Since Galveston was only a short drive from Houston, we decided to drive down for the day. We chose not to visit the NASA Johnson Space Center because there is little to see with the Space Shuttle no longer in service. It was a cold and very windy day to drive to the beach. Galveston, also known as Galveston Island, is very pretty and is was so good to see the water again. We have missed it!
We drove around the city where we saw many beautiful, old, historic homes and churches.
Among them was the Moody mansion which was built in 1895 and once home to one of Texas’ most powerful families. It has been restored and is open for tours.
We then drove down to the beach and drove along Seawall Boulevard, enjoying the Gulf of Mexico. On this windy day there were many whitecaps and crashing surf. One thing we noticed in Galveston is there are no hotels, condos. cottages built on the beach. Everything is built across the seawall and on the other side of the street. There are miles and miles of uninterrupted beachfront to enjoy. We saw little beach access parking, so that could be a potential problem.
Next on the list was a tour of the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum. Houston is known as the petroleum capital of the world, and we saw several working oil refineries on our way to Galveston.
The Ocean Star is a retired drilling rig which we were able to board and tour. The rig had three floors of interactive displays and models that explained the story of offshore drilling and detailed explanations of the process. We watched a very informative video on offshore drilling. The outside exhibits on the third floor were a challenge in the wind and cold!
Some of the interesting facts from the museum brochure included:
–Today it is estimated that 60% of the world’s recoverable petroleum and gas reserves are located under the oceans.
–In the United States approximately 70% of our petroleum reserves are offshore.
–Currently Texas and Louisiana produce 93% of all the USA offshore oil production.