Quick Note and Trip Report
Quick Note:
My reprint of Wheel of the Infinite is now available in Kobo ebook. It should be DRM-free, and it's only $2.99.
The Element of Fire and City of Bones are going to be up there soon, once I can check to make sure the epub files are okay. My other books currently on Kobo here.
Trip report:
So Monday evening I drove to Conroe with a friend, spent the night, picked up another friend in Houston Tuesday morning, and then drove down to Galveston.
Despite all the rain we've been having lately, the weather was gorgeous. We got there about lunchtime, and went to The Spot, which is on the Seawall. It's a weird little bar/food place that's been there a long time and has expanded over the years, so you get there, park in the back, walk past the bar, walk between the other two bars, walk past the ice cream/cake counter, then finally find the food counter. We sat on an outdoor upper floor balcony with a great view of the beach.
Then we went to The Strand, which was the sort of main street, financial center of the town before the 1900 hurricane. Now a lot of the Victorian buildings have been restored and are all restaurants and shops. (And there's the Moody Building at the far end, which is in a gorgeous white Art Deco style, which is still an office building.) (On one of my earlier trips, I posted a picture of the hurricane Ike high water line, which would have been two feet over my head, even standing on the sidewalks which are two feet or so above street level.) We shopped a lot.
We also stopped at LaKings Confectionery, which is an old fashioned candy factory and soda fountain (and a new fashioned coffee bar) and I had a chocolate soda. I wish I had taken a picture, because it looked as good as it tasted. (When they put it on the counter, a small crowd gathered behind me wanting to know what it was.) Every place else I've ordered chocolate soda, it's been made wrong. (Places seem to put it on their menus but don't know how to make it. The most common way I've had it made wrong is that they mix the chocolate ice cream with the soda, which gives you a glass of mush. You're supposed to mix chocolate syrup with the soda, then float the scoops of either chocolate or vanilla ice cream on top. If a place doesn't ask you if you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream when you order a chocolate soda, it usually means they're about to make it wrong.) Anyway, they used a very dark chocolate, and it was incredible.
Then we went to our hotel, which was Gaido's Seaside Inn, which is cheap but nice. We walked across the street to the beach and went swimming, and the water was very warm. We usually go in the offseason in September, when it's still warm enough to go swimming, but not quite this warm.
Then we went to dinner at Rudi and Paco's next to the restored Victorian Opera House on Post Office Street, which is a couple of streets down from the Strand, and has more shopping, mostly art galleries. We were standing outside looking at the menu, and the owner, Paco, was out there and sort of shooed us in and seated us himself , which did cause waiters to materialize even faster than they normally would. It's a very small place but with a really pretty Art Deco style interior. Dinner was excellent.
The next day we went to breakfast at Miller's Grill, which is a small Victorian style house on the Sea Wall which serves incredible French toast. Then we checked out of the hotel and went to Moody Gardens, to the newly remodeled rain forest pyramid exhibit. (Here's some photos online of the outside)
Then we went to a new place I had heard about but never been before. It's towards the West end of the island, on one of the bays, and was called the Waterman. It's one of those places where you can drive up in your boat, tie off, and then go eat, so it's right on the water. The restaurant on the second floor only opened for dinner, but the bar on the first floor served lunch, so we sat there and looked at the water and had really good food. It was basically a room with a roof and two walls, and one whole side open to the bay.
Then we did a bit more shopping, then started for home, because we were dead tired. (We didn't get a lot of sleep due to an allergic reaction, a car alarm in the parking lot, and me not understanding how to make the air conditioner stay on until the middle of the night.) But it was a great trip.
My reprint of Wheel of the Infinite is now available in Kobo ebook. It should be DRM-free, and it's only $2.99.
The Element of Fire and City of Bones are going to be up there soon, once I can check to make sure the epub files are okay. My other books currently on Kobo here.
Trip report:
So Monday evening I drove to Conroe with a friend, spent the night, picked up another friend in Houston Tuesday morning, and then drove down to Galveston.
Despite all the rain we've been having lately, the weather was gorgeous. We got there about lunchtime, and went to The Spot, which is on the Seawall. It's a weird little bar/food place that's been there a long time and has expanded over the years, so you get there, park in the back, walk past the bar, walk between the other two bars, walk past the ice cream/cake counter, then finally find the food counter. We sat on an outdoor upper floor balcony with a great view of the beach.
Then we went to The Strand, which was the sort of main street, financial center of the town before the 1900 hurricane. Now a lot of the Victorian buildings have been restored and are all restaurants and shops. (And there's the Moody Building at the far end, which is in a gorgeous white Art Deco style, which is still an office building.) (On one of my earlier trips, I posted a picture of the hurricane Ike high water line, which would have been two feet over my head, even standing on the sidewalks which are two feet or so above street level.) We shopped a lot.
We also stopped at LaKings Confectionery, which is an old fashioned candy factory and soda fountain (and a new fashioned coffee bar) and I had a chocolate soda. I wish I had taken a picture, because it looked as good as it tasted. (When they put it on the counter, a small crowd gathered behind me wanting to know what it was.) Every place else I've ordered chocolate soda, it's been made wrong. (Places seem to put it on their menus but don't know how to make it. The most common way I've had it made wrong is that they mix the chocolate ice cream with the soda, which gives you a glass of mush. You're supposed to mix chocolate syrup with the soda, then float the scoops of either chocolate or vanilla ice cream on top. If a place doesn't ask you if you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream when you order a chocolate soda, it usually means they're about to make it wrong.) Anyway, they used a very dark chocolate, and it was incredible.
Then we went to our hotel, which was Gaido's Seaside Inn, which is cheap but nice. We walked across the street to the beach and went swimming, and the water was very warm. We usually go in the offseason in September, when it's still warm enough to go swimming, but not quite this warm.
Then we went to dinner at Rudi and Paco's next to the restored Victorian Opera House on Post Office Street, which is a couple of streets down from the Strand, and has more shopping, mostly art galleries. We were standing outside looking at the menu, and the owner, Paco, was out there and sort of shooed us in and seated us himself , which did cause waiters to materialize even faster than they normally would. It's a very small place but with a really pretty Art Deco style interior. Dinner was excellent.
The next day we went to breakfast at Miller's Grill, which is a small Victorian style house on the Sea Wall which serves incredible French toast. Then we checked out of the hotel and went to Moody Gardens, to the newly remodeled rain forest pyramid exhibit. (Here's some photos online of the outside)
Then we went to a new place I had heard about but never been before. It's towards the West end of the island, on one of the bays, and was called the Waterman. It's one of those places where you can drive up in your boat, tie off, and then go eat, so it's right on the water. The restaurant on the second floor only opened for dinner, but the bar on the first floor served lunch, so we sat there and looked at the water and had really good food. It was basically a room with a roof and two walls, and one whole side open to the bay.
Then we did a bit more shopping, then started for home, because we were dead tired. (We didn't get a lot of sleep due to an allergic reaction, a car alarm in the parking lot, and me not understanding how to make the air conditioner stay on until the middle of the night.) But it was a great trip.
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