52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History: Water

The prompt for Week 29 of 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History is Water.

Do you have any memories of the sea or another body of water? Did you live there or just visit? What did you do there?

Flagship Hotel, Galveston, Texas, c. 1965-1972.  Photo by Carl Schuh for a Galveston News Co. postcard

Annette Taylor & me, Audie's beach party, August 1973

Growing up in Houston, Galveston was an easy day trip away. I can remember going there around 1965 with my parents and siblings, and seeing the newly-built Flagship Hotel, but I didn't get to stay at the hotel until March 1972 with my Girl Scout troop. The Flagship has an interesting history. Built on the site of Galveston's WWII era Pleasure Pier amusement park that was destroyed in Hurricane Carla in 1961, it too was destroyed by a hurricane (Ike in 2008) and was demolished earlier this year to make way for a new amusement park on the pier.

The family of my high school friend Audrey had a beach house at Jamaica Beach on the west end of Galveston Island. The highlight of the summer was her annual beach party.

Brian, Mary, and Mark in the Medina River, August 1972

Besides the Frio and Comal, other Texas Hill Country spring-fed rivers were a part of my life growing up.  My parents bought five acres on the Medina River, just outside of the town of the same name, but only owned it long enough for me to enjoy a camping trip with Dad and my siblings in August 1972.  I worked in San Antonio in the summer of 1979, and spent a lot of time at the River Walk - still one of my favorite places.  Other rivers, such as the Guadalupe near Hunt and Ingram, the Pedernales, and the Sabinal have been a part of my life for many years.

Below left: San Antonio River Walk.  Below right: Me on a Guadalupe River crossing near Camp Rio Vista, January 9, 1980

I was fortunate enough to live in Corpus Christi, Texas, for five years in my early life (before I turned 30!). My workplace was just blocks off the waterfront, but I lived further inland. It will always be a beautiful place to me, simply because that is where I met Mark. But there are also lovely memories of sunrises over Malaquite Beach on Padre Island (below left), and sunsets and other fun times on Mark's sailboat (below right).

©Amanda Pape - 2011 - click here to e-mail me.