A Much Needed Vacation, Part 2

So...part 2 is a bit late. Haha. Thursday took Roxie and I to Galveston, we of course had to stop a few times to ooh and aah at the tallness of the trees - they just don't grow 'em like that out here!

After fighting the insanity that is Houston traffic, we finally arrived! Seriously, how do you Houstonians put up with that every day?

Our hotel was right across from the water, but sadly there was no beach where we were staying (pretty rocks though!). Stayed in on Thursday night and watched the basketball game, and then Friday morning we got up and made our way to the beach.

I entered this photo in Shutterfly's Summer Freedom Contest. Vote here!

It was a bit quiet mid-morning, which was nice. Roxie really seemed to like the beach (especially barking at and chasing the seagulls). She wasn't entirely fond of the water, but didn't really mind it either. I rented an umbrella and a couple of chairs and settled in with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. After slathering on 30spf and sitting under the umbrella for the better part of 3 hours, I was burnt. Crazy burnt. Lobster burnt. Back to the hotel, cold shower, and then a very painful trip to Wal-Mart for Aloe Vera. And yes, I was one of those people. You know the ones. You look at them with pity because they were stupid enough to get crazy-lobster-burnt. *hangs head in shame*

Saturday I was planning to head down the coast and go to the Shrimp Festival in Port Aransas, but due to my very red skin, even 2 minutes out in the sun was painful. So instead, I decided that I'd just drive, head north and west towards home.

This sign seriously cracked me up. So much so that I had to take the exit, turn around, and go back in order to get a photo of the sign. Apparently it's a street name. Too funny!

We meandered our way to College Station and stopped in at the George Bush Presidential Library. I didn't get to spend much time there (no pets allowed, and it was pretty hot outside).

And a brief photo op for Kyle Field. It does look rather intimidating. :) BOOMER!

But back to vacation. I directed the TomTom to point us toward Temple and we headed that way, via some windy roads - and one rather creepy abandoned house. I actually stopped to photograph the tree (there's just something about those trees that draw me in) and I noticed the house. A little Stephen King-esque. Good thing it was in the middle of the day.

Finally made it to Temple and Roxie was VERY excited to try out their dog park, but sadly there was not a soul in sight. Which was rather strange for a Saturday day afternoon.