We fell in love with Goose Island and were looking forward to revisiting in January. I made reservations far in advance. And then Hurricane Harvey slammed into Rockport last August. “Sorry to inform you…” read the email telling us that the park would be closed indefinitely. We rerouted ourselves north to Galveston Island State Park. And that’s how we finally got to Galveston.
I don’t believe in magical thinking (much), but I must admit I’m a bit hesitant now to make reservations for Texas coastal state parks.
One thing is for certain: Although Galveston has suffered more than one devastating hurricane, it is an extraordinarily resilient community of both people and wildlife.
The Beautiful Birds Of Galveston Island State Park
We settled into the state park, and this was our view. We could have chosen a beachfront site, but we preferred a site overlooking the marsh, where we could watch the shorebirds foraging and the pelicans floating by.
View from our campsite overlooking the marsh
There can be great rafts of American White Pelicans here
Several miles of trails lead through the marsh, and there’s always the possibility of seeing Roseate Spoonbills. That color! Those bills! I think these are my favorite birds (but don’t tell the others).
Roseate Spoonbills searching for food near the boardwalk
These flamboyant, colorful wading birds were common in southeast coastal areas until they were almost eradicated by plume hunters in the late 1800s. It makes me sad and mad to think about.
How lucky we are that spoonbills still exist on this earth. We see them on the Gulf Coast of Texas, Louisiana, and Florida—but their numbers are small, and they’re vulnerable to habitat degradation.
Spoonbills seem to always be searching for food
Spoonbills have an interesting feeding behavior, swinging their heads from side to side through shallow waters as they sift through the muck. Special sense receptors on their bills detect tasty morsels such as small fish, shrimp, crayfish, crabs, or aquatic insects.
The shrimp, crabs, and other crustaceans provide pigments called carotenoids that give the birds their pretty pink feathers.
Ah, now it’s easy to see how the Roseate Spoonbill got its name!
A late afternoon walk on the marsh trails
A Great Blue Heron hangs out by the boardwalk, completely unfazed by our company
Exploring The Historic District Of Galveston
We were impressed with the historic district, which managed to survive not only the 2008 hurricane but also weathered The Great Storm of 1900, a category 4 hurricane that holds the title as the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States.
It’s astonishing that anything survived that storm. More than 8,000 people perished, and 3,600 buildings were destroyed. But the East End Historic District appears largely intact, with beautifully restored mansions, elaborate churches, and a large number of Victorian homes.
It’s obvious that Galveston was once a thriving port and the grandest city in Texas. We enjoyed walking around the historic district, admiring the homes and chatting with the locals. Sculptures carved from grand old oaks felled in the 2008 storm decorate the gardens. And apparently, Mardi Gras is a big deal here. We were visiting just as people were decorating their homes for the celebration to come.
Sacred Heart Church, an ornate Galveston landmark with Moorish/Romanesque/Byzantine influences. The original sanctuary was a victim of the Great Storm of 1900, but was re-built in 1904.
Bishop’s Palace, a Victorian castle built in 1892 in a style called “Chateausque.” The American Institute of Architects named it as one of the 100 most important buildings in America. Next time we’re in Galveston, I’m going inside for a tour.
Sculptures from great oaks felled in the 2008 hurricane decorate the streets in the East End Historic District. Here, the Tin Man and Toto stand on a corner.
The care and attention to detail is wonderful on the restored Victorian homes in the East End District
Historic downtown Galveston (AKA “The Strand”) was once considered the “Wall Street of the Southwest” before the Great Storm of 1900 brought the town to its knees.
Happy Hour With The Cat At Galveston Island Brewing
Winding up our Galveston adventures, we discovered Galveston Island Brewing. Started by a former tugboat captain, the craft brewery turns out delicious beer (I had a smoked porter, and Eric an IPA. Both were excellent). It’s a friendly, colorful atmosphere—and best of all, they have a resident brewery kitty, who made happy hour even better.
Happy hour with the cat at Galveston Island Brewing
About the Campground:
We loved Galveston Island State Park. There are two parts to the park: beachfront sites, and sites arranged in a wagon-wheel formation on the bayside. If you choose a site backing up to the marsh, the birding and the sunsets are wonderful.
The bayside campground has water and electric hookups and good Verizon. It’s a convenient 15- minute drive into downtown Galveston and the historic area.
