July 18 – Galveston Island State Park

Some camping advice – there’s no such thing as having a lie in when you’re sleeping in a tent on the beach in Galveston, Texas. It’s too damn hot! We were up when the sun rose over the water this morning and thought about going for a walk along the beach to see the sunrise but the mosquitoes were lined up on the window screen waiting for us to emerge so we decided to just close our eyes for a bit longer. As the sun rose higher in the sky, it became unbearably hot inside the tent so we all suited up and headed out for some breakfast at the picnic table. Minutes later we were swimming in the Gulf waters. The temperature outside today is about 96 and the water isn’t all that much cooler but it was refreshing still and the kids had fun jumping in to the waves as they came crashing in to the shore. Aidan got stung by a jellyfish not too long after jumping in. I saw just one the whole time I was in the water – they’re small, about the size of the quarter. Aidan quickly recovered from the sting and was back enjoying the water. After lunch we took some time out of the sun to update our journals and do some reading. More camping advice – the ice in your cooler doesn’t stay frozen too long when you’re camping on a beach in Galveston, Texas. James is pleased because it means more trips in the air-conditioned car to replenish! There he goes again…. After an early supper, we headed off in to town. Hoping to grab a drink at one of the seedy looking beach-side bars, we were disappointed to find out that they were 21+ to enter. Too bad … I was hoping to catch up on what the 20-something, beach-bum crowd were up to these days. Breaking our vow to only ‘eat local’ when we ate out on this trip, we found ourselves at the Galveston Island Rainforest Café where the adults sipped on fruity cocktails while the kids munched on volcano sundaes. Ahhh…heaven…