Beautiful flowers & other things around the Moody Gardens, Galveston Tx

 Continuing my thoughts about my vacation to Galveston Texas -Moody Gardens.
We couldn't help but notice all the beautiful flowers that they had planted around the facility at Moody Gardens.  It was enjoyable just walking around the area.  Here's some of the delightful stuff we saw in and around Galveston while we were there.

There were flowers there  that got my attention, like these:

I couldn't figure out what these were but I suspect they are in the periwinkle family.
One of my favorite flowers that I see all the time in the south is the Black-eyed Susan or its more proper name according to Wikipedia of Rudbeckia_hirta.With a name like that I'm not surprised people call them Black-eyed Susan.

Rudbeckia_hirta or Black-eyed Susan @ Moody Gardens

Here's another plant that I liked but didn't get its name. 

Hibiscus

 Another lovely Hibiscus with some dew on it.

yellow Hibiscus

Another lovely plant - Oleander

pink Oleander

While we were enjoying the Gardens, we noticed this noisy Gull.  I think he like being high up on that light post so he could look for people dropping scraps of food.

Here's some of the things he was looking at. 

As we were watching him a flock of Pelicans flew overhead. Brown_Pelicans are the state bird for Louisiana and there numbers were greatly reduced after the Horizon oil spill of a year ago.  I don't get to see them very often, so when I do, I like to watch them.  I was very grateful to see that the Brown Pelicans were doing so well in this area.

Here's one that landed and just looked like he was posing to have its picture taken.

Pelican in Galveston Bay, TX

   We continued our walk and my son was drawn to this paddle boat.  He wanted to know if we could go on it.  So we walked over to see it and find out if we could ride on it.  It turns out it is a restaurant where you take a cruise of  Galveston bay while you eat.  We had other plans for dinner, meeting with friends and business associates, while we were there so we never did get to go on it.  This will be an excuse for coming back to the area.

'Colonel' Paddlewheel Boat, Galveston TX

And here's what the Moody Gardens look like walking back along the shore line.

As an afterthought, I've decided to include the map that they give you to help you navigate your way around the place.  As you can see there is a lot to see and do while you visit the place.




But we came to Galveston to see the ports and the ocean.
Isn't Galveston pretty at night with all the lights?

 Sun setting on Moody Gardens.

After dinner we decided to go for a drive around the island.
Ocean View of the Gulf Coast at one of the public beaches near mile marker 33.

 A lot of sea weed washed up onto the shore.

 Dunes with vegetation holding them in place.

 The flatness of the beach, and it being so hard people drive on it. 

 The beach from a different direction.  What  amazed me was how there were so few people on the beach.  In town there were so many people, but if you drive out towards the one end there are few and few people there.  I liked having the feeling we had the beach to ourselves.

 I think one of the things that kept them away was all the sea weed that had washed ashore.  I did like looking at it and seeing things that were in it like shells and such.  I must admit that in spots it would have that dead fish smell and wasn't always the most pleasant thing to be around. 

 And it was fun walking in the surf with our shoes off.

The next day it was fun to be out and about and seeing the pelicans again.
Here's another Brown Pelican at a different location on Galveston's island.

Brown Pelican in the Galveston Bay area

After being disappointed we couldn't go on the 'Colonel' paddlewheel boat, my son was excited when we were touring the area  later in the week and came upon this sailing ship while heading to the Ocean Star offshore drilling rig museum.

'Elissa' @ Galveston TX

 The 1877 Iron Barque 'ELISSA', Galveston TX

 Aboard the 'ELISSA' sailing ship, Galveston TX

There is something about sailing ships that just captures my attention.  I guess it just captures my imagination of a time long ago.
There are not many sailing ships left.  This one almost didn't make it.  It had been converted over to a steam engine ship and then was abandoned in a ship junk yard.  But some people recognized it for what it was and were able to restore it to its former self.  I'm glad they did. I'm also glad they made a museum out of it and have it so its open to the public to view. 

After we got done in garden it was on to see Dino-Alive!!