Crystal Beach

The kids were at their grandparents' home in St. Louis, being spoiled rotten (of course), so Asterix and I decided to take a little road trip last Sunday. We always have such fun just meandering around seeing what we can see and not really worrying about time.

Luckily, Tejas Angel had placed several boxes on the Bolivar Peninsula, so we got a relatively early start, drove down to Galveston and took the ferry over. We planned on doing a large loop, coming back up through Anahuac National Wildlife Reserve and then perhaps going a bit further north to Liberty.

We had one short rain shower after the ferry ride, but for the most part, we just enjoyed the drive. There are three letterboxes on the island, so we had several stops along the way.

Our favorite stop was probably the one at Old Fort Travis Park, where we found the aptly named Old Fort Travis letterbox. This historical site consists of four different Batteries, developed to defend Galveston Bay from enemy attack. These bunkers were built at differing times, from before the Spanish American War (1898) up through World World II. The picture above is of the last bunker, built during WWII to defend against Axis invaders. One of the original batteries was pretty well destroyed during the 1900 hurricane, but the ruins are still there, as are those of the other original battery. The one below is of Battery Kimble, built between the World Wars. You can see that the ocean side is earthen (to disguise them from the enemy), with the front made of concrete and steel. The original bunkers had the guns mounted on the top, but after air attacks became more common, defense strategies changed and the gun mounts were moved to the sides of the batteries. There is a nice loop trail at the park with historical information at each kiosk. We were the only people walking around, most people were either fishing, picnicking or grilling.


Anyway, this is a fun kind of letterbox for us, one that shows us a bit of history, especially when we weren't expecting it. Asterix is not a letterboxer at heart, but he is usually game if the location is interesting or if there's a good hike involved. He's very patient about helping everyone stamp in, no easy feat with all the different logbooks and stamps involved.

We did make it to the Anahuac Wildlife Preserve (no gator sightings to report), but not all the way to Liberty. Another day, another drive!

We'll be heading off later this week for our road trip to South Carolina & big family birthday party at the beach (yes it's true, Dewberry is turning 40). I may check in from the road or not, we'll see how everything goes.