Jackie and I drove to Galveston today, just to look around and see what things look like there 6 months after Hurricane Ike.

Galveston, itself, looks pretty good. There is a lot of damage evident, but, mostly, it looks like it is coming together again. We took the ferry over to Port Bolivar and back. It was windy, but in the 70’s.

Then we drove west down to the San Luis pass. This is the area with all the beach front homes up on stilts. Some of them are high dollar homes. There’s reconstruction going on everywhere. Some places have already been torn down and rebuilt. There are many areas under repair, but lots of new paint and roofs.

The farther one gets from Galveston, the more unrepaired damage there is. Once we crossed over the toll bridge at San Luis pass, the road is called the Blue Water Highway. At that point, there are areas where every structure is still damaged, and it looks doubtful that some will ever be fixed.

This area is not as developed as it is nearer Galveston, and there are long stretches where on can drive on the beach. Well, these days, you have no choice. The road is being repaired, but there are areas where it was pretty much washed away. At that point, the sign points to the beach and you drive along on the sand for up to a mile to where the road is usable again.

All in all it made for an interesting day. In all our driving, by the way, we were never more than 40 miles or so from home.