Galveston 

The history in Galveston was amazing for us to learn about. We had no idea. There was a huge hurricane in 1900.  It killed nearly 1/5 of the residents and took down many buildings.  The city's response was to not only build a 17' retaining sea wall to keep back the Gulf waves - but to raise 500 buildings 5-7' higher!  Residents who couldn't afford this were forced to allow their entire 1st floor to be filled in with sand that was dredged up from the bottom of the Gulf.  Can you imagine living like this for months? Sludge filled every street and boards were lain across it for residents to move around the city  The city then added grass and trees, only to discover the muck they used was too salty for things to grow.  The Catholic church was raised successfully over a month's time with hundreds of men with jacks lifting it to the beat of a drum to keep the structure from cracking.  

The architecture was another big surprise - influences from everything from Colonial to Modern to box cars to Victorian to Roman to Southwest - all in a few blocks of each other. Oh and they also celebrate Mardi Gras  We fell in love with the city and it's incredible endurance to survive. 

January 2021