My Quilty World: Crystal Beach Retreat

Good Morning World! Let's start with a sunrise - okay?

ahhhhhh

While I'm out walking, these fishermen pull in a shark.

Our little home away from home. Even an egret feels comfortable here.

We are off to Galveston Island today - by ferry.

oops, missed Eveline and Gwen didn't want to join in. Silly girl.

The ferry ride is nice, but no dolphins this morning.

Looking back toward Bolivar.

Almost there.

First stop is lunch! We are at Mario's Seawall Italian and Pizzaria.

I found a turtle -- woot woot.

Pretty happy with my lunch except it is huge and I'll never get through it all. Goodness.

Once we find a parking spot on the Strand, we are off to explore and shop a bit. Saengerfest Park is our first visit. The park takes its name from Saengerfest, a biennial singing contest sponsored by German immigrant choral societies around the State of Texas in the 19th century. A choral group from Galveston, "the Salamanders," took top honors in the 1879 competition in New Braunfels, Texas, thereby receiving the honor of hosting the next Saengerfest in April 1881. In honor of this occasion, the City of Galveston built a lighted pavilion and giant, temporary arches along the Strand. Four hundred singers from 13 choral societies across the state were welcomed to the island with a torchlit parade that passed beneath these arches. Today's Galveston Arches, constructed in 1986 celebrating Galveston's revived Mardi Gras, took their inspiration from these festival moments.

In the park area are several fun stops.

An actual working phone booth.

How about this for a motion ride? Kinda creepy.

This building was erected in 1882 for the wholesale drygoods firm of Greenleve, Block & Co. at a cost of 65k. Originally, the building was "Four stories high aggregating in height 75', in which colored brick was used to decorate the construction." . . a height equivalent today to a seven-story office building. Once there was an elaborate cornice, almost equal to the fifth story, crowned by a gilded spread-winged bird and the national ensign. In 1900, the cornice was destroyed by the great hurricane that devastated the city. In recent years, the fourth story has also been removed because of damage from Hurricane Carla in 1961, and the east and west bays have been closed in.

Then -

And now -

Stopping in at LaKing's Confectionary, some fun happens. First - a very strange candy is found.

Second, they are making and wrapping fresh taffy. This is fun to watch. Here he is stretching the taffy.

He then feeds the small end into his machine.

The machine then cuts and wraps each piece and they are ready for sale.

He then grabs a piece and tosses one to each person watching. Yum.

Out on the street - It is a sculpture titled “The Stone Trumpet”, created by David Adickes for the stage at the Louisiana World’s Fair Exposition that took place in New Orleans in 1984. It was relocated to Galveston in 1986 for the opening of a Jazz restaurant. Musicians might notice that it is actually a cornet rather than a trumpet. It is made from a mixture of steel and concrete and measures 14 feet tall by 26 feet in length.

Another turtle - I'm so happy. I could tour the island and just photograph all the turtles.

Another candy shop - Lori is on the hunt for something and we're happy to check out the store. I didn't leave this one empty handed, sad to say.

Cute case.

We stopped and bought some dresses and a few other items before driving back onto the ferry for the ride back to Bolivar.

This trip, I opt for a higher vantage point, hoping for dolphin sightings. It is successful, but ya gotta look close and maybe enlarge some of the photos.