In June I made what I am sure will be the first of many trips to Galveston with the Teardrop. As if I didn’t love it already, this trip solidified the love affair. It really will be a game changer for the beach. I have lived in Houston over 10 years and always say I am going to go to the beach more, since it’s just an hour away, but it has never happened. Since buying my house I’m even closer than when I first moved, but it has never really been feasible to spend as much time as I would like at the beach. A big part of the problem is that in South Texas it’s just too hot to spend all day at the beach without some place to get in and cool down, especially with Bella and her year round fur coat, so day trips are hard. I usually try one in the Spring and remember why I don’t do it more often. Staying in Galveston has not been a great option because there are very few hotels or condos on the beach that are inexpensive enough to rent on a regular basis. The T@G however seems to fix all these problems.
I stayed at the Dellanera RV Park on the West end of the Island. The Park is located right on the beach and has beach access via a short walk on their boardwalk. They claim to be the only true beachfront RV park in Galveston and from what I have found, that seems to be true. I was on the lagoon side, but it was still a peaceful, serene view at the campsite.
I added a new accessory for this trip that I was very happy about, a new canopy. I have been looking at them for a while because I have never been entirely happy with the visor and decided that a beach trip was the time to finally spend the money. I went with a Crown Shades brand one because they have a patented one person set-up design with a knob in the middle that you push up from under the center and it opens the entire frame. I was able to set it up easily alone in 10 minutes, with wind, and would definitely recommend it. It comes with a carrying case with wheels and is a reasonable price. I bought the 10 x 10 and you can find it on Amazon with the link below.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078XR1CS8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
One word of warning if you stay at the Dellanera RV Park, they seem to have some disagreement about what is allowed when it comes to canopies. When I was first setting up someone told me they only allowed awnings attached to campers. Of course I said no problem and attached it to the camper with bungee cords, making it clear I was not taking it down since there was no shade in the park. Someone else came back later said they are allowed as long as they are properly secured. A big source of the confusion is that the color brochure they give you at check in says they are not allowed, but a printed insert says that they are. Bottom line, don’t rule this campground out if you have Teardrop thinking you can’t have a canopy.
The Friday we arrived was right at the end of a rare blue water period. It was right after a tropical system in the gulf had changed the flow of the Mississippi enough to keep the mud away from Galveston. It was short lived but a beautiful sight to see.
It was still early enough in the year that it was pleasant to sit outside under the canopy. Of course, after spending that money and work putting it up, Bella decided to go to the end of her leash and sit in the sun. I think it was partly to watch the people behind us. They had a baby that was fussy and she was concerned that the humans were not taking care of it properly.
On the beach you expect Seagulls but this park actually had a large number of Grackles, that were bold. Every time I had food out they would come right up to the sight to see if I dropped anything.
Although I enjoyed the weekend, I actually ended up not doing much. The week before had been really busy and the day we left we had to make an emergency trip to the vet, so relaxing was the top of the agenda. Being so close to the camper made this really easy.
I was able to go out first thing in the morning before it go too hot and then go back to the camper for lunch and prepare for the hotter part of the day.
I tried out my new beach accessory that Amazon was kind enough to recommend, the beach umbrella sandanchor.
It worked wonderfully and I could easily put the umbrella up for shade. The only word of warning I have is that it may work too well on a windy day. The last day I tried to put up the umbrella and the anchor held the pole in place, but the wind almost turned the umbrella inside out when I tried to open it.
It worked better than something like a canopy on the beach because it could be put up and down quickly and we could go back to the camper and cool off every few hours.
Of course when I took my chair Bella didn’t need an umbrella for shade, she just used me. I have to give her credit, she figured out how to get in and out from the chair without getting her leash tangled up in it.
She seemed to like the beach better than our first trip to Galveston. She certainly enjoyed exploring all the smells.
I didn’t think she would get near the water but when we were walking she met another dog and started following it and actually got out in the water. She was not pleased about her mistake though. She immediately had to start getting the sand off her paws.
Another good part of having the Teardrop was having the water heater. It was too windy to put up my shower curtain but I could still use the water heater to wash both of us off when we got back to try to minimize the sand in the camper. I also ended up using it to wash my hair and take a “swimsuit shower.” The campground house a nice bathroom with showers but the air conditioner is not large enough for the size of room and the the heats and humidity so it was like a sauna. I took a cold shower the first night but I almost couldn’t breath when I was done and couldn’t get dry to get dressed becasue of the humidity. I noticed the second day that most people had exterior showers they used to basically take an outdoor shower when they got back from the beach so I figured why not? I had hot water and it wouldn’t look out of place at the beach.
I had originally planned to go fishing but there was not a pier close and I realized the first day I was not prepared to fish from the beach. When I saw someone catch an eel I realized I was missing some essentials for that kind of fishing like a pocket knife, hand net and most importantly, some kind of water shoes. I do plan in the future to try that kind of fishing but I decided to be lazy on this trip and went to the seafood market and bought fish and shrimp instead.
A plus for this campground is that they have a grill and picnic table at every sight, but grilling with the gulf breeze was a challenge. The first night I had grilled shrimp over cilantro lime rice.
For lunch the second day I had Grilled Red Snapper on the half shell with chips and corn on the cob.
I discovered a new use for the Breakfast center with the chips. I cut up small red potatoes in to slices and sprayed both sides with cooking spray and seasoned them. In 25 minutes I had homemade potato chips.
All in all we both had a relaxing enjoyable trip. I got to read and relax and Bella had a cool place to make sure she didn’t get behind on her beauty rest.
Amy and Bella's Teardrop Adventures 