Contrasts

The view from the balcony of my condo:

The view from the back of my condo:

 

You see this kind of thing all over Galveston. I think it’s mostly the result of Hurricane Ike in 2008, which was devastating. I walked by a "high water" marker the other day; it was well over my head. 

Sometimes, the planners and developers seem to deliberately create contrast, as the State did in Houston by plopping a state park and memorial to the Battle of San Jacinto right next to the Ship Channel and miles and miles of refineries. To get there, you have to drive in tons of freeway traffic, mostly semis, through a refinery area.

 

 

You arrive at a peaceful acreage, mostly empty in winter, that has two eye-popping draws: a battleship you can tour (I didn’t), and a 500-foot memorial tower (I definitely did—there’s an observation area near the top).

 

From that height, you can see how Houston became one of the busiest ports in the world: lots of room for even the biggest ships to maneuver and 25 miles of places for companies to put their facilities.

 

You can also see all those wetlands, vital to wildlife. We’re on the great migration path from the Arctic to South America, and birds, among others, love and need all those marshes. Somewhere along the line, people realized that refineries shouldn’t be allowed to take over this area completely, and space was set aside for several preserves. Which is a little surprising to me, considering that local supermarkets barely bother to offer reuseable shopping bags. And while the condo management collects trash at your door twice a day, they couldn’t get a recycling program going; lack of interest.

As for that battle, stay tuned! The real reason I went to the monument was for the museum in the base. It’s all about Texas independence. The Lone Star forever!