My Near Death Experience Arts and Thoughts

My favorite place to go is everywhere—but Galveston has a way of holding me. It’s a long, narrow island off the Texas coast, about an hour from Houston, stretching roughly 40 miles end to end and just a couple miles across. The Gulf of Mexico (yes, Mexico) kisses the island on the south side, while the harbor curves along the north.

Galveston itself has around 53,000 residents, and in summer it swells with nearly a million visitors. Winters can be brisk, summers are scorching, and the wind never quite goes to sleep. The food scene is lively—burgers, seafood, Asian, Mediterranean, Mexican, Southern comfort—nothing five-star, but plenty of hearty, memorable meals.

People here travel by golf carts, bicycles, scooters, and skateboards, which makes the streets lively… and sometimes too lively, with far too many accidents. That’s the tragic part of island life.

Shopping on the Strand feels like a festival every day—open-air stores, live music, art shows, and endless entertainment. Galveston doesn’t truly rest. It has ghosts and witches year-round, and church groups doing their best to shepherd people away from both the streets and the ditches.

As for my favorite time on the island? Autumn wins. Samhain arrives first, then the roar of the motorcycle festival, the Beer Festival, the Dickens-on-the-Strand celebrations, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and finally Mardi Gras. Then spring returns, summer brings the crowds, and the heat presses down again. I end up shopping at night because the daytime sun is too fierce to even carry groceries.

Galveston may be chaotic, charming, haunted, overheated, festive, and everything in between—but that’s exactly why it’s unforgettable.

Of course there are the waves and the Gulf for water and sand fun.