Bianca's Birthday Trip, Part 2

I tend to be a bit of a foodie. So while we were in Galveston, I had a choice of where we went out to eat for dinner. I took that responsibility very seriously and looked around for a new place to try (one of my rules is to try something new as often as I can.)

I saw a brochure on a place called “The Gumbo Diner.” It looked fairly inexpensive, yet tasty and unique at the same time. So we went for it!

The diner was fairly small, and we ended up squished into a cozy corner booth. But that’s ok; we’re a close-knit family. J

For an appetizer, the foodies in the family won out. J We ordered barbequed oysters with bleu cheese and lemon sauce. Surprisingly, everyone in the family liked them!

The birthday girl. J You can see my lovely sunburn in this picture. :-)P

Photo Credit: Betsy

For dinner, we all stepped out of our comfort zones. Ben was brave and tried a crawfish Po-boy. Yes, he ate all 12 inches of that sandwich!! He worked up quite an appetite swimming.

I tried the chicken and waffles. Let me just say, don’t knock it ‘till you try it! I still have those on my mind. . . I really believe I was born a southern belle, I just lived up north for most of my life. J 

Some of the other family members tried the seafood gumbo, which was also good! Now I’m thinking our family needs to take a trip over to Louisiana and get some New Orleans cooking . . .

For dessert, we split orders of beignets. They are like a delicious cross between a donut, a funnel cake, and a sopapilla. Light, yet full and chewy.

With all that delicious food in our stomachs, we headed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

The next morning, we had breakfast, packed up, and went out for Daddy’s part of the birthday trip. J We found ourselves at the Ocean Star Museum. The Ocean Star is an old oil rig that has been converted into a museum all about the oil industry.

The Ocean Star.

Ready to tour!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Walking up the gangway, we stopped to admire the Pelicans and dolphins hanging around the fishing wharf. 

One thing that amazed me was learning how basically everything in life—from food, to medicine, to toys, cosmetics, and clothing—all depend on the oil industry in some way, shape, or form. Now that’s a recipe for a conspiracy theory right there! J

Josiah in the basket used to hoist workers up onto oil rigs and platforms.

I found the history of diving to be quite fascinating. The suit pictured above is called a WASP or an atmospheric diving system. This suit allows divers to work up to 2,300 feet below sea level while remaining at atmospheric pressure. Divers can work longer and do not need to decompress when they come up.

As we were looking at a timeline on the oil industry, we found out that the first U.S. oil well was built not too far from where my Dad grew up!

A more sobering piece of oil industry history is the Deepwater Horizon explosion, fire, and 11 fatalities. There was a memorial display in honor of those that died on that day in early 2010.

After a couple hours of touring the rig, we headed back for home. We stopped at Subway for lunch and Braum’s for dinner. In between, we read, slept, listened to music, and rehashed the fun parts of our trip. I’m so thankful for my family and the opportunity to celebrate my birthday with them!