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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Trip
to Texas by Celia Talbot On arrival at Houston, the airport buzzed like a veritable beehive. Security was very much in evidence and whilst being glad of this it entailed missing my connection to Phoenix, being body-searched even to having my shoes removed, all on account of a metal powder-compact in my coat pocket. A previous short flight had involved having my nail-file, nail scissors, tiny folding embroidery scissors and pins confiscated. Phoenix in late November offered temperatures in the mid to upper 70s and very pleasant clean air. One of my first outings was a ride in a hot air balloon over the desert. This was not as thrilling as the one I experienced in California a decade earlier when I had gone up to 10,000 feet. However, Phoenix is in the centre of an enormous and empty desert encircled by mountains and the vastness seemed overpowering, although the sunrise we ascended to see was disappointing. (We were compensated by many magnificent sunsets.) The basket came so low at one point that we bounced across a road. The pilot and two or three passengers said they saw two coyotes pounce on a jack rabbit and tear it to pieces but I could not discern this. My main impression was that the giant cacti are much more widely spread apart than appears in pictures, because of the water absorption and they need 70 years before they sprout an arm. Phoenix surprised me regarding water, for there appeared to be no water shortages. We were told they have large underground supplies and several wide canals criss-cross the city. I went on a trip down the Apache trail observing historic mines and sites from early Indian and Hispanic forebears. Some of these, built into mountain sides, were extremely imposing structures looking almost like castles. We were also instructed about the vegetation, which cacti were edible if one had to survive in the desert. I did not try to learn, having long resolved that I would never put myself in such a hazardous situation. We had a day trip into Mexico which was mainly for shopping. This is the U.S. equivalent of our shopping days in Calais or Boulogne. I have, however, never seen so many dental and ophthalmic specialists gathered within an area of a couple of acres. One interesting stop was a Historic State prison from the early 1900s. It was quite surprising how humane the regime was, though the dark solitary confinement was grim and there were a few ghoulish exhibits and stories. Our second week was spent at Corpus Christi in Texas. It was quiet and restful as we were on an island on the Intra-Coastal waterway, superbly peaceful but miles from civilization. It was an ideal site for boating, fishing and other watersports, but just not quite warm enough for swimming, so the time was lazily idled away. Galveston is and was a major port for Texas with a history of pirates and privateers dating back to the Spanish suzerainty of the area. It is an island 17 miles long and 3 miles wide at the widest point and has an amazing history. On 4 September 1900, the worst storm in human history took place and almost swept the whole island away. 6,000 people lost their lives, only a few of the brick-built houses on the higher ground survived. This seemed to have been by opening all doors and windows allowing the ocean to flow through reaching to the 1st floor (= US second floor). On the film I saw a surviving weatherman describing how the solid brick structure they were in was washed away by lots of debris hitting it. A group survived by clinging onto wreckage for a whole night. This film is shown regularly at the Harbour Theatre. When I arrived there I said to the ticket-clerk "1 think I've just missed the start, have I?" "Oh no", was the reply, "It's a slow day, no-one in, so I'll start it for you." So I sat in this cinema and had a private showing as if I were royalty. The film was technically quite poor as it was compiled from old newsreels, black and white camera shots and survivors’ reports but the images were very powerful. I saw much devastation during air-raids on Hull, but all of that together would not have matched the piles of rubble shown for they had mainly been wooden houses in all stages of demolition, one even standing roofless upside down. The Army and all kinds of aid was brought in. Attempts were made to bury the dead at sea but they were mainly washed back and all able-bodied male survivors were forced - at gunpoint - to burn the corpses. Fresh water also had to be brought in. After this tragedy, the City Fathers decided to rebuild. A sea wall measuring 17 feet high, about 6 feet wide and ten miles long was erected during the following decade whilst the people lived with mud and duckboards. I think this was an achievement equivalent to building the Pyramids. Then, by dint of excavating the seabed, the whole island was raised 17 feet. In 1918, a bad storm tested the Sea Wall and the island survived. Whilst we were there, two spectacular storms took place. Starting in the afternoon we watched a magnificent display of sheet lightning, forked lightning, streaky lightning across the Gulf of Mexico, which was still going on when we finally went to bed. How pleased I was to be within that sea wall. There are many other attractions in Galveston e.g. Moody Gardens - a theme park with several areas, boat cruises and many attractions including a well-stocked aquarium. Did you know that the male seahorse becomes heavily pregnant with each batch of young? I visited the Bishop's Palace and one or two other historic houses which survived the storm. The Cathedral Church opposite the Bishop's Palace had been destroyed, now rebuilt. All these surviving buildings had been raised 17 feet apart from one which simply filled in the basement. One could just see the tops of the window coping at street level. The Bishop's Palace had once been a family home before being occupied by the Bishops and is still partly used for Church meetings and Clergy Training purposes. It contained many unusual types of wood and artefacts brought from many parts of the world. We found the Americans everywhere showing the flag and it seemed that, even more than usual, they went out of their way to be kind as if saying "We're a Christian people". The historic
section of Galveston is kept as it would have been a century ago. A sister
I met for the third time in 50 years was with us and my brother-in-law
was awe-struck at one of the cruise ships. I told him it would only take
about 500 passengers and my last cruise was on a 2,000 passenger vessel.
Living several hundred miles inland, his only experience, as a veteran
of Vietnam, was of a troopship. Galveston is also surrounded by oil-rigs
and much of the wealth must be from oil and shipping. First published in VISA issue 45 (spring 2002) |