Galveston Trip

Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone is doing well. Last Friday my team had the opportunity to travel to Galveston, TX, in order to gain a better understanding of the work we are doing with FEMA. I was very excited for this trip. Not only would I gain a better understanding about the work I have been doing, but because last year I wrote a thesis paper on the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. This was a great opportunity for me to see the history I wrote about in my paper.
We left very early Friday morning and arrived in Galveston at 11am. It was a four and a half hour trip. Our first stop was Port Bolivar, the area hardest hit by the storm. Everything in Port Bolivar lay in ruin; roofs were scattered across fields, house pilings were broken in two, cars were scattered through out the landscape, trash was everywhere, and the roads were still covered in sand. We met up with another NCCC and drove down to Crystal Beach, what used to be a tourist hot spot. It was my third time seeing destruction like that but it still took me off guard. We had about a half hour to walk around and see the rubble. I just walked off by myself and took a few pictures; for the most part I just took it all in. I still can’t comprehend how a hurricane can be so powerful.
We took a ferry over to Port Bolivar and on the way over and back there were dolphins in the water. It was my first time seeing on in its natural habitat. It was also the first time my teammate, Leah, road on a boat. That was a fun time for our team.
After Port Bolivar we went to a DRC (Direct Recovery Center). When I worked in PPI this was one of the places we sent people to in order to get some assistance from FEMA. It was nice to see the place where we sent hundreds of people.
We then went to Camp Tarmac. It is a major campsite on a runway in Galveston. Initially after the storm it was used to house refugees and now it is used to house Americorps NCCC members and other volunteers. It was nice to see our friends and it gave my team a greater appreciation for our nice hotel accommodations.
Our last destination was the one I was most looking foreword to. We went to the sea wall. This wall was build after the 1900 storm and I devoted a major section of my paper to it. This wall that was build over 100 years ago stood strong through out the storm and protected the city behind it. (Most of the devastation occurred where there was no wall) We spent about twenty minutes walking the beach and the wall. I was very impressed by it.
Overall the trip was a huge success. Other teams that went to Galveston did not have a good time. Going last gave my team an advantage because we had ample time to plan for it. Also I was able to give a lot of insight on the history of the island because I spent so much time researching the Island. I am hoping that I will have the opportunity to spend more time in Galveston, maybe helping with the rebuilding effort. Only time will tell.
This is our last week of work and things are defiantly winding down. There isn’t much work to do so a lot of our time is spent preparing for our trip home and planning out our last nights in Austin.
I will check in soon. Hopefully before I leave on Dec 17th.