Bolivar Peninsula

It was heartbreaking to wave goodbye to our friends. I couldn't even watch as we drove away. I cried for awhile, then stopped for french fries, then tried to focus on the fact that we would be at the ocean in a few hours.

We drove to the Bolivar Peninsula, near Galveston, Texas. It is small. So small that you can see the water on either side of you. Our RV park has a little lake in it, which we parked right in front of. Sawyer and the dogs enjoyed the view while Mark hooked us up. Notice that we are not even hooked up yet and the place is already trashed. It doesn't take long.

Judah threw on his mouse hat and ran outside to throw stuff in the lake. He hadn't slept all day, despite the five hour drive, and he was a loose cannon. After awhile he lost it.

And came inside screaming and kicking. We decided to diffuse the situation by taking a walk to the beach.

A lot of the city was destroyed in the storm, but there is a ton of construction going on now. The air smells like salt water and saw dust. The beach houses being built are about three stories off the ground, and the first two stories are stilts. And they are all in bright candy colors. It is quite a sight.

My kids the love the beach. What kids don't, I guess. As soon as they saw sand, they dug right in.

We were there right at sunset, so the sky was fabulous. Out on the horizon you could see tons of oil tankers and rigs. It was strange to see. It looked so busy out there.

I thought we should take a cutsey couple picture on the beach.

Then I helped the kids look for shells.

And Judah made sand angles.

And we all went for a walk.

We saw a lot of spots like this. Just slabs of concrete or posts where houses used to be.

When we got home, the Bounder looked so pretty in the setting sun.

The next day, we went exploring. We came across an old fort that was used to protect the coast.

And a playground.

Then we headed to the Anahuac National Wildlife Preserve. Supposedly, a lot of alligators lived there. There were also tons of really beautiful birds. But we were in full on alligator search mode. I didn't really think we would see one, but I dared to hope. 

It was the kind of nature preserve that you just drive through really slowly. Beans had fun pointing out the animals.

 

Judah just liked feeling the wind in his hair.

Then, Mark thought he saw some movement in the water. Could it be an alligator? Nope...false alarm.

So we moved on. Beans pretended to be a doggie. And then...

An alligator!

And another one!

We ended up seeing five!

It was an amazing day. We had so much fun and saw such cool stuff! It helped to ease the pain of leaving Hill Shade.

Tomorrow we're off to Louisiana. It will be so weird to leave Texas. I almost feel like a native here. I have a feeling that this won't be our final goodbye.