Road Trip to the Beaches of Galveston Texas
- Grant
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Trip Planning
Not since my senior year of college, have I taken a multi-day road trip as part of a vacation. At that time, a few fraternity brothers and I loaded an old Chevy van with our SCUBA diving and camping gear and drove from Washington, PA to Key West, Florida Key West Travel | Key West Hotels & Vacation Planning with Keywest.com. This was our Spring Break alternative to spending a fortune in Fort Lauderdale getting stupid drunk and chasing cute girls, with little to no chance of “getting lucky”. We camped out on Stock Island (Home - Boyd's Key West Campground) and had four days of diving, with evenings and nights partying in Key West. Overall, a great trip!
So, a few months ago, my friend Jeff and I decided to drive to Galveston, Texas GALVESTON.COM: Official Website of Galveston Island, Texas Tourism & Marketing - Galveston, TX, so that we could bring the dogs and all the stuff to stay at a vacation rental on the beach.
Jeff found a vacation rental service, Ryson Vacation Rentals Galveston Beach House Rentals & Resort Condos, who found us a great place a few minutes south of downtown Galveston and on the beach.
Now for the drive…. We decided to divide the total distance of 1400+ miles into three days of driving, mainly to give the dogs several breaks.
We planned and made advanced reservations for Greeley-to-Amarillo, Texas (Visit Amarillo: Explore the Best of the Texas Panhandle) for the first day; Amarillo to Waxahachie, Texas (about 30 miles south of Dallas) Welcome to Waxahachie, TX on the second day; and finally, Waxahachie to Galveston on the third day. We also included a couple of stops for the dogs on each of the days.
Harley and Elvis in the back seat on the drive to Galveston Texas, with several breaks at the Bucees dog areas, on the way to Galveston.
Road Trip Day 1: Greeley Colorado to Amarillo Texas
Flat, brown, and boring
We decided to make the first day the longest driving day, mainly because the first day was flat, easy driving with no major city traffic and because I decided we should stay at the Big Texan Resort, in Amarillo, Texas (Home of the 72oz Steak - The Big Texan Steak Ranch). It looked like interesting “old Route 66 Americana” and besides, it is the home of the 72 oz steak eating challenge.
But, before The Big Texan, we had around 7 hours and about 500 miles to drive from Greeley, Colorado to Amarillo, Texas. This is a very flat and very brown drive, with almost no scenery except for the ubiquitous windmills… some moving and many not moving. The eastern plains of Colorado are very windy. Not sure why the windmills weren’t moving.
We took Colorado Route 34 East out of Greeley to Colorado Route 49 and worked our way down to Interstate 70 East. A short drive on I-70 to Hugo/Kit Carson and we merged onto US-287 which took us through Lamar, Colorado and all the way to Amarillo, TX and beyond.
Except for the individual pumpjack here and there, the eastern plains of Colorado were dotted with farms and ranches all the way. Mostly we saw empty, dry-land farming fields (it may have been a bit early for tilling and planting). Did I mention that we saw numerous windmills? Since we were in the middle of the Colorado plains, I’m not sure to which towns the generated electricity went.
The Big Texan Resort
Jeff did all of the driving the first day, and about 500 miles after leaving Greeley, we pulled into the parking lot of The Big Texan Resort, motel and restaurant (Home of the 72oz Steak - The Big Texan Steak Ranch)… oh, and a horse hotel in the back. The Big Texan Resort is essentially in the northwest corner of Texas Route 335 and Interstate 40, in Amarillo, Texas. Most important for our purposes, the motel is completely dog friendly.
A few pictures of the Big Texan Restaurant and Resort in Amarillo Texas
After checking in to our rooms, we went next door to the restaurant. Unfortunately, no one was doing the 72 oz. challenge. So, we sat at the bar and enjoyed a good steak and sides along with our drinks. Service was great and all of the bartenders and staff were very friendly. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend the only food, it was only fair and disappointing for a steakhouse. However, the interior of the restaurant building is an experience I do recommend, especially if you like “Route 66 type Americana”.
A short walk for the dogs and we went to our rooms. Although my room was comfortable, traffic noise from the highways and high winds lasted most of the night. Yea, for earplugs!
