS
Space: Our family of 6 does not fit into a standard hotel room, this house gave us all separate rooms and two bathrooms, AND a washer and dryer! Also, it was actually less than a nice hotel room, about $200 a night!
Private Beach: This beach was a dream, at most it would have just a couple families around our age. After driving past the other beaches in Galveston and seeing how crowded they were, I knew we had made an excellent choice to stay outside the city limits!
Great for Grandma: My mom was able to have her own room, with an ocean view. If she didn't want to go on an adventure with us, she had a beautiful place to sit and read! Or she could walk the beach in the mornings with her coffee!
CONS
Tolls: Say what?! So if you stay outside of San Luis Pass there is a toll to get into downtown Galveston, as well as a billion more on the drive down to Galveston! Not a big deal, more of a pain if you weren't expecting it.
Distance to Downtown: Per the map it's only about a 15 mile drive into the heart of Galveston from where we stayed. But, after you factor in waiting at the toll and then the congested traffic it really took about 45 mins.. thankfully we only went into Galveston twice.
These are just a few of the reasons why renting a beach house did and did not work for our family.
Traveling with Friends
Traveling with friends can be tricky business.. will they want to eat where we want to eat, will they want to do the attractions we want to do? You have to really be sure you are traveling with like minded people, and that your children get along! Lucky for us our friends are very easy going and a breeze to travel with. The perks of traveling as a group is being able to split the grocery bill! I think we spent about $200 combined for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for our 4 day trip. We did eat out once, I will tell you about that later on. Another suggestion when traveling with friends is to plan out activities together, before the trip. This helps reduce time spent saying "We don't care, what do ya'll wanna do?" We were very fortunate that our friends were able to rent a house about a block from ours, so they were just a quick walk away, but far enough that each family could have any personal time they needed. Another perk is that much needed adult conversation when you vacation with kids, does anybody else crave that? My husband and his friend were able to fish in the mornings, while us girls were able to chat over making dinner or while relaxing on the beach. Those things may not be good additions for you, but they sure are for us!
Attractions on a Budget
Sadly we are not the type of people that can lay around on the beach all day, I wish we could, it would save some money! Fortunately, I did my research and found some free, yes you heard me right, free attractions! The first one we tried was the Galveston Island Ferry, this travels between the tip of Galveston to Port Bolivar. There can sometimes be a wait, but our was minimal in mid-July so I wouldn't let that scare you, you can also check the times and wait status on their website below. We drove our car straight on to the ferry, and while the actual ride isn't that special, we did see dolphins! Lots of dolphins actually, it was really cool and something that is typically charged for! The next attraction we visited was the Sea Center of Texas in Lake Jackson, this was about a 30 minute drive from our house. It is a totally free aquarium with a touch tank and an outdoor preserve area and fish hatchery. Now don't get me wrong this did't compare to you're typically large aquariums, but it was definitely a great way to get out of the house. Not to mention, just a short distance form that was the Brazosport Museum of Natural Science, again totally free! They had dinosaur skeletons, tons of different types of shells and fossils, and tons of other things that kept our kiddos interested. They even sold shark teeth, fossils, shells, and fun rocks for very cheap. And yes, we have children and adults in our group that appreciate a pretty rock! On our way home from Galveston we visited the Battleship Texas State Historic Site and the San Jacinto Monument in Houston. Going in to this I was unimpressed, my husband loves history so this was more for him. But, I have to say we all had a great time exploring the ship! Now admission is pricey, but if you buy or already have a state park pass you can get your whole family in! The parks pass cost us $70, way cheaper than the $12 per person it would have cost. And, because it was our lucky day they let our friends use our pass too! The big bonus is that we can use this State Park Pass all across Texas state parks for one year, we are already searching for fun lakes to drag our boat to!
Battle Ship Texas
Brazosport Museum
Sea Center Texas
Galveston Island Ferry
Shrimp 'N Stuff
No, that is not a clever title, it is actually the name of a restaurant in downtown Galveston. As we were searching for places to eat our first night of vacation my friend came across this on Yelp, and the name was so funny we just had to go! A big perk to this restaurant, aside from the shrimp po' boy, was it's location. It was within walking distance to La King's Confectionary, and the square in downtown that has the big iconic Galveston chair and Greetings from Galveston wall. These spots made for great pictures! Back to the restaurant, it was pretty small and not very crowded when we went, they sat our group of 11 easily. Pretty much everything is fried, but hey it's vacation right? I had the platter, which had clams, fish, and shrimp, Brian had an amazing shrimp po' boy, our friend had the crab cake sandwich, which was yum! They also had pasta for our pickier children, thank goodness! All was reasonably priced for a touristy area. I would recommend this place if you are looking for an uncrowded restaurant with pretty good seafood.
