Heidi and I made our second trip to Galveston in as many months, just to get away. We didn’t have family coming to visit, and couldn’t go visit family, so we treated ourselves to a condo on the west beach of Galveston.

In our first trip to Galveston, right before Thanksgiving, we stayed in a loft just off the infamous Strand Blvd. It was a nice loft. Staying downtown was not really our thing. We walked the Strand. But it’s actually just like any other tourist town, only with more humid air and the thought of the sea not far away. She convinced me of this when were sat in a chocolate store, sipping on a shake, and I was talking about which truffles I wanted to buy. She pointed out that it’s the same truffles you find in the store in Fredericksburg, or Gatlinburg, or any other tourist trap.

“You mean, they don’t make it here?” Nope. Bought if from a supplier. The luster was gone. Along with the Strand itself, visiting the boring and dirty Bishop’s Palace, and eating at the infamous Fisherman’s Warf, we were done with downtown Galveston. We just don’t care for touristy.

Yet, Heidi was willing to try a condo on west beach in the Pointe West Beach Club,  just east of San Luis Pass, which meant that we didn’t have to drive down through Galveston proper to get to it. It was closer driving through Freeport.

It didn’t take her long to realize why I liked Galveston so much. It’s not Galveston proper, but west beach. That is where my family spent a good deal of time in my teenage years.

She loved it, which surprised us both. It’s not just the beach, but the waves, and the smell of the waves, and the sound of the waves, and the sand, and the shells, and more waves. Wave after wave comes plowing up on the beach and it is medicinal to the soul. Whether we were walking along the beach, or sitting on the balcony of condo 202, it was wonderful.

We were only there for one full day, Christmas Eve, so we made the most of it. We made three trips from the condo, down the boardwalk, and onto the beach. Our first trip, we walked west for a while. Our second trip, we walked even further east for a while. By the end of the day, my step-counter on my phone registered more than 9,000 steps. We were getting our money’s worth.

All this to say, Merry Christmas, from Galveston… west beach in particular.

Our condo was in the blue one over her shoulder.

The boardwalk. An no, we didn’t go under the boardwalk. There be rattlesnakes in ‘dem bushes.

The BEST shot of the day!

The sunset.

All photos are copyright © Timothy J. Hammons, 2024.