Since we were in the Humble/Atascocita area, why not drive around a bit. We drove across Lake Houston on FM 1960. Once we were in Huffman, just across the lake we turned south and headed towards the ship channel and the bay. 
After driving on FM 2100 and catching US90 to I-10 and then to 146, Independance Highway, we didn't know what the adventure would bring. We weren't totally sure what we would see, but the map looked like we were at least heading in the right direction. Once we got on to Independence, we saw a sign that said, "Ferry in 2 miles." I had seen this on a "to-do list" but hadn't planned on seeing it today. We arrived just as a ferry was leaving, so we just turned the engine off and waited for our turn. Since we had no 
where to go, we watched the ocean going vessels and barges go up and down the ship channel. Directly across the channel from us was the San Jacinto Battleground and Monument. We managed to get a few pictures of it as well. We had to wait one 
more round of the ferry, and then it was our turn to board the Lynchburg Ferry. We estimated it had a capacity of 14 vehicles base on the count of our half. After exiting in the number 5 spot off of the ferry, we briefly drove past the battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Battlegrounds. The decision was unanimous; we'll wait for a visit from Dad and Catherine before we stop for a visit. This would be a perfect "vacation" activity for him! The next big site on the drive was the Solvay Peroxigens Facility. It wasn't exactly on the agenda, but who's counting. I'm taking Grandma's advice of not having a schedule. At least now, I kind of know where the plant and the credit union are.
And we kept on driving. We could have stayed on FM 2100, but I didn't realize that until we drove back to Beltway 8 and on down to I-10. Oops! My new motto is I learn more about where we're going when we go the wrong
way or completley out of the way! From there we moved on through LaPorte to Bayview, just across a large bridge from Kemah. While waiting on the ferry mid afternoon, we realized how humgry we were, and that started the search for something good for
lunch. We ended up at a place called Pier 8 where their motto is, "you buy it, we fry it!" This is where is goes from ordinary to impressive. This wasn't a restaurant where you went in and ordered some fried shrimp or cod or oysters. They had whole 
fish and fresh shrimp and seafood on ice, right there. We selected a 2.3 lb red snapper and told him to filet and fry it up. Of course, I couldn't pass up the shrimp either. We had 0.5 lb of the smaller guys. And why would you think to pass up the fries as part of the fish and chips? 
Well, we should have. We politely paid and found a picnic table on the front porch overlooking the bay. (The picture above is of our view.) There ended up being a slight miscommunication between James and the guy at the counter. They fried the entire fish!!! It was served to us on one of those elementary school lunch trays, and it was completely full. The plan was to take a picture before we started, but it didn't really go down like that. We realized halfway through that we just dug in. There are pictures of the aftermath. We have the skeleton; does that count?After we were completely full, we visited three other fresh seafood markets. James wanted to see what they had available. Needless to say, there were crawfish, shrimp, salmon, red snapper, shark, squid, scallops, lobster, and many, many more. Had we not just come from eating nearly 3 lbs of shrimp and fish, we probably would have brought home too many pounds of fish/seafood. James has officially found his new place to buy fresh seafood!
Taking the advice of many others, we did venture across the bridge to see Kemah Boardwalk. This place was crazy with people. We saw those just driving around (like us) and others hoping to score a relatively close parking ticket. We just drove around to get an idea of what was there, and then we headed home. We had covered a lot of ground and were ready to relax. The big accomplishment of the day was adding to the rapicly growing list of places and things to see. There won't be a dull moment.
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