A Day in Galveston

Saturday morning (I’m writing this Sunday very early), I woke up about an hour earlier than everyone else, but because the accordion blinds in this RV let in a lot of light (which is GREAT during the day when it would be very hot to leave them open, but you don’t want to feel like you’re in a cave), Mal woke up pretty soon thereafter, about an hour earlier than he wakes up at home where he has wood blinds + a blanket tacked up over the sun-facing window. This kid takes his wake-up cues from the sunrise, definitely, if that’s an option.

James and I did have time to chat about the movie before Mal got up, then we all went to Miller’s Seawall Grill for breakfast. They had a wait time of 35-40 minutes, so we went across the street to the beach, where Mal had been very eager to take James. As I’ve said, I can’t upload pictures from my cameras yet, but here’s a shot from the nearly-deserted beach (if you can’t see it, that means I forgot to attach it after moving this post from a word processor to the internets):

When it was time to go back across the street to wait in earnest for our table, Mal declared that he was done and ready to go back to “the hotel.” We had about ten minutes of his crying and my being very frustrated that he might be a pill during the entire meal (which is bad enough when he does it at home, but I wouldn’t subject strangers — or anyone else, actually — to it).

He got distracted by some pictures of guys holding up their fishing catches in the vestibule, then I stated handing him sugar packets once we sat down, so he ended up being fine. He said he wasn’t hungry, but then by the time our meals arrived, he was ready for hash browns. Unfortunately, he’s used to McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A hash browns, so the real did did not impress him. I was appreciative that he tried, as he was initially hesitant.

Still, he was pleasant and our breakfast was great. We got shrimp and gouda grits, and lump crab Benedict, agreeing to share both. They were incredible. I tried the crab dish first and thought, “OMG, I’d better eat my portion of the shrimp grits first because there’s no way it can compete with this!” But the grits (which had a TON of mushrooms that had absorbed the shrimp-y flavor) were actually EVEN BETTER. Oh, man, what a satisfying meal.

We had things that we wanted to do, but James wisely suggested that since we’d done something we wanted to do, we then do something Mal wanted to do. So we came back to the RV. I dropped James and Mal off, then went across the way to Whataburger to get Malcolm French fries and a shake.

When I got back, he was playing happily with some Legos, and ate a giant order of potatoes. James heated up his knees and caught a bit more sleep while Mal and I played with his Leap Frog and just hung out. 

After a couple of hours’ down time, Mal was ready to go again. It probably helped that our destination was LaKing’s Confectionary. We saw the Carnival Freedom in port, and parked near the railroad museum, so got to see some trains as we walked to the candy store. We had timed it so we could see the taffy-making demonstration (it was raspberry, but tasted very much of strong vanilla, which was fabulous). I got some assorted taffy, Mal got a couple of pressed pennies and blue cotton candy, and James got rocky road ice cream.

The chocolate all looked amazing, of course, but I was still full from breakfast, and it was in the low 80s outside, so I couldn’t really eat anything at the moment, nor could I save chocolate. Oh, they were also roasting pecans in a cinnamon slurry, and though I don’t love pecans, that smelled incredible.

After that stop, we drove out to Pelican Island to visit Seawolf Park. It has the Galveston Naval Museum, plus a lot of fishing spots and a playground. It’s a very neat place; well worth the $6 to get in. James went on the tour of the destroyer and submarine, and I took Mal to play at the park. He got to burn off a lot of steam, and got very brave in the climbing area after a while. We also walked over to the fishing pier to get a better look at an old half-sunk (purposefully) concrete ship. There were about a half dozen manufactured during a steel shortage, and they were fine except when this one got damaged, no one knew how to fix it. After having tried to sell it or do something with it for several years, they just dug a trench for it and sunk it out in the bay. I’ll bet it makes for great snorkeling.

Oh, we read yesterday that Galveston Bay is only 6-12 feet deep and 30 miles across.

We came back to the RV for an hour then went to dinner at Gaido’s. We had a very warm and friendly server, Uncle Bill, who paid extra attention to Mal. Mal got some buttered noodles; I ordered the “Jazz Martini”: cocktail shrimp and crab meat tossed with avocados and hearts of palm; and James got crawfish asiago, which was a fettuccini dish. Mine was technically an appetizer, but it was plenty of fabulous food, and I wanted dessert! For that course, Mal thoroughly enjoyed a scoop of vanilla ice cream (thankfully it was plain; the kitchen had sprinkled parm on the noodles, and I had to turn them upside down before Mal would eat any). James got a “pecan roll,” which was vanilla ice cream rolled in pecans and covered with chocolate sauce. And I got Cassatta con cioccolato bianco: layers of angel food cake and sweet ricotta white chocolate cream with house-made raspberry sauce. Oh my.

Mal was ready to stay at “the hotel” the rest of the night. We played a lot. He’d bought a squishy oyster shell where a mermaid pops out when you squeeze it. We threw that around, he played the game where the shower is either a jail or his headquarters. We played hide and seek. And running games. James and I were both tired, and we realized that without internet, we’d never have any down time! So if it’s bad to use screens as babysitters, then call me the worst parent ever because my son has a TON of energy and no siblings, so it’s all us, baby.

Oh, it got really nice as the sun set, so we opened the windows and doors, and Mal had fun playing on the steps outside, hanging off of the handle grip. I figured if it can hold the weight of an entire adult, it should be fine. He wanted to play a game where he said a letter and we thought of as many words as we could think of that started with that sound. Also rhyming games. He’s pretty good at rhymes, but I realize that on some shorter words, he can’t “hear” that the middle sound is the same, but the end sound isn’t. Still, the fact that he thinks up these games and thinks they’re fun is cute to me. That’s DEFINITELY something he’d eventually encounter in curriculum if we were into that sort of thing, and it’s funny to me that it doesn’t have to be forced.

By a bit after 8:30, Mal broke down. He was weepy and saying he wanted to go home RIGHT NOW, and he loved our house and hated vacation. Cue sleep time. I laid down with him and he probably would have gone right to sleep, but the a/c kept running. I mean, like it’d blow (hard and loud; if you’ve never been in an RV, the air itself is just blown so hard into the unit that it can’t blend in with the ambient noises like a house a/c does) for three minutes, then click off. About 25 seconds later, it would click back on. Mal slept with it fine the night before, but last night wanted me to cover his ears. I’d do that for long enough that I’d (mistakenly) think he’d gone to sleep, and I’d roll over, but the next time (almost immediately) the air came back on, he’d complain.

Then I started being annoyed by how ridiculous it was. Like, just STAY ON. Why click off for under a minute? JUST RUN. In the end, we just turned it off and hoped for a mild evening. I actually opened the windows, and it was definitely cooler outside than in, though much more humid. There was a nice breeze, too, and we all fell asleep pretty quickly. 

I was awakened a couple of times by sea birds, but that’s not a bad thing. I woke up “for good” at 5. I got up to see what time it was, because there’s a lot of security lighting in the RV park and it’s hard to tell like I do at home by the light level outside. It’ll be nice to get on a ship where it will be DARK out when it’s dark out.

Mal doesn’t want to go on a ship. He will probably fight us a bit this morning, but I know once he gets on board, he’ll be SOLD. He didn’t want to come into our RV when we got here, either, and as of yesterday afternoon, he said he wanted to live here. Bless him. I need to get better at anchoring him instead of being irritated by his fluctuations into absolute despair and demands. I’m not too worried about boarding, though. I’m ready, and I’m confident that he’ll love it once he gets over the unknown.

I’m going to get dressed and go get us some doughnuts for breakfast. Later!