The Boardwalk

I am seriously kicking myself in the tail end for not writing about this trip before now. I hate to say it, but better late than never. I love to travel and since I do not get vacation days at my temporary place of employment it makes doing this a little more of a challenge. I am consistently looking, researching and listening for new places to go. It was about six months ago when I heard someone in the office mention Kemah. There was something about the name of this place that instantly grabbed my attention. I immediately asked who, what and where is this? To my very surprise it was a place right outside of Houston, TX. This could potentially be a weekend trip and after looking at some pictures looked like a fun place.

I started asking other people about it and unless they were from Houston they had never heard of it. I was on my own on this one. Well me and trip advisor that is. The trustee site has yet to fail me. There wasn't a feasible time available on our calendars to go at this time, so for now this was just an idea and a new place to experience. I usually try and wait for a holiday weekend, so it can possible allow for one more day. We had spent our July 4th holiday with J's family and another one wasn't coming up until September or so I thought.

Sometime in June my supervisor was asking me to work a variety of hours over the course of a three week period. This could potentially drive some people bonkers, but I always try and take the best out of whatever may be handed to me. I guess it kind of goes with making lemonade out of lemons. After looking at the schedule I noticed that I was going to be working early shift on Friday and a later shift on Monday, so my first thought was we have got to take advantage of this weekend. What shall we do?

The Lake, we were just there. Turner Falls, I have always wanted to go. Ummm no, the reviews are terrible and it is way over priced. It made me sad to read how run down the place had become. Broken Bow, maybe I went to Beaver Bend when I was younger and had an amazing time. Well, that would be an ideal place to save for when it gets a bit cooler. We have already said that we must go camping this year (speaking of we need camping gear). Oh, I know I think to myself. What about that Boardwalk that place right outside of Houston, the one Kelli was talking about. She was on vacation and I had to wait a whole four days to ask about the name of the place because I just could not remember. Kemah, TX it is and we are going July 22, 2011 to July 24, 2011. I would have to confirm with J, but I was pretty sure he would be on wagon.

After a lot of reading, research, debating on just the right place to stay and using the process of elimination to book the activities that we wanted to do we had a hope to be awesome weekend planned. We were both really excited. He picked me up from the office on that Friday. We were on our way and a well out of Dallas before 3:30 that Friday afternoon. I will admit I was afraid we may have bitten off more than we could chew. Maybe this was a little further than we thought and we wind up driving so much we don't really get to enjoy the place.  We figured we would wind up in Houston right at 6:00 p.m. or so and dealing with traffic. We are driving home on Monday morning before I have to be at work and could possibly be right in the mix of Monday morning congestion. OH, well we are on our way regardless.

I don't think we even turned the radio on until we got on the other side of Houston. The drive went by so quickly especially with all the chatting we were doing. Traffic was evident, but it wasn't any worse than Dallas and didn't really seem to be all that bad. I do realize that it never seems as bad for the passenger vs. the driver, but J was optimistic about it.  I got a call on the way from work asking me to come in even later on Monday, so that was perfect. God sure does love me! This trip was starting off great.  Sometimes I think if you just prepare yourself for the worst everything else only seems better.

The Clipper Inn was adorable; our room could not have been more perfect. I was in awe with every touch of detail they put in to decorating the little cottage. I was pretty proud of my find and glad that this is where we would be sleeping for the next couple of days. http://www.clipperhouseinn.com/  I am like a kid in a candy store. I want to see, try our touch something as soon as I can. I don't have to do it all, but I just need some instant gratification. When I arrive at the beach I want to set our stuff down and at least touch the sand before anything else. As soon as we get to J's family’s lake house I want to go straight down to the dock. It doesn't matter what time of day it is. I just want to see touch or smell the water. It makes me giggle to myself when I really think about it. Anyhow, we take some quick photos and head on over to the Boardwalk. I couldn’t wait any longer to see this place for myself.

 

I had read where they have a firework show every Friday night during the month of July. We wanted to make sure we had time to enjoy and find out where we needed to be for this. Thankfully our little bed and breakfast was close enough to be able to walk to everything we wanted to do. They even have a winery on the grounds that they gave us a card for a complimentative wine tasting with a cheese/olive platter to enjoy during our stay. We changed clothes, grabbed the essentials and were off. There was so much traffic, people all scurrying in the same direction, horse and carriage rides, bicycle rides and night tours going on. We were thankful to be on feet and eager to see what exactly brings about all this commotion.

I think I was expecting something of a smaller scale, but like Coney Island and was pleasantly delivered much more. It was clean, lots of lights and everything looked pretty new considering.  

 We did not eat at this place, but probably should have. I did however go in and take a peek around like I was eating there. The fishes were fun to watch.

 There are a variety of things to do on the Boardwalk and it was easy to see where all these people were going and why. We figured this was a pretty happening place to visit for locals.

This was disgusting to me. You could put a coin in this machine to get some food out and these fish would just come in thousands to eat any sort of crumb they could. Where salt and fresh water meet catfish is just not a pretty site or fish, in my opinion. 

