07.10.23 A little R&R

4th of July...mid 1980s

It's been 4 years since we spent the Fourth of July anywhere except at home.

In 2019 we took our last big summer family trip in Napa, California with all of our kids and my mother in law.  No one had any idea that six months later our world - everyone's world - would be rocked by Covid and locked down. We ate and drank, and discussed where we would go in 2020 (the plan was Cape Cod, but we never got there).

Although we have gotten on planes and gone places, my husband and I haven't taken what anyone would think of as a vacation together since before Covid.  

This year, we're making up for a it a bit, and for our first trip we went to the Gulf Coast with wonderful friends, to a house I've visited and stayed in multiple times for close to 50 years.   Even though we didn't go far, we came home feeling much more relaxed.

Market Haul - Galveston edition

Before our generation took it over, it belonged to some of my parents' best friends (who are, frankly like a second set of parents to me).  There's a great photograph - from a long ago Fourth of July party - that hangs in the kitchen, and if you look hard enough, you might see a 30+ years younger me sitting in the middle.

For almost a week, we sat on the porch - a lot - taking time to simply enjoy the company and the view.  

We got up early Sunday morning and took the Bolivar ferry across the bay to the Galveston Farmers Market (since I was traveling with my market buddy from Austin)…and came back with a serious haul.

Dinner at the Stingaree, on the intercoastal waterway, is a must. I've been going since forever, and it was one of the first places our daughter ate solid food (most of her father's snapper throats) before she was a year old. 

Other than that outing, we cooked at the house - and ate really well. If you want to see how well - just scroll back through my Instagram feed.  

Silver and coral earrings
 from Santa Fe Trail on the Strand

We even played tourist for a bit, shopping The Strand in Galveston, where of course, I bought earrings (it's a jewelry blog - I had to buy something to post),

and surveying the range of beach tchotchkes available from Bolivar to High Island.

On the Fourth there were fireworks, and because the porch wraps around the house on three sides we had an incredible 360 degree view.  It was a beautiful, clear night, so we could see professional shows from Galveston, Kemah and Texas City as well as all the ones being set off by families along the length of the peninsula. 

Across Galveston Bay - the Pleasure Pier at dusk

The past three years have been a wild rollercoaster ride, and it was truly wonderful to unbuckle from that rickety seat, and sit quietly for a few days.

Until next time.