Galveston: Last Tidbits

I liked the weather in Galveston, and I liked seeing my brother. There are some very cool old Victorian homes that survived the hurricane in 1900, a great historic area called The Strand, complete with a railroad museum, and a few mansions. The beach—well, there isn’t much of it compared to the beaches in Hawaii or the West coast—or even the east coast for that matter. The seawall took most of it out. And the waves are little.—more like wavettes. But all-in-all, it was okay. The poverty, though, got to me. Lots of what were probably nice areas have fallen into disrepair, businesses abandoned, yards long neglected, abandoned cars.

Along the seawall, lots of people vacation with their kids and seem to have a ball. There’s a huge water park near the Moody Gardens, and lots of conveniently located kiosks along the skinny stretch of beach where, for a fee, you can borrow chairs, umbrellas and surf boards.

The beds at our hotel were the best of the entire trip, and a welcome relief after leaving the Extended Stay Deluxe in Austin. Terrible beds, a great mid-day manager named Heather. Unfortunately, Heather couldn’t do anything about the sucky beds, but she provided lots of helpful information and some entertainment as well.

On our final evening in Galveston, we met Dennis for dinner. He came alone as his wife wasn’t up to going out. Truth be told, she doesn’t like me, but that’s okay. We live many miles apart and don’t have to communicate much. Denny was married before to Arleen, mother of Richard, my only nephew. Arleen and I are still very close, so I suspect that only contributes to Barbara’s animosity.

For a guy with only 23% of his heart function, I’d say Denny is doing pretty well. He entertained us with southern style wild west Texas stories about his life. I saw that Ringwood twinkle in his eye a couple of times as he told us of his adventures. I was glad to see that twinkle. That says to me he’s doing okay. Although he’s no longer able to work, he says he still rides his motorcycle when things get to chaotic at home. Barbara’s daughter and her 4 children live with them most of the year (along with a host of others who find themselves in need of a place to stay). Den says he doesn’t have a lot of patience for kids, so going for a ride helps to keep his sanity.

I had hoped to get him to tell us a tale or two about Marc, but Denny didn’t have much to say about him. I think he’s too sad about it. About 10 years ago Marc stayed with them for about 6 months when he was thinking about a move to Texas. Wish I’d have gotten to hear some of those stories, but perhaps in time I will.

After dinner and a long visit, Denny hugged us all goodbye, and as he did, I decided that this may not be the last time I ever see him. I hope not.