Don't mess with Texas or sinus infections

I'm back in cold, rainy Pittsburgh and recovering from a massive sinus infection that also spread to my throat. That was the diagnosis I received at the urgent care clinic I visited the morning after I wrote my last post. (Side note: There was also a guy named Kirk there waiting to get stitches. Apparently one of his friends threw a full bottle of Gatorade at his face and basically cracked his face in half. You wouldn't think a Riptide Rush to the grill could do that much damage, but you'd be surprised.) Luckily the combo of antibiotics, Mucinex, Vitamin C, and Advil kicked in quickly and I was feeling noticeably better by that afternoon. We drove around Galveston checking out some of the historical district. I was still feeling like crap so most of the photos were taken from the passenger window of a moving car, so they're not very good. That night I finally felt well enough to actually leave the hotel and eat dinner, so I got a steak (in Texas!) with a gulf view. Then I went to bed by 8.

On Thursday morning, I woke up ready to rock Galveston. I still didn't feel awesome, but I could stay awake for longer than 20 minutes and it was our last day there so I wanted to make the most of it. When Frank got back from his morning class, I convinced him to ditch the rest of the day. We drove around town, did some shopping and got an awesome lunch of crab stuffed shrimp (for me. He got something lame with chicken). The rest of the afternoon was spent laying at the pool and drinking Grey Goose and vodka (which is my new favorite). We also went for a long walk on the beach and I found the biggest seashell I've ever captured! Yes, I captured it. Honestly, looking for seashells is my favorite part of the beach and you can bet I brought this bad boy home with me. 

Frank brought this back for me when I didn't feel well enough to go to one of the fancy dinners:

The Hotel Galvez:

These are some of the houses/buildings we saw on our drive around the historic part of town:

The pool area was amazing, so was my view wink wink:

I could do this every day.

My boyfriend:

Me, back from the dead

My giant seashell:

I liked the sun flare

Pointing out grammatical errors on the beach

The view from my deathbed

(I started this post last week, but the shoddy hotel internet was cooperating, so I'm finishing it now.)

Here's the view from my death bed:

Amazing view, but it would be nice if I could go out and walk on that beach, not just stare at it from my bleached hotel sheets. I tagged along with Frank to a work conference in Galveston, which is actually an island off of Texas. Of course I started feeling weird after I stepped off the plane, and by last night I was feverish and had to call it a night before everyone else. Today has been miserable. I've been able to stay awake for an hour or two, do a little bit of work (even though I'm not at home, I'm technically still working because I didn't tell any of my clients I would be gone). Then I pass out and wake up in a pool of sweat a few hours later. Fever, chills, aches, and a little bit of a sore throat. I've missed a Mexican buffet and a gourmet dinner of seared salmon and who knows what else in favor of a 1/2 gallon of orange juice, some pizza flavored Combos and some gummy worms. I'm praying that today was the worst of it and I'll feel miraculously fine tomorrow. 

Galveston is a weird place. We're right on the ocean but there's not much of a beach. The hotel is gorgeous, but when you take a walk down the street there are boarded up houses, pawn shops, and fried chicken joints. We passed through a cute historic houses with gorgeous houses that look like they're right out of a magazine, but if you take a wrong turn, you're in the ghetto. 

Anyway, our hotel is pretty impressive. We're staying at the Hotel Galvez, 

One way to freak yourself out is to Google your hotel on a whim to find out if it's haunted, and then find out that it is indeed very haunted and has been the subject of many paranormal investigations. The story is that a woman's husband was away at sea and she was staying at the Hotel Galvez. She got word that his ship had wrecked and no one had survived. She was so distraught that she hung herself from one of the turrets. But it turned out that his ship had not wrecked and he returned a few weeks later. Apparently she haunts the hotel now. 

I will update later with more Galveston photos and any ghost sighting.