Hidden Gems Are Everywhere

 

   The other night I got an email from our friend Carole Wilson. The subject line read “Happy Hour in Galveston.” There was a picture of a smiling Carole sitting in a cavernous and apparently empty hotel lobby or dining room. 

   I know Carole will go anywhere for a good happy hour, but Galveston seemed an odd place to sip a brew when you live in Minneapolis. It seemed to me she could have found someplace closer or trendier.

   Everything I know about Galveston I learned from the Glenn Campbell song, Galveston, oh Galveston, I still hear your sea winds blowin’.” Which reminded me that a terrible hurricane hit the city in the early 1900s.

I responded to Carole and asked what the deal was with Galveston. I knew she went to Dallas a couple of years ago and maybe someone there told her about the killer happy hours down in Galveston. She wrote back saying there was wonderful history, museums, beaches, food, and terrific happy hours in Galveston. She said the friendly locals told her Galvestonians don’t consider themselves part of Texas. I said to myself I’d like to see the results of the survey on that question.

   Carole’s sister Karen was with her.  Karen too likes a good happy hour and Galveston is not all that far from her home in Rhode Island when you think about it. I was actually envious of the girls and wouldn’t have minded being in their selfie at that moment.

   This all got me thinking that there are probably hidden gems like Galveston all over the U.S. I threw a (soft tip) dart at Google Maps on my laptop and it landed on Shreveport, Louisiana. There are no beaches in Shreveport, but there are numerous pleasant parks along the Red River of the South. 

   You want history? At the Sci-Port Museum in Shreveport you can learn how Captain Henry Shreve back in 1832 broke up a 180 mile long logjam on the Red River. It took him seven years and when he was finished, the people were so grateful that they named their settlement in his honor.

   Shreveport has three breweries, one of which is named Great Raft Brewing in honor of the aforementioned logjam. Shreveport has a happy hour density of 13.206 per 100 citizens of drinking age, the highest rate of happy hours in northwest Louisiana. 

   I plan to continue my search for under-the-radar American cities with the best happy hours and interesting histories. Next up: Fort Smith, whose citizens voted recently to secede from Arkansas and join Oklahoma.

"Port City" at dusk