Mar 22 - Galveston Island & Jamaica Beach, Texas

  We took care of "business" this morning, while it rained.  But after lunch it cleared up a bit.  We drove 1/2 hour over to Galveston Island.  This is a barrier island with Galveston Bay at the end of the island in the town of Galveston, and then a long, narrow barrier island with West Bay on one side and the Gulf on the other.  We drove down the island a bit, to Jamaica Beach.  The beaches are public, and often lined with homes on the island side.  However, there are beach access roads every mile or so.  You can drive on the beach, and park, but then there are areas where no cars are allowed.  The State Park was closed, but the rest of the beaches were open.  There were folks parked along the beach, but maintaining social distancing.  There were also long stretches of beach with no one on them.  The beaches are sandy, but has a lot of seaweed laying at the edges of the water. 
   The sun came out, and there was a nice breeze, and the waves were constant and beautiful.  We took a mile long walk down the beach and then the mile back again.  We turned the car around, so Peter could sit in the back and look out over the water.  I sat in the chair.  We just enjoyed the area and read for an hour or so.
  We are starting to consider if we need to reassess our route home, in light of the Corona Virus.  We have already decided not to go through New York or New Jersey.  And, since the reason to go to Nashville is the music and Mammoth Caves is the tour of the caves, and since those will probably be cancelled and closed, we may not deem it worth the additional mileage to go north to get there.  Also, we are considering finding a Thousand Trails along the way, and just hanging out there for 2-3 weeks, delaying our return to MA.  We'll see.

Galveston Island and Jamaica Beach, Texas, photos: