Pleasure Pier: Galveston, Texas 2018

Remember that time in Florida when my mom told the triplets they would not come on the next flying vacation if they fought one more time? This was that trip. We didn't have another flying trip planned, so we took this quick trip to Galveston, Texas purely to fulfill my mom's threat to the triplets.

Ashlyn's reaction to the name Pleasure Pier

Day 1

Mom, Dad, Ashlyn, and I flew from Salt Lake to Galveston, Texas. We dropped the triplets off at aunt Sarah's house before we left. They are staying with her for the duration. When we boarded the plane, we found that had Dad booked himself a first class ticket and kept me, Ashlyn, and my mom back in economy. We were laughing so hard about that.

Once we made it there, we picked up our Audi Q7 from Turo. We drove the hour long ride from Houston to Galveston. While we were driving along the beach, we saw a sign for a pier right on the beach with a bunch of amusement park rides right on it. It turned out to be called Pleasure Pier, which is just about the weirdest and simultaneously worst name they could have used for that.

We ate some delicious Mexican food and then napped. Our condo was right on the beach so Mom, Ash, and I took a nice walk on the beach that night by moonlight. It's always nice to take a step back and just think about life for a while. We topped the day off with some ice cream and went to bed.

Pre-bedtime shenanigans

Because we had napped for so long earlier in the day, Ashlyn and I could not fall asleep. We were up late doing who even knows what. As you can see from the picture, I am a little confused as to what happened too. At one point, she was twerking on my bed while twirling her shirt above her head. Somehow the shirt ended up on her head. I'm not sure what was going on, but apparently it was really fun because we were laughing a lot.

Swings at Pleasure Pier

Day 2

Because we had seen Pleasure Pier the day before and made fun of it, we absolutely HAD to visit. We bought all-day unlimited passes to go there. Personally, I love amusement park rides. Ashlyn and my mom came with me. My dad doesn't like rides at all so he went back to our condo and worked. The first ride we went of was the swings. The swings are always one of my favorite rides and this one was spectacular because it was on the beach. Absolutely nothing is better than flying through the air while you're looking out at the ocean and feeling the breeze it brings.

Right after the swings

I wanted to go on a log ride, but Mom and Ash didn't want to come with me. I ended up going by myself. I made friends with a cute little seven-year-old girl who only spoke Spanish. Her mom didn't want to go on the log ride and get wet either, so we ended up going together. Throughout the course of the day, we also went on a few other rides including a roller coaster, a massive swinging boat, and some standard carnival rides like bumper cars and scrambler.

When we were ready for lunch, we called Dad. He came and picked us up to go to Gaido's for lunch. Gaido's was a super nice place to eat. Our lunch alone cost $250. My dad said we were going to make the triplets jealous as much as possible. We all had some delicious seafood for lunch.

Sunset at Pleasure Pier

After lunch, we headed back to Pleasure Pier and ended up staying until the place closed down. We rode some more rides, including these swings that went up in the air probably about 200 feet. You would swing out over the ocean. It was unreal.

Funny story: Mom had her phone out and was taking pictures while we were on the swings up above the pier and over the ocean. Apparently that was not allowed because they stopped the ride and had us sit up there for a while. We didn't know what was going on. When we made it back down to the pier, Mom got a severe talking to and had to promise that she would never do anything like that again. We laughed about that for a long time afterwards.

To finish off the night at Pleasure Pier, we even convinced Dad to come join us on the Ferris wheel. We got on the Ferris wheel right before dark and were actually able to stay on until just after the sun went down. It was incredible to finish watching the sunset while swinging over the ocean in a giant Ferris wheel cart with the family. It was so peaceful.

The picture Mom got yelled at for

Because we all love dessert so much, we headed back to Gaido's for dessert and got some key lime cheesecake. That stuff is DELICIOUS! Even Mom, who doesn't normally like cheesecake, thought it was amazing.

Day 3

We went to church at 9am before going on a drive around most of Galveston Island. We looked at all the beautiful houses on the beach and then headed home to nap. For the rest of the day, we were absolute beach bums and didn't do much. It was really pleasant. I love being able to just lay on the beach and just read or sleep and then get right into the ocean. That's my ideal lifestyle!

Sunrise at Galveston Beach

Day 4

Mom and I woke up early to watch the sunrise at the beach. It did not disappoint. Talking to my mom is always one of my favorite things and I don't get her alone to myself very often with four siblings, so it's always a pleasure.

After watching the sunrise, we went back to bed at the condo. We both woke up around 9am. Ashlyn did not get up until 1pm. By the time we got moving around 3:30pm, it was too late to go paddle boarding because most the places closed at 5. Ashlyn also wanted to go shopping for a graduation dress in Houston. Mom and I had no desire to do so. Dad decided to take her while Mom and I went to the beach. Overall, it was a day full of contention.

Another sunrise at Galveston

Day 5

I got the paddle boarding experience I was craving. The best part: I went out with DOLPHINS! I was all by myself because Ashlyn refused to come out. It was honestly really peaceful by myself and it was so fun to be next to the dolphins.

We also were able to have some time to just swim. Ashlyn and I met this crazy couple on the beach from San Francisco. The guy was a police officer and the woman was a social worker. They were really interesting to talk to. While we were conversing, we actually saw two teenagers kind of fooling around in the water. At one point, the girl yelled, "WRONG HOLE!" so that was a little concerning and simultaneously funny.

To finish off our Galveston trip, we ate at Waffle House, per Ashlyn's request, before driving back to the Houston airport. We turned the car in and rode the plane home. Dad was still in first class without us.

Life Lessons

Don't take pictures on rides.

Eat key lime cheesecake.

Sometimes you might be mad about not doing something right when you want to, but it will be even better the next day.