beach

Galveston ’25 – Kids’ summer getaway

| patmcg

With Claire being off at college most of the year and working a summer job at home, plus Molly being busy with cheer stuff, it’s been hard find a time we can all take a trip together. But after scouring the calendar, we finally found a few days that work.

And we make a road trip to good ol’ Galveston, my personal favorite nostalgic childhood beach town, and where we last went two years ago.

We’ve stayed in a few types of places in Galveston over the years:

  1. A historic bungalow in town – good town access, no beach access
  2. A beach house with a lazy river and a giant pool way out on far end of the island – good beach access, no town access
  3. A condo with a giant pool closer in, but separated from the beach by Seawall Boulevard – decent town access and annoying beach access
  4. Plus a variety of day trips from Houston back in the way

With all that experience behind us, I finally decided to get it right this time and get a spacious condo close to town with a giant pool and a lazy river and direct beach access with no Seawall Boulevard in the way. 👌

Did I mention it was for perfect for swimming in the morning and shaded by later afternoon? The nights out there were gorgeous too.

Once we had our perfect castle, it was time to play. The lazy river was amazing. Moly saids she would be out there three hours every morning if she lived there. I actively considered buying our condo. 😆

The beach was soft and sandy, and the water was the perfect temperature. I didn’t get many beach pics because I generally left my phone in the condo. 😊

During the steamy, sunny, tropical afternoons, we retreated inside and played Hey, That’s My Fish!, played guitar, napped, or watched LA Confidential. We also gorged on key lime pie.

And we explored the classic spots in town in the evening. Plus we discovered a new one for is: Maceos’ Import & Spice Co for po boys. (I still need to get these girls a proper muffaletta sandwich.)

We walked from the strand to The Original Mexican Restaurant (circa 1911), which was one of my dad’s favorite restaurants.

The only real problem was we had to get back to normal life and didn’t stay long enough. We still wanted to do mini golf and have pho. At least we have this song to remember you by.

Mitski en Miami 🎸🏝️

| patmcg

Claire is a huge fan of Mitski, and so am I. Claire and I had been trying to see Mitski live for a couple of years, but last time she was nearby, in Houston, we noticed too late and the aftermarket tickets were like $700. Ouch; that’s almost Taylor Swift levels.

When Mitski announced a tour for new hew release, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, we wanted to jump on it.

The only problem was that Mitski was not playing in Austin. Or anywhere in Texas. Or within like 1000 miles of us. 🤷🏻‍♂️ We puzzled at how Mitski could miss our whole big state. Does she hate Texas? I mean, she does have a song based in Texas, so what gives?

So I coordinated care with Claire’s mom to get her a Mitski trip for Christmas. The only condition was that Claire could not miss even one day of school.

Some late nights on the problem yielded a good result – we could fly to a Mitski show in Miami, New York, Boston, or LA in January/Febraury, all for less than the $700 (each) that the Houston concert would have cost. Being winter, I chose Miami – duh. 🏝️

I told Claire we had a very early flight out on Saturday morning, but at least it’s direct. Claire asked, “Are we going to have to get up at like 4 am?” And I was like, “Nah, the flight’s at 7:10.” And then I was like, “Oh crap. Yeah, we’re going to have to get up at 4 am.” 🤦🏻‍♂️

The flight back got us home at midnight the following day, Sunday. Then back to school/work. Yeah, this better be a good concert.

The rest of the trip is sort of a blur, but yes, it was a great concert. Mitski had some amazing theatrical music, some surprising country versions of her songs, and some weird but beautiful dancing.

The icing on the cake was walking around Miami Beach in the warm weather, joking around, talking about deep subjects, napping in our “flophouse” of an Airbnb, having ice cream, coffee, and French toast, watching weirdos and families stroll down Collin Avenue, watching people play beach volleyball, visiting the botanical gardens… it was all a great time with Clairey.

It was really cool to be hanging out with what seemed like – and in fact actually is – an adult friend. I hope we have more fun trips in our future even though she’s all grown up now. 🤘

Galveston Gals ’23

| patmcg

At the beginning of the summer, Molly was feeling pretty nostalgic about Galveston from the past few years and requested a return trip this year. Last summer’s trip to Ireland was going to have to be swapped for something more local this summer anyways, so Galveston was perfect in my book.

Since Galveston was such a major part of my own childhood, it really melted my heart that Molly felt the same way, so off we went for quick summer trip to the sandy island. Claire was excited too.

Here’s the trip in pictures, which do not quite capture the intense heat or the relaxed, good cheer. ☺️

Bahn Mis at the pool cabana from a place called Viet Cajun, the most “real Galveston” restaurant imaginable.
This crustacean freaked Molly out a bit – she kept asking if it was real.
Our cozy if retro condo rental.

The beach…

The beach where we swam and jumped waves, and where Claire walked and listened to the Cranberries.

Misc

Aboard the USS Stewart. I made the girls watch Greyhound to get a feel for what this board was for in WWII.
Keep Galveston weird.
Nostalgic trip to the Rainforest Cafe!
We had a sunset dinner at Jimmy’s on the Pier.

Go Karts!