Our First Trip! Stella Marie RV Park, Galveston, Tx.

So, this was our very first family camping trip in our new (to us) camper.  We've been looking at campers for years at the Houston RV Show and on Craigslist, but never pulled the trigger until this Christmas when we ran across this really nice 08 Rockwood Roo 232 Toy Hauler Hybrid.  It wasn't quite as big as we wanted, but it had a ton of upgrades done to it, and it was a good deal, so we figured it would be a good start for us.  The problem was; it was winter and we couldn't go camping anywhere, because it was either really cold and raining, or we were busy over the last 2 months.  So, I started planning for Spring Break.  BUT, the one thing you never hear about when looking to buy a camper (at least here in Texas) is how far in advance you need to book places to stay, because if you don't, EVERYTHING WILL BE BOOKED! :/  Yeah, I found that out the hard way.  I searched and searched and searched to find somewhere, anywhere, to stay for a weekend, so we could take this camper out, when I finally ran across Stella Marie RV Park down off the west end of Galveston Island just past the Diamond Beach Hotel across from Woody's Bar on the water.

I have to say, this place is really nice!  We showed up Thursday afternoon (the 16th) to the park, and were immediately greeted by Ray, one of the workampers that run the place.  He escorted us to our spot, which was right next to the dog park and a really nice thatch covered picnic table.  After about 30 minutes getting everything set up, my wife took some inside "staging" pics, then we went off to explore the campgrounds.  Everything there is paved and brand new.  The front pool house and pool were really nice, and the whole place was well groomed.

 

 
 
 

 

 After going up to the main office to finish checking in, we headed out to go check out the sea wall and see what all was going on around town.  That always consumes a large part of our day when we visit Galveston.  This time was kind of cool though, because they were completing a beach revitalization project, so the stretch from 12th St to 61st St had 300 ft of new beach sand pumped in from a sand bar in the ship channel up on the east end.  It was something that has definitely been needed down there, since all the hurricanes over the past 10-20 have pretty much completely eroded away the entire beach along that area.  It will for sure help tourism!

So, the next couple days were spent hanging out at the campgrounds getting sun at the pool or hanging out down on The Strand (downtown Galveston) for St. Patrick's Day festivities, which I took a few pics of.  It was a really good first trip for us.  We learned a lot about our camper, how it works, what things we like, and what things we want to change.  All in all, it was a fun time, and we will be going back again this summer when the pool water is a little warmer.  Now, I'm back on the computer trying to book our next adventure for the weekend of April 21-23, so my next post should be about that.