Pleasure Pier in Galveston, Texas

On our recent trip to Texas to see our son and his wife, we took a day trip with them to Galveston.  We decided to check out the new Pleasure Pier.  It is a great new mini amusement park built on a pier.

In 1906 Electric Park opened bringing amusement seeking tourists to Galveston. Located at 23rd and Seawall Blvd., just two blocks from the current Pleasure Pier, this electric amusement park lit up the Galveston sky with thousands of lights. The attractions included a roller coaster, carousel, theater, as well as the park’s prized possession, The Aerial Swing. In the early 1900’s Galveston promoted itself as the "The Coney Island of the South.”

The pier was originally built as a recreational facility for the United States military. In the 1940's it was transformed into the Galveston Pleasure Pier and was the largest of its kind in the country. America’s top dance bands routinely filled the mammoth Marine ballroom. Fishing facilities, a full carnival midway and an aquarium made the pier an iconic family destination. The Galveston Pleasure Pier operated as a tourist destination until 1961 when Hurricane Carla severely damaged the property.

Four years after Hurricane Carla, the Flagship Hotel opened on the once devastated Pleasure Pier and quickly became an icon, offering a one of a kind hotel over the Gulf, staying open for over 40 years. On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike made its final landfall near Galveston as a strong Category 2 hurricane and damaged the hotel significantly.  Three months after the hurricane I was in Galveston and took a picture of the Flagship Hotel.

Rather than rebuild the hotel, plans were made to transform the Pleasure Pier into a world‐class amusement park for all ages.  The plans were to  recapture the site’s original purpose as a pleasure pier. The Pleasure Pier opened in May of 2012.

We had a great time at Pleasure Pier.  The day had started out very rainy and we were afraid our day trip would be compromised.  It was still raining a bit when we arrived, but the weather improved as the day went on.  Because of the rain the pier was not busy and we didn't have to wait for the rides.

If you are ever in Galveston, check out Pleasure Pier for great family fun.

Vicksburg National Military Park

Last month my wife and I went on a vacation to Disney World in Florida with our daughter and her family.  On our way home we spent a couple of hours at the Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The park commemorates the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg. The city's surrender on July 4, 1863 split the South, giving control of the Mississippi River to the Union. There are over 1,340 monuments, a restored Union gunboat, and National Cemetery on the 16-mile tour road.



There is so much history in the park. The U.S. Government established the battlefield as a National Military Park in 1899.

The battles of the Vicksburg campaign were some of the fiercest and longest lasting of the war. General Grant attacked the Confederates on May 19, 1863 and again on May 22. The Confederate positions were too strong, and the Union casualties were high. On May 25 General Grant decided on a siege of the city as he had it surrounded and had naval bombardment from the Mississippi. He stated in his memoirs, "I now determined upon a regular siege—to 'out-camp the enemy,' as it were, and to incur no more losses."


By the end of June, half of the Rebel soldiers were sick or hospitalized. Scurvy, malaria, dysentery, diarrhea, and other diseases cut their ranks. Food was almost non-existent, with soldiers resorting to eating dogs, mules and shoe leather. On July 3 General Pemberton rode out of the city with white flags to meet General Grant to discuss terms of surrender.



The most important thing for the Union army was that they now controlled all of the Mississippi River. The side that controlled that waterway controlled a direct route through the Confederacy and would eventually dominate the war. The full campaign claimed 10,142 Union and 9,091 Confederate killed and wounded.

As we toured the park and looked at all of the monuments it was sobering to think of the loss of life and the hardship that occurred in this beautiful countryside.














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Cardboard Boat Race

Today we had a great time at the annual Arkansas-Louisiana Pathfinder and Adventurer Cardboard Boat Race held at Dierks Lake. My grand daughters and their cousins were participating.  They spent the night before the race at our house and had an cookout and ice cream party followed by a slumber party.

To enter the boat race the kids had to build a boat with only cardboard, duct tape and paint.  It was amazing how durable the girls boats were.   After the race they spent quite some time just paddling around in the boats.  They all had a really good time.

The girls were excited to win trophies and medals for their efforts.

Grandma and Papa had a lot of fun spending the day in such a beautiful place and seeing the girls have such a good time.  After the race we had a picnic and then the kids spent the afternoon swimming.