The campground fees are reasonable ($20 per night bayside) BUT Texas state parks charge a $5 per person day access fee in addition to your campsite fee (making it $30 per night for two people). When we’re in Texas for more than a week (and it ALWAYS takes more than a week to make our way through Texas), we buy an annual pass for $70, which eliminates the day-use fees and includes four half-price nights of camping at the park of your choice.
Campsite Galveston Island State Park
Blatantly stating that roseate spoonbills are in fact my favorite bird! Loved knowing you saw them in Galveston as we have contacts there and could put that on the list to do….look forward to seeing you soon somewhere…midwest or Dakota or Lopez or in the fall…Ashland! Love you and miss you both. Diana
Diana, we’re making our plans right now as we head back to Lopez…we’ll make sure we meet up somewhere along the way. Probably no spoonbills ahead, but there’ll be lots of other adventures. Love you two!
I spent our entire trip in 2014 to Texas and Florida waiting to see the spoonbills, and I wasn’t disappointed. I carried a mug bought for me by a friend in Florida back in 2001 with a beautiful painting of a spoonbill, and couldn’t wait to see them. So yeah, I’ll list them as well as a favorite. Although our American White Pelicans are a close second since they actually live here in my world. Loved reading about Galveston
Sue, it sounds as though your spoonbill mug brought you good luck! The white pelicans are definitely among our favorites, too. Kayaking at Rocky Point with the pelicans is divine, as you know. :-)
Wish I was the chauffeur for you guys sometimes!
Great feathery friends while on the trip….
PS: Last week spent 5 days on a “hike” covering from the overpass river bridge just above South Creek Falls on the Kern River down to the town of Kernville, CA….20 mile hike…still alive!
Wow, that sounds like quite an adventure, Bob! Those are good memories you’re making. I’m sure Eric would enjoy having a chauffeur sometimes. :-)
We love Texas State Parks. The Spoonbills look so cool. I hope we make it to Galveston someday. You gave us quite a taste.
We love Texas State Parks too, Debbie. You get a lot for your money at the parks, much more than in some other states. Galveston is beautiful — we’ll go back.
Life on the road is an amazing journey, you bring it all together. Pictures are awesome, little tidbits of information make the journey from my office real. Can’t wait to ‘find you two’ on the road again. We love TX parks and getting the state park pass is really worth it. It has a years expiry so it’s a great bargain if you plan to spend a week or so.
Julie, we’re so happy to have you along on our journey, and it makes it even better when we meet up in person! The Texas parks pass is a good deal—thanks for clarifying that it is valid for a year. We buy a pass almost every year in our travels across the country.
While we enjoyed our stays in the Texas State Parks last year, we sort of felt burned by them. We were hoping to use our yearly pass both last season and again this season before it expired, but after Hurricane Harvey they closed all the parks we were going to visit (one of which was Goose Island). I found it frustrating because they just closed these parks indefinitely with no apparent goal of reopening them. In fact, I remember thinking they must have sent the emails canceling all of our reservations before it had even stopped raining. Meanwhile, the private park we were going to stay at in Rockport right after Goose Island was working 24/7 to get reopened and they actually did reopen in time for us to visit (in early December). But, by that point, we’d rerouted. I just checked and it looks like Texas FINALLY re-opened Goose Island in March (though parts of the park remain closed), It looks like Stephen F. Austin Park, another park we’d planned to stay at, is now partially re-opened. And all of this reminds me of our 2017 visit to Cedar Hill State Park near Dallas – half of which we found was “permanently closed” after it had suffered flood damage several years earlier.
I understand these are big disasters and it costs a lot to repair damage, but if you’re going to charge people $70 per year for a yearly pass, in addition to all the other fees, then reopening those parks should be a high priority. Closing them for 7 months of a year, or closing large parts of them forever, while still charging people full cost to visit, is pretty unfair.
Ok, sorry. Rant over.
Anyway, we loved Galveston, but we did not get to see any Roseate Spoonbills, nor did we get to hang out with a cat at Galveston Brewing, so I think your trip was definitely better than ours. We will certainly return in the future, and likely stay at Galveston Island S.P. again, but they better hope I’m not in a ranting mood when I get there. :)
Laura, you did get burned on that parks pass. :-( The Texas coast parks have taken some pretty bad hits from hurricanes and it takes a long time for them to recover.
