Today we spent the day at a Schlitterbahn water park, something we've have on our wish list for a while. This Galveston location is not the best of the parks, but it was where we had planned to stay. More importantly, we had a blast.

First we had to get from Bolivar Peninsula, where we are camping, to Galveston Island. And that involved a ferry.

The boat is smaller than most Washington State Ferries I've used.

Sarah Michael was more impressed by the idea that we were taking a ferry in Texas. To her that was very unexpected.

Another surprise: This is a free service of the State of Texas.

The dogs came along for the ride, but we dropped them off at a doggy day care near the water park.

We had a really great time at Schlitterbahn. Tessa and I did the more adrenaline-pumping attractions. We all loved their river system, it was super fun. The lines were surprisingly not bad during the 10am-3pm time we were there. It kept getting progressively busier and people were still arriving when we left, but it wasn't the mess we were predicting on July 4th.