Galveston

The rays of sunlight push through the crack between the curtains illuminating the hotel room with natural light. You open the curtains and look out. There is a grassy field behind the hotel which your window faces. The grass is green and bending in the ocean breeze. You take your dog out to walk her in the field. A little furry animal hops out of the grass and into a bush. You hurry over to see what it is. It scurries through the tall grass. You don't see it when it stops. It completely disappears. You figure there must be an undisclosed hole it went into. It was too big to be a rat or rabbit and looked like a ground squirrel. You give up on looking for it. The temperature is certainly already near 90 degrees. You take your dog and go back inside into the cool building. The stinging and burning as your clothes rub against your back remind you of the sunburn on your back.

You go to breakfast with your family and then go to the beach. The brown color from the ocean floor has spread further out. The water is really warm. The sun beats down on you as the temperature climbs into the triple digits. You stay out for a while. You are careful to not get sunburnt anymore than you already are. For lunch, you go to a Kroger and get some sorbet to share. On your way out, you stare out at the ocean. You count the ships that are waiting to go to the Houston ports. From what you can see there are 29 ships, big and small. You and your family sit and eat your sorbet while watching the ocean. When you're finished you go with your parents to the port. They have to go deal with work, so you tag along. You drive only a couple miles across the island, past houses on stilts. You reach the port you were at yesterday. It is fairly quiet and you don't see any freighters, but you do see the giant oil rigs. You see giant warehouses everywhere you looks. You also see some realy old factories. On the side of one, you are able to partially make out some writing of really old paint on the red brick of the building. It says "coffee factory". Above that on the same wall newer paint say "Peanut Butter Factory". It is cool to think about the old buildings getting reused instead of destroyed. Your parents are pretty quick and they finish in time for dinner and you leave the port. You drive by the old factory as you leave.

After your mom makes dinner, you go to one of the jetties at the beach. The jetty is made out of huge chunks of beautiful granite. You walk out on it looking at the ocean. Some seabirds fly around above you. Nearby, pelicans dive into the water after fish. Some come up with a beak full of water, others are lucky and get fish. The sun is starting to set and makes the ocean glow.

All fun must end, so you walk back to your parent's vehicle and climb in. It is almost dark as you drive along the coast. The sun is reflected on the water. The foam turns golden and the water turns black. You drive through the city lights. Downtown is like a midnight sun. The yellow lights are seen from miles away. Eventually, they fade away as you fall asleep.