GALVESTON PRO TIPS From Leslie Whaylen

TRAFFIC AND CITY TRANSPORTATION

• Avenue P and Avenue O are inner city highways and if you pace yourself correctly (30 mph exactly), you can get where you need in go in under 10 minutes.

• Teach your children how to use the trolleys. Kids ride free.

• Don’t give away your secret parking spots in the downtown Strand district.

• Taking the free car ferry across to Bolivar is the best way to see dolphins. Park in the lot, and walk on. It’s much faster than waiting in the car line.

• Avoid bicycling near trolley tracks as your tire could get stuck.

ISLAND WEATHER

• Use the seawall to travel across when the island is flooding from heavy rain or high tides.

• Our Gulf of Mexico gets calm and clear in September and October when the summer tourists leave, take advantage.

• The salt air tears up anything and everything, especially metal.

• When purchasing a home, ask if it flooded in Ike or Harvey, or floods after heavy rain event days or during unusually high tides.

PARKS AND RECREATION

• Kempner Park and Lindale Park have shade and are dog friendly. Lindale has more mosquitoes.

• The city’s recreation centers have affordable memberships and kids are free. The view outside the gym at McGuire Dent is the Gulf of Mexico.

• Go to the park just over San Luis Pass on Monday when it’s closed.

• The best place to view the start of the Harvest Moon Regatta is from the Ferris wheel on Pleasure Pier.

• Walk the loops at Lafitte’s Cove Nature Preserve and at the ArtistBoat property.

• Explore the extreme east end of the island with world war relics.

• Go to the beach for full moon risings.

• Go shark tooth hunting when it’s cloudy or when sunny, in the water. - Lance Pawlik

NEIGHBORHOOD JEWELS

• Penny’s BarBQue, ShyKatz, Los Lazos, Henry’s, Allen’s Kitchen (go early).

• A lot of island restaurants are closed on Mondays.

• Local gas stations often sell homemade, yummy food. My neighborhood one has the world’s best boudain balls.

• You hardly get mosquitoes or flies if you live a block or two from the seawall. The ocean breeze keeps them away.

• Once in a while, you may encounter a business that has a "locals’ rate.” Ask.

• The inlet just east of Sunny Beach (8 Mile Road).

• Fishing holes: Campeche Cove neighborhood lake, the canal just east of Moody Gardens, Pelican Island.

• The island’s airport park offers some of the best views our island has for sunsets, and Cherry Hill on the far east end for moon risings.

FESTIVALS AND HOLIDAYS

• The annual Dia de los Muertos festival, La Izquierda festival, and Save The Locals music concert series are community-driven.

• Juneteenth began with Galveston.

• Ball High School will take all of your Mardi Gras beads.

• Fat Tuesday is the favored Mardi Gras parade for locals.

• Best neighborhoods for trick-or-treating: Cedar Lawn, Colony Park, and Campeche Cove.

PLANTS, FINE ARTS, AND LITERATURE

• Volunteer at school gardens or Seeding Galveston to learn what plants and when to grow/ harvest.

• Plant NICE (Natives Instead of Colorful Exotics).

• Dewberries and mulberries, small berries found growing on the island, can be foraged and make delicious pies.

• 1894 Grand Opera House and ETC

• Art Walk is cool. This event happens every six weeks, you can bring your own beverage of choice and meet-up with lot of friends or make new ones.

• Rosenberg Library and their librarians are an asset/resource to each of us.