It wasn't exactly Maui... Day 2

Saturday morning came early, but it wasn't too difficult to get everyone up and going. We went and had breakfast, then headed to Galveston's historic Strand District. Our first stop was the Railroad Museum. Kobey wasn't terribly impressed with the displays inside the main building, so we made our way to the model railroad building. This was a bit more exciting--the display takes up most of a small room. At first glance, it doesn't seem like much. I was thinking "oh wow... two trains", but when you look closer and see all the detail, it is quite interesting. There were buildings and landscapes, and it was detailed right down to the garbage cans behind the shops. There were deer in the foothills of the mountains, rivers, lakes, a farm, many businesses, a car accident scene-complete with flashing lights on the police car. It was really neat!
Afterward, we walked through a few rail cars on the first track that housed memorabilia and facts of the history of the railroad. Again, Kobey wasn't really into it. The next track proved a little more exciting as it was actual train cars as you would have found them through the years. Kobey's favorite was the sleeping cars. We had to persuade him to come down off the bunk so we could continue on. We looked at a variety of different styles of train cars before coming to the last track... Track 5. There were only 3 or 4 cars on the last track, and a large group of people milling around.
I had, without Kobey's knowledge, purchased tickets for a train ride. We pointed to the shiny engine and caboose and told him that it was a special train that everyone really wanted to see. So as it pulled into place, we stepped on and kept him distracted for a short time until we started moving. His eyes were HUGE! The attendant told us to wave at anyone we passed, and Michael and I were kind of tickled that so many people waved back. We traveled past the cruise ship terminal and the original depot for Galveston Island. We then proceeded to go back to the museum in reverse! It was a short trip, but well worth Kobey's excitement.
After leaving the museum, we headed up The Strand to explore the shops. We stopped by my personal favorite business there, the candy factory. Kobey got 2 chocolate-dipped strawberries (each was bigger than his palm!), Michael got Tiger Butter and a chocolate soda, and I chose some assorted truffles. We sat at a small table and enjoyed our treats before heading back out. About another block down, we saw the horse-drawn carriages. We stopped to look at the prices and were offered a discount for the hour-long tour. Neither Michael nor myself had ever done it, so we agreed. (and trusting souls they are, you pay AFTER the tour) Our horse was named Doc and we learned he has an affinity for red wine. The driver was a friendly woman that was, in my opinion, a little too interested in sharing the details of Galveston's Red Light District with us. She brought us through neighborhoods that I had never seen before. The streets were lined with gorgeous Victorian homes and she told us a little bit about most of them. She also showed us one of the gorgeous historic churches, which received chuckles from Michael and I when she pointed out that the round window at the top of the face of the building was, in fact, a pentagram. She told us that it was intended to be the star of Texas, but that the contractor had gotten irritated with his client about something and purposely installed the stained glass window in a way that the five-pointed star was inverted! I couldn't help but laugh about it. Our driver also gave us some history about the hurricane of 1900 that all but destroyed the island. She pointed out a clock on the corner of one of the streets, which is still set to the time that it was when the storm hit the island and the clock stopped working. That kind of gives me goosebumps. We also were shown the building where a member of Hillary Clinton's campaign team would be later that day to help rally support for her candidacy.
Apparently the hypnotic sounds of horseshoes on the paved roads proved a bit much for Kobey, because when we finished up the tour, Kobey was unusually cranky. So we ended up having to cut our activities short and went back to the hotel for a nap.
We had to go to Wal-Mart that evening for me to get a swimsuit and Kobey got a couple of puzzles to keep him occupied in the hotel room. We ate at Golden Corral, and I immediately got hooked on it again. (I hadn't been in years!) Then we headed back to the hotel room to just hang out and watch TV.