Galveston Island--Day 3

We woke up Saturday morning to cloudy skies and light rain. Dave took down the tent while I fed Jed breakfast huddled in the Rodeo and then we were off. We were planning on leaving early in the morning so we could drive home a different way, so thankfully the bad weather hadn't spoiled any plans.

Instead of returning home via I-45, we took the ferry from Galveston Island to Bolivar Peninsula, which connects to the mainland. It was so fun to ride the ferry!

Our ferry was huge! We got lucky and got to be on the outside lane during the ride, so we had a great time looking at all the birds and watching the choppy water.

Jed, thinking about how great the ferry is. He was so funny--we rolled down the windows for a while, but it was really cold. When Dave tried to roll up Jed's window, Jed wouldn't let him. He loved that sea air in his face!

A brown pelican on a pipe in the harbor

A battleship museum on an island in the bay

HUGE oil tanker and some building on the island in the bay

Passing the other ferry in the bay

We were pretty sure that is an oil refinery in the distance. I'm not sure if the oil tanker was headed there or not.

Brown Pelicans, a new birds for my life list.

A juvenile Great Cormorant--also a new life bird!

Once we got off the ferry, we drove up Bolivar Peninsula. It was fun--sometimes the peninsula was so skinny we could see the ocean on one side of the road and the bay on the other. There is a lot more lingering Ike damage on Bolivar than Galveston and it was sad to see.

We really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful fall colors as we drove home.

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When we got home, our kitties were thrilled to see us and we were super happy to unload and get all the sand out of everything. It was SUCH a good, relaxing vacation and I am so glad we went. Now I'm counting the days til we can go back!