Road Trip Day 2: Amarillo Texas to Waxahachie Texas
Around Fort Worth to Waxahachie
Day two of our road trip and Jeff decided to drive today, too. That was “OK” with me. I don’t really like to drive, it doesn’t matter if it is in a city or on highways, I just don’t like driving and am always willing to give up that chore. Turns out Jeff likes to drive and would prefer not to be a passenger.
Our day two goal was to get past the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. So, we decided to target Waxahachie (Welcome to Waxahachie, TX), which is roughly 30 miles south of Dallas. So, day two was about 6 hours of driving and roughly 375 miles. This takes into account the slower traffic and construction around Fort Worth and Dallas.
Departing Amarillo, we got back onto US-287 south and stayed on US-287 all the way to the La Quinta by Wyndham, in Waxahachie (La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Waxahachie - ReservationDesk.com). It is in a very convenient location, right off US-287 on the frontage road east of the highway.
The La Quinta was much newer and more comfortable than The Big Texan, and it was far enough off the highway to be much quieter. However, it did not have the old Route 66 charm of The Big Texan.
Windmills and Construction
Texas is much greener than Colorado, and you will see many, many more pumpjacks and countless windmills. Many of the pumpjacks are decades old wells, still producing oil. By the way, I learned that the size of the pumpjack aligns with the depth of the well – deeper well, larger pumpjack.
On the other hand, all of the windmills, subsidized by our tax dollars, some turning and some not, are hopefully making a difference in the supply of energy. However, the windmills do not support the misguided efforts to stop man-made climate change and help the environment. Windmills are very inefficient producers of electricity and once obsolete are difficult and costly to be recycled or reused, in most cases they become major components of our landfills (Why Wind Turbine Blades Are So Hard to Recycle | World Wide Waste).
All of the road construction in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, made for stressful driving. Jeff navigated the various lane changes and construction zones with ease. There were many construction zones. I guess the Texas roads need all the work we witnessed. Texas roads and highways are typically in great shape and make for a smooth ride.
Road Trip Day 3: Waxahachie TX to Galveston TX
Shortest Day of Travel
We decided to make day three of the road trip the shortest day of travel, wanting to arrive to the beaches of Galveston, Texas as early in the day as possible. Day three was only about 4 hours and around 280 miles, to reach the beach house. Once again, Jeff drove, for the reasons mentioned earlier.
Since it was a relatively short ride, boredom didn’t have time to set in.
After navigating a little construction around Houston, it was about an hour to Galveston. We arrived earlier than the 3:00PM check-in time. A quick call to Jeff’s contact at Ryson Vacation Properties enabled us to get into the beach house a bit earlier than the check-in time.
Driving around the city of Houston Texas, then about an hour later, a short drive across the bridge onto Galveston Island.
After a quick move in and feeding the dogs, we went for a quick walk on the beach. Oh, did I mention the rain… yeah, it was raining off and on and accompanied by a steady, cool breeze. Not very nice beach weather. So, just a brief walk down the beach so the dogs could explore a bit. Due to rough seas, high surf, and the dirty brown water, it really wasn’t a water day either.
Since no “beach day”, we headed out to pick up groceries and find a place for a late lunch and one or two adult beverages. After grocery shopping and unloading at the beach house we decided to drive south/west to a couple of places Jeff remembered from a previous trip here. Even though one place was closed, we decided to go to the Seahorse Bar & Grill, Surfside Beach ((4) Facebook) and have an early dinner. Good food and a great view of the water. I think you will enjoy a light meal or a boat drink here.
Lucky for us, the weather changed, and the trip wasn’t a complete rain-out. See Part 2 for the blog about our exploration and activities on Galveston Island.
Red Flag Warning for the Galveston Beaches on our arrival, rough seas and very cool, blustery weather.... However, a beautiful sunset the first day - "Red sky at Night, Sailors Delight" as the saying goes.
For All You Lovers of the Journey
Everyone who love those spontaneous journeys more than the destination, most resort towns like Galveston have numerous places to stay. Remember that most vacation home rentals have minimum stays, like 3 – 5 nights. However, with the number of hotels on Galveston Island you will have no problem finding a place for a 1 – 2-night stay.
So, enjoy Galveston, Texas or wherever your wanderlust takes you….
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