Dec 6, 2019
After a terrible night’s sleep we needed an easy day but Olivia had slept like a toddler through everything and would still need to be entertained. I drove us to the Strand where I found a parking lot for $10 near the tourist attractions. We didn’t want to go to anything too strenuous or expensive and preferably it would be educational. As we were on the Gulf of Mexico the heart of the offshore oil industry we decided to visit the Ocean Star, a retired offshore oil exploration platform now turned into a museum.
We spent a few hours looking through the Ocean Star and learning about oil production. Most of it was a bit advanced for Olivia but Holly was fascinated and learned a lot. She learned about how offshore oil platforms, the amazing depths down oil well go as well drilling technology. Olivia was amused by oil pigs which are actually rubber pipe cleaners which make a faint oinking sound as they are pushed through the pipes. We left when Holly said that her head was too full of knowledge.
We went back to the Rover for lunch and Holly did Chinese schoolwork with Olivia while I went to the Starbucks to do some writing for the afternoon. I returned just in time for dinner and we all went a few blocks down to the Dickens Festival for the evening. The festival was not totally set up as it would officially start the next day but it was free and would have cost $10 per person once it officially opened.
Even though it was not fully open there were a number of food vendors and things happening though. There was a magic show that Olivia really liked and even got to participate in a magic trick. We walked around looking at people dressed in period costume, had some ice cream and even caught a bagpipe music show. We left around 9 pm and returned back to the spot near East Beach we had such a terrible night at the evening before. I figured that fisherman would go our every night right? Just to be sure we parked across the road from the water reasoning that anyone wanting to hang out would hang out near the water and the other side of the road would be quieter. Turns out that nobody came to do night fishing and or hang out so we had a good night’s sleep.