Galveston, Oh Galveston

 Our first stop is a lovely park just out of Galveston Texas. Galveston is a large city built on one of the barrier islands just south of Houston.

 The maximum height on the island was 6 feet and in 1900 a huge hurricane went through and nearly destroyed the whole city. It was and still is the worst natural disaster in North America with a death toll of over 6000 people. To prevent another disaster like that a sea wall 18 feet high was built across the whole east side of Galveston. Then sand was hauled in the city and all its buildings were raised to the height of the sea wall. This is part of the wall that was built after 1900. The statue in front of grammie is dedicated to the dead of that hurricane.

 Its obvious when walking around Galveston that water is a major issue. Look at how high some of the curbs are. Thats to help drain storm water faster with less damage to the buildings.

 In 2008 Hurricane Ike came through Galveston and did a lot of damage. This was a 3 story pavilion at a seaside park that has been abandoned due to storm damage.

 This hotel was so damaged that its being stripped to its skeleton and rebuilt. Hopefully it will be stronger for the next storm. There have been about a dozen storms since the big one of 1900. 

We took a tour of the harbour and this is part of the dock we sailed from. This was under 13 feet of water during Hurricane Ike in 2008. I can't imagine why people would keep living here.

 The gulf of Mexico has over 600 oil rigs drilling and producing oil. These are older rigs which are being scrapped. The one with the tall legs is used in shallow water down to 150 feet. The legs are geared down until they hit the bottom and then the rig is lifted up out of the water. The rig on the right is a floating rig and can drill in water thousands of feet deep. A lot of Galveston's riches come from the sea. As well as its trials.

 There are a number of beautiful buildings which survived the hurricanes, some with major repairs. Its a beautiful city and seems to come back better than before after each disaster.

 There were very rich people here and they built some spectacular homes. Most of them are museums or public buildings now. 

This is one of the original hotels. It looks out to the sea. It must be something to be staying there during a huge storm, sipping cognac and smoking cigars. Its probably one of the safest places to be after surviving so many storms. Imagine that it had to be raised 18 feet when the city was raised. We haven't seen a city with such a history of success over adversity before. Its inspiring but I'm still not sure I'd want to live here.