This weekend our family headed down to Galveston for three days at the beach. We collected shells, took long family walks, ate delicious seafood dinners, did two museum tours, and soaked up an afternoon of body surfing and sandcastle-building. The weather was gorgeous, the locals were friendly, and the beach was so peaceful.
This glorious weekend came after a week when I had read two blog entries hating on Galveston. Admittedly, I discovered the second blog after I read the first and Googled, “Why do some Houstonians hate Galveston?”
The answer, in a nutshell? Because it’s not Hawaii.
I read rant after rant about how much these Texans liked the beaches all over the world, but not the one in their own backyard. They complained the Gulf of Mexico isn’t Cancun Clear. They griped that the sand isn’t Destin White. They pointed out that the amusement parks aren’t Santa Cruz epic. And they hate that Galveston’s beaches aren’t Bahamas clean.
Those of us who love Galveston GET THIS. But we don’t live in Cancun or Destin or the Bahamas. We live in Houston, and Galveston is the actual, beautiful beach just down the road.
Why not try Galveston? If you visited here enough, you’d start to find the locals’ restaurants with melt-in-your-mouth seafood. You would discover your favorite beach spot.
Then one Saturday, you would find yourself having a wonderful afternoon in Galveston. You would look around at the quiet beach and say, “Hey. I like this peaceful little beach. Galveston is wonderful. AND IT’S SO CLOSE!”
Celebrate Galveston for what it is. Appreciate Pleasure Pier for the amusement park that doesn’t require a hotel stay. Drive down I-45 for lunch and stay for an afternoon of shell collecting. Go for a run on the beach and love that you can go home to your own shower.
But, please, stop complaining. Stop trashing the island because of the seaweed, the lack of bathrooms, the blue-collar community. This would be as ridiculous as living in San Antonio and complaining about the Alamo because it’s not the Colosseum. Or living in Phoenix and not hiking Camelback because it’s not Everest.
Wherever you go, there you are.
If you live near Galveston, come on down and try a day for yourself.
You’ll probably discover it’s not Hawaii.
And, really, that’s just fine.
