co m m u ni ty | W E E K E N DE R
called the “Mother of Texas” and she was a pioneer woman who survived after her husband left her to f ight for his dream of Americanizing Texas. Long, her servant girl and small children were all alone during the brutal winter of 1821 as she delivered her 3rd child. The stories say Jane f ired the cannon daily so that Galveston would know the fort was still being taken care of and the Karankawa tribe of Indians, local pirates and Spaniards wouldn’t know that the only inhabitants of the fort were 2 women and 3 small children. When spring came she left once she learned her husband had been killed. Our kids didn’t care about the history but they loved running up the hills, posing on top –acting like they were in the Maze Runner movie, and then walking along the seawall – watching the big boats headed to the port Galveston, Houston and beyond. There are public restrooms here as well. We then made a quick stop to purchase fresh shrimp. We always purchase from the guy who has a sign that said, “Buy from me – I need the money”. Bring a small cooler to bring back from the gulf seafood. No trip is complete without stopping at “The Big Store”. It has a full grocery store, incredible souvenirs, and a hardware store. We bought 3 ice creams and waved at the security guard who always seems to be there and always says, “See you tomorrow”. Which if you are staying for the weekend is usually a true prediction. They also have pizza to go and a nice selection of sorbet. One of the things I wanted to do on this trip was f ind Humphrey the camel. He’s a plastic white camel that watches from a high perch. It seems that after Hurricane Ike a lineman with a bit of mischief in his soul nailed him to the top of a pole and it’s a game to f ind him – but once you do you don’t tell anyone so that the game isn’t ruined. There is a Facebook page called Bolivar Beachcombers where folks post photos of shells and other treasures they f ind along with gorgeous sunrise and sunset photos. Our goal was to f ind him and post a photo to the group page. We found him and it was a great moment. The best part of this trip was hearing the laughter in the back seat. Anytime you can get two teenagers away from their phones, running up a hill, acting silly around a totem pole and looking for a plastic camel it’s a win in my book. And they were both asleep before we even arrived in Winnie on the way home… FOR MORE INFORMATION LOOK AT WWW.BOLIVARPENISULATEXAS.COM AND WWW.CRYSTALBEACH.COM
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