Don’t give up on Goose Island, though. It’s one of our all-time favorite parks (we’ve been there three times in the past 10 years). I’d forgotten that you were in Galveston—I should have looked at your blog before we went and then I wouldn’t have had to spend time looking for a brewery! I see you preferred the beach side sites. :-)
The Roseate Spoonbill are my all time favorite. I had a couple places where we could often find the them in Florida. You got some lovely photos:) Love that bill. Galveston is one place I would love to visit. Too bad it is in huge Texas and so darn far away.
Pam, I know Texas isn’t your favorite state—and yes, it is enormous! It’s a good thing we’ve found so much we enjoy there or we would be in trouble with all of our cross-country journeys to Florida.
It sounds like the spoonbills are the favorites of many of us!
We loved seeing the roseate spoonbill @ Myakka River in Florida. Just got back home this week but already planning to go west in Oct.
Pat, I hope you’re enjoying being at home—and having fun planning your October adventures! I’m just trying to get us back west at this point. But I need to start planning our fall journey east now, too. It’s a bit overwhelming at times!
Yes, we’ve seen the spoonbills at Myakka as well. It’s always a treat, every time we see them.
It’s interesting that the historic core of Galveston weathered the storms and floods through the years, as did most of Vieux Carre in New Orleans. Those original planners knew where to build!
I love the color and habits of the Spoonbills, but that head!!! It makes them look positively prehistoric. A face only a mother could love.
Sue, that’s a good point. I never thought about how the choices the early planners made helped to protect their vulnerable towns. Too bad they’re not around to help with city planning now.
Oh no…don’t you talk bad about those cute spoonbills! Bald greenish heads, red eyes, strange big bills…nothing funny looking about that! :-))
Wonderful view of the marsh. The pelican looks more like furry than feathery! Galveston is one of those “even though it’s Texas” places I’ve wanted to visit. That stately architecture is amazing given the history of natural abuse to the area! Love Bishop’s palace. Maybe we’ll make it this winter :-))
Jodee, I loved our view of the marsh! Just looking at it made me feel peaceful. You really would love Galveston. It’s your kind of place. We want to return, and next time, I’m definitely going inside of the Bishop’s palace!
I used to love seeing the roseates in Port Aransas … especially when they came to the pond in front of our site. We managed a week at Galveston Island SP in January 2016 … the bay side was closed for maintenance, so we got a beach side site. Wouldn’t you know it … we almost got flooded out after some heavy rains. Apparently they’re used to this, though. As soon as the rain stopped, they showed up with a pump and got the water off the site and into a ditch. Quite a few things to do in that area … we enjoyed searching out the tree sculptures and went to see the lights at Moody Gardens. There is a great movie about the 1900 Storm that is shown near the museum by the tall ship Elissa.
Oh good, I’m adding the tall ship Elissa and the movie about the 1900 storm to our list for our next visit to Galveston. I’m assuming the lights at Moody Gardens are a seasonal thing?
Thanks so much for the ideas, Erin. We really enjoyed our time in Galveston. We were in Port Aransas about 10 years ago and liked it a lot, too. That whole area of the Texas Gulf Coast is wonderful!
Well, OF COURSE, after trying off an on for 2 hours, I sent you an email, tried again and here I am. IF it posts. Anyway, I think the parks had better refuse you any reservations if you bring on hurricanes like that! hahaha Gorgeous spoonbill pictures and what a view. Thanks for the wonderful pictures of the beautiful homes in Galveston. Love Eric and the Kitty!
Haha, yeah, I was thinking the Texas coastal parks might be a bit wary when they find us trying to make reservations! I’m glad you enjoyed the photos, Sherry. We wanted to bring the kitty home with us!
hey kids, just thinking of you both, and thought I would check in and say HI, glad you are back on the road again and having fun on your way to Lopez
Hi Kyle! Yes, we’re slowly making our way back across the country after our winter in Florida. We’ll be on Lopez by July. Are you and Cyn coming up? :-))
I so enjoyed this post Laurel as I don’t know when we will ever get to this part of the country. Although I have never considered myself a “pink girl”, I believe the roseate spoonbill is my favorite as well. Their bright pink plumage and prehistoric-looking head make for such an interesting creature. A close second might be the pink flamingo for me, which I finally got to see in the wild. Thanks for the lovely photos my friend!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the post, LuAnn. I’m not really a “pink girl” either (purple is a different story!) but I do love the spoonbills. And oh, how I would love to see flamingos in the wild! I’m so happy for you—and I’m envious. :-)
Great Spoonbill photos!
Thanks, Tim! I’m always thrilled to see them.