We have so many firework pictures, but I picked this one cause it just looks crazy. 

 I stood back and noted the humid air, carnival food smell, childrens screams in the back ground and fireworks so massive the entire sky had a glow from the light show. I thought to myself what is it about all of these things that are bringing a smile to my face. I know it is because they are FREE. I wish I could take this smell, sight, sound and create a mental picture for life. I know I can't really, but at least I have this blog and all the photos to try and recreate for myself when needed.

Okay, it was time to get to dinner. We decided to try out TBoneToms http://tbonetoms.com/. This place had been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, so we thought it would be a good start. There was a live band, reasonable crowded, food was good and this was a Friday well spent.

           

This was the first thing we saw on Saturday morning while we were walking to get our massages.

Saturday morning we decided to sleep in. The room was chilly, the bed was plush and after all we were on a weekend getaway. We had massages scheduled for 10:30 and no need to do anything before then. The massages were just okay. J thinks his may have hurt his hip more, but we were thankful to be able to get them regardless and were glad we did. It was time to go have a nice, COOL sit down lunch. As nice as it would have been to sit on the patio to eat while watching all the sail boats cruise by it was just too hot to consider it as an option. I wasn't impressed with lunch at all. If I did not have the receipt in front of me I would not even be able to tell you the name. The Flying Dutchman. They are owned by the same as Landry's. We spent the rest of the day shopping, riding rides, playing in the water, taking pictures and enjoying the company of one another. Gosh, I sure do love my boyfriend.

I was surprised I actually got J to play in the water some. I think he must have been really hot.

This was a lot of fun. I can see why the children get so sad when the parents make them leave.

This shot was take from one of the rides that is air conditioned and spins around showing you an incrediable view of the Boardwalk.

This ride scared me to death. I was done riding rides after this one. It goes really high in the sky.

We had a sunset cruise booked at 7:30 p.m. with Captain Kidd, so we had to get our picnic basket ready, clothes changed and at the dock a little before departing time.  http://captkiddcharters.com/ It was nice that we got to bring our own cheese/crackers and wine. The sunset was as calming as I hoped. The ride was something new to me. I have never been in a "sail boat". It was kind of scary how close you come to the water. This ship was a 19th Century replica and was built specifically for the charter business. Lunch may have been a bust, but this little ride was a gem.

We got back and made our way over to the winery. We wanted to cash in our card for some wine tastings and cheese. I love how these things that are free seem to wind up costing you the most. A couple of new friends and a purchase of six different bottles of wine later we make our way back to our cottage. We realized the night before if you sit in the middle of the courtyard you can hear the different bands playing at the surrounding restaurants. We decided to sit, have another glass of wine and listen. We had the best of all worlds. We didn't have to pick just one place. We already had our own beverages and we got them all. One would stop playing, but the other one still would be singing away. We decided it was a concert just for us.

Since we felt that we had done up the boardwalk as much as we wanted to that we would take Sunday and head to the beach. It is only 20 more minutes away. We packed our picnic, a change of clothes and we were on the road. I have not been to Galveston since I was 14 I think. We used to vacation there. It was interesting to drive along the ocean and see this place through my now adult eyes and remembering what the visits were like as a child. We wound up even going to the same beach area that my family used to go to. That is where we made our spot in the sand for the day. We had a great time, walking the beach, people watching, feeding the seagulls, saving the pelican and making sweet memories together.

After a quick rinse off and wardrobe change later we were on our way to dinner. There is this place called Gaido's. http://www.gaidos.com/ Jason's family used to dine here when they were in the area. They loved it and Jason always remembered hearing about it or he went when he was a youngan. I can't recall for sure. Either way he suggested we try it out. The food was amazing. I haven't had a ton, but I have been to a few places and I would say this is the best seafood that has ever touched my lips. It was delicious. We found a bench that was street level looking at the ocean, watched the sunset and then headed back to Kemah.

We got up the next morning and started our drive back. We couldn't have been more pleased. We are looking forward to our next little weekend trip. The drive back wasn't bad at all. We even managed to squeeze in some fine dining at Whataburger. One of my dearest friends got so excited from seeing all my pictures that she and her husband went ahead and booked themselves a room at The Clipper Inn and started planning a little weekend away for themselves as well.

                                                                                          The End,

Under The Boardwalk

                                                         The Drifters

Oh the sun beats down and melts the tar up on the roof
And your shoes get so hot you wish your tired feet were fire-proof
Under the boardwalk down by the sea
On a blanket with my baby ... is where I'll be

From a park you hear the happy sounds from a carousel
You can almost taste the hotdogs and french fries they sell
Under the boardwalk down by the sea
On a blanket with my baby ... is where I'll be

Under the boardwalk out of the sun
Under the boardwalk we'll be having some fun
Under the boardwalk people walking above
Under the boardwalk we'll be falling in love
Under the board-walk board-walk

Under the boardwalk down by the sea
On a blanket with my baby ... is where I'll be

Under the boardwalk out of the sun
Under the boardwalk we'll be having some fun
Under the boardwalk people walking above
Under the boardwalk we'll be falling in love