Hermit crabs, Galveston, and debris filled beach sends us to Walmart for the night

This morning we said goodbye to our marine Hermit crabs. We enjoyed them as pets for a couple days but since we are leaving the beach we must say goodbye.

Bye bye Hermit Crabs and bye bye Magnolia Beach. Off we go in search of more beach camping. We drove to Surfside but all the beaches there said NO Camping, we drove through Galveston and again No Camping signs. We did however stop in Galveston at yet another Rainforest Cafe.

This one had a River Ride which looked like fun... Really it was an expensive 10 minute ride along a river. The girls really enjoyed it but I think it should have been free or 1/2 price with a paid meal. It did only cost $5.99 each but still that adds up when you times it by 4! Two years and under are FREE. Everyone else pays the same price.

The ride was decorated much like the restaurant and like a mini Disney ride floating down a river.

After lunch we headed towards the Galveston Ferry. We were surprised that it was a FREE ferry

 since coming onto Galveston Island we had to pay a $2.00 toll.

This FREE ferry was only about 18 minutes but we had fun on it :)





Us parked on the ferry











The ferry actually announces to go to the back of the ferry to "feed the seagulls". There is no way they would promote that at home on our ferries. The girls had a lot of fun. We were told there is actually a store on the dock that sells bread you can buy but we didn't have time when we arrived. The gulls didn't mind our whole wheat!

And we got to see more dolphins :)

We left Galveston (they do NOT allow overnight RVing at Walmart) in search of a beach to spend one night at on our way to New Orleans. The public beaches here in Texas are FREE to camp on and we found a spot just South of a little town called High Island (right at the junction of 87 and 124 just East of Galveston).
We pulled in and parked right on the water again...however we were not impressed with this beach very much. We have found this to be the case with MOST of the beaches we have seen in Texas.

There were also oil wells right behind us.

The girls played for a few minutes and we were going to stay but the longer we stayed the more we wanted to leave so we decided to leave and head to Walmart in Port Arthur for the night instead. A VERY sad state when you choose to sleep at Walmart instead of at the beach due to garbage. The thing that is even more sad is all the beaches here are lined with garbage cans. Sure some garbage washes ashore, some is perhaps Hurricane debris... but we have spent time on many beaches...in hurricane paths like Jamaica and Antigua but we have never seen such dirty beaches. Take some pride people and follow these simple steps...



Step 1 Open drink





Step 2 Enjoy your drink



 





Step 3 Enjoy your time at the beach



Step 4 Finish your drink



Step 5 walk over to the garbage can







Step 6 Place TRASH in the provided
garbage cans or take it home with you!

Sorry to sound so rude about it but come on...these beaches are gross. No wonder they are FREE! Lets have some pride people...no matter if you are living here, or visiting here...do your part. Maybe there would be an excuse if there were no garbage cans around but we have seen more garbage cans on Texas beaches then anywhere else we have been in the world so there is no excuse!

Put your garbage where it belongs so we can all enjoy the beaches! And if you head here and it's still gross...continue on to Port Arthur. The Walmart there allows overnight RVing. Customer Service was unsure but when they tracked down the manager they said it was up to Security and Security said' "of course they can!" We have a very nice sequrity lady keep an eye out on us all night and had no problems what so ever...(except the street cleaner around midnight was a bit loud)

WANT TO WIN an RV COVER? Go take a look at Travels with Kevin and Ruth's post HERE for all the details. Blogger won't let me comment at the moment but I will be sure to keep checking in to enter!