When you come in the door, the house, which is decorated beach style has a large, open living area with a kitchen on one side and a large sectional couch and tricked out TV on the other. The generous deck opens toward the beach and contains some comfy wooden chairs and a picnic table. There are two dining tables inside - both by the beachside windows. We used the small one as a home base for our brochures, camera, and sunscreen station. We ate at the large table and the kitchen bar. The kitchen bar is also where I set up my writing station. It was a perfect perch to use to write while keeping an eye on the beach. The house comes appointed with all necessary appliances and a coffee maker. There are plenty of dishes and glasses to last our family. 
The back of the house had three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One bedroom is a master suite where Ross and I slept. The other side has another king sized bed and there is a middle room with four good sized bunk beds. Sam grabbed the king bed and took over that room - Isaac slept on a bottom bunk and used the other three for storage. In the hallway - bonus - was a washer and dryer which came in handy a couple of times. (We travel with Tide.)
We loved our stay here. It was quiet. It was a good way away from the bustle that was Galveston. It was right up our alley and definitely our cup of tea. Once the Texas spring breakers disappeared - we had the beach essentially to ourselves. We were right by a public access area so there was the occasional family or group of college students who popped in and set up day camps in front of the house. But after that first weekend, I wouldn't ever call it crowded.Renting a VRBO is a little more expensive than a hotel room - but I will tell you, food prices on the island are not cheap. Eating out with two teenage boys can add up quickly - so we saved hundreds by shopping at the local grocery store and eating at least two meals - sometimes all three - and all snacks at the beach house and out of the car. We reserved early, got a price break for reserving the entire week and saved overall. Careful planning of cabins with kitchens and roomy spaces has been the reason we have had some lovely vacations over the years.
The night before, Ross and I worked together to find a route that would avoid both Houston and Dallas. Initially, we tried to ride out using the ferry on the east end of the island - but the island is so long that way added another hour to our overall trip. So, since we were already on the west end of the island, we turned left and paid $2 to travel across the bridge at the west end. Then we followed Highway 36 (the hurricane evacuation route), connected to 77 south of Waco and popped back up on I-35 just south of Fort Worth. The trip was immensely better, had more scenery and less crazy traffic.
We ate lunch at the Rocket Café in Robinson, Texas which is a tiny town south and east of Waco. It's a tiny, local diner in a strip mall, and the food is definitely worth experiencing. They have daily specials and hamburgers that are hand pressed, not preformed and frozen. At the end of the meal, the waitress surprised us by bringing out a pan of banana cake and asked us if we wanted some. We signed up for four perfect-sized pieces. Along the way we stopped a couple of times for gas at Chevron stations to boost Isaac's stock investment.
We arrived at the newly opened Ardmore, Oklahoma Hampton Inn at around 5:00 p.m. and stopped for the evening. We ate dinner at the Café Alley in downtown Ardmore. Another fantastic meal - these owners know a thing or two about food, wine and cornbread. Ross and I agreed the café is a place we would like to return to in order to try additional things on the menu. All the dinners we had were great. The boys took a lot of theirs home to eat after a swim in the pool.
We ended the evening swimming (the boys met and played pool football with a couple of families with boys from Newton and Texas) and then watched the UCLA/Kentucky game on TV. A wonderful end to a relaxing day of driving.
