Galveston Island

The family took a long weekend in a rented house just off the beach.
I had never been to Galveston, and enjoyed it much.
Mostly South Texas-based folks, tho' one couple are currently stationed in Minot, North Dakota.

Our niece graduated from high school--the ceremony of which exposed us all to drenching rain and possible death by lightning. Favorite graduate's name heard: Destiny Dream Weaver.

On the second night we had our usual Monopoly game.
Last summer, despite having buildings on Boardwalk and Park Place early, nobody landed on them for hours so I eventually sold out of the game for $20 cash American.
This time I played better and had some luck, and actually won the game.

When the sun finally came out I made a 5 minute trip to the beach with my Sony F828, and shot around 10 variations of the scene below, in infrared of course:

Jumped back in the air-conditioned truck and went back to the house, knowing I had something special.
I love it when that happens, especially the part about not getting greedy and ending up with a sunburn because I kept shooting when there was probably no point.

Pretty sure I missed a good color long exposure the night before (featuring stormy clouds) because dinner ran a bit long, so by the time I went to the beach it was too dark.


On the last full day a few of us went to the restored part of downtown that caters to upscale visitors.
Shot this one with my phone:

I'm weird, shooting with a 13 year old camera--in infrared no less--OR just using my Samsung S5.
The plan is to change this up in the near future and get something approaching a current mirrorless so I'm excited to shoot inconvenient color and night photos again.

Fire Dancing

After the wedding and reception:

This was the only time the beach was crowded at night, but only in the immediate vicinity of the restaurants and bar.

Best Beach

I've been to some nice beaches in my lifetime, but the one we were at was hands down the finest.
Superfine white sand, no shells, almost no seaweed, no jellyfish, and most surprising of all--ZERO seagulls!

And the resort had a lot of beds pretty much everywhere for relaxing in comfort.

Not In Kansas Anymore...

Or the USA, for that matter!

After a long-ass day of flying AA, we landed in the dark at an airport 2 timezones to the east with a thatched roof where stamping of passports was a mere formality. Unlike SA, DFW and MIA there were zero cops, dogs or food.
Holy crap, we're in that pesky old third world you hear about on TV!

After a little buffet action and a couple beers, I set out to explore my surroundings and try to get my bearings in the dark to save time tomorrow.

This is just one section of the main pool, which twists and turns all over the place.

Can't wait to see the beach tomorrow. Never have I felt sand so fine and clean. Truly one of the top 5 beaches in the world, and I'm shooting it at night, alone, after midnight, with a mere 3 hours in-country experience to gauge the safety.
Whatever, this place rocks.

A little hi-tech lighting to go with the all-included package.

Spent some time at one of the bars talking to a couple of mooks from New Jersey and a rabble of hipsters.
Nobody bought me a beer because it's already paid for--I got a 6-pack from the bartender to take back to our room...Presidente Light, not bad at all.


I have zero idea what happens next, and don't much care.
We are in paradise and taking it as it happens.
The wedding we're here for takes place on Saturday, then more fun.

Stay tuned