On our way back home we took a "shortcut" over gravel mountain roads.  Within just a few miles of the highway we came across a bridge that was impassable because there was three feet of water flowing over the bridge.  We had to turn around and go all the way back to Dierks Lake so we could take the paved roads.  On our way back to the lake we followed our GPS and were stymied three different times by locked gates across the roads.  After an hour we finally made our way back.

What an awesome day!

Heroes

During last weeks flooding in our area several lives were lost.  Our local State Representative, Nate Bell, wrote the following article honoring two first responders who gave their lives trying to save flood victims.  I asked for permission to repost his article and he graciously agreed.


Heroes - by State Representative Nate Bell

In the early morning hours of last Friday, Scott County Sheriff Cody Carpenter and AGFC Officer Joel Campora lost their lives in the line of duty. Both men died attempting to save the lives of helpless people trapped in a flooded home. We've heard much about the disastrous chain of events that took their lives but I’d like to take a moment to focus not on how they died, but how they lived.

Rural Arkansas sheriffs aren't just paper pushers. They are hands on law enforcement officers who are often at the front of the line when “things go bad.” Sheriff Carpenter led his department “hands on” and spent more time in the field than in the office. Law enforcement in isolated rural areas is a challenging and dangerous business with small budgets, limited personnel and difficult geography.  Cody Carpenter managed to provide high quality law enforcement even under these challenging conditions because he put people first.

Arkansas Game & Fish Officer Campora was the classic country boy. According to friends and family members, his lifelong ambition was to be a game warden. He was a family man, a Christian, a hunter and a man who was especially thoughtful in his interactions with young people. I didn’t know Officer Campora well and had only limited interaction with him. One of those interactions was during the search and recovery efforts following the very similar Albert Pike flash flood in 2010. That search and recovery effort was both emotionally and physically difficult. Following his tragic death last week, someone shared Joel Campora’s Facebook status regarding the Albert Pike incident. It’s an excellent window into the kind of man he was.

Here’s the unedited post from Officer Campora:  “The more I think about the tragedy that occurred at Albert Pike and seeing it first hand makes me realize that life is extremely short. Don't wait to accept Christ as you savior. Your time may be tonight. I saw all ages (3 to 68) die. Whats your excuse? Just believe and live forever in the loving arms of Christ. It's our choice. Please pray for the families who lost their loved ones.”

Both men were family men and leave behind grieving families and children.  Over the coming weeks, I hope you will join me in praying for peace and healing of those they and the other victims left behind and I hope you’ll take Officer Campora’s advice to heart in case your own life is also cut short.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. John15:13 NLT

The Unicorn Song

During the Middle Ages the people of Europe believed that unicorns existed. The King James Version of the Bible uses the word unicorn eight times. Unicorn horns were often found in cabinets of curiosities in Medieval and Renaissance Europe.  They were most often examples of the distinctive straight spiral single tusk of the narwhal whale. They were brought into Europe as a very valuable trade item, and sold as horns from the legendary unicorn; being of ivory, they passed the various tests intended to spot fake unicorn horns. Elizabeth I of England kept a "unicorn horn" in her cabinet of curiosities.

In 1967 when I was just starting to pay attention to the radio, The Irish Rovers had a top 40 hit with "The Unicorn". It sold 8 million copies worldwide and reached #7 on the US charts. Here is a copy I found on YouTube.



Listening to The Unicorn Song always makes me smile.  I found out a couple of interesting things about the song.  The first interesting fact is that The Irish Rovers were a Canadian band.  They are still touring, almost 50 years later.  The song was written by Shel Silverstein, who was a cartoonist, poet, recording artist and is probably best known for his children's books.  He was a very eclectic songwriter, penning such songs as "A Boy Named Sue", and many of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show hits including "Sylvia's Mother" and "The Cover of the Rolling Stone".

This year I added another Unicorn themed album to my record collection, Helen Austin's Always Be A Unicorn.  I really enjoy Helen Austin's music.  I first became acquainted with her music through the song "Relay" which she wrote for Relay For Life.  This year she released her first children's album, "Always Be A Unicorn".  The record was nominated for a JUNO in the Children's Album of the Year category at Canada's Music Awards.

You can watch the YouTube video of the title track here.




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