Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier

The pier extending 1,130 feet over the Gulf of Mexico has survived more than most structures in Galveston — a city that knows something about starting over. The original pleasure pier opened in 1943, went down in Hurricane Carla in 1961, was replaced by the Flagship Hotel in 1965, and that too was wrecked by Hurricane Ike in 2008. What stands now reopened in May 2012: rides, carnival games, souvenir shops, and a roller coaster cantilevering over open water — the Gulf underneath you, if that's the kind of thing you came for.