Week ending Jan 21, 2016 Houston, Galveston Island

Friday we went to the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site.  This is the location where the Texan Army under Sam Houston won the battle which freed Texas from Mexico.  The history of the battle was recorded around the base of the monument.

The light green area in the following diagram shows the area under Mexican control which was transferred to the USA during subsequent negotiations, so this victory had a huge impact on the size of the country.

As there was a crowd of school kids on a field trip who were making a din, we decided not to tour the museum, which is supposed to be quite good.

We then toured the Battleship Texas, next door.  It was commissioned in 1914, and was the most powerful weapon in the world at the time, a complex product of an industrial nation emerging as a force in global events.  Over her service the life, the Navy repeatedly outfitted the ship with cutting edge technology.  Fate spared the ship. In 1916, USS Texas became the first U.S. battleship to mount anti-aircraft guns. She was also the first to control gunfire with directors and range-keepers. These early computers increased firing accuracy. In World War I, USS Texas joined the 6th Battle Squadron of the British Grand Fleet early in 1918. Her duties included laying a North Sea mine barrage, responding to German High Seas Fleet maneuvers, and helping prevent enemy naval forces from cutting off Allied supply lines.Late in 1918, she escorted the German Fleet to its surrender anchorage. In 1925, the Navy opted to modernize USS Texas instead of scrapping her. This meant converting the ship to run on fuel oil instead of coal. Tripod masts and a single stack replaced the ship’s cage masts and two smoke stacks. Torpedo blisters added another layer of protection to the ship’s waterline.  USS Texas received one of the first radars in the U.S. Navy in 1939. With new anti-aircraft guns, fire control and communication equipment, the ship remained an aging but powerful asset in the U.S. naval fleet. After Japan’s surrender, USS Texas carried soldiers stationed across the Pacific home from war. When she completed her final mission, the state of Texas acquired the ship. On April 21, 1948, Battleship Texas was decommissioned, and became a memorial ship. It is the last remaining battleship which saw action in both WW I and WW II.  Our tour took us at least 2 hours and was  very educational.

Saturday we did some walking at  the Houston Arboretum & Nature Center  which is part of Memorial Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country. From 1917 to 1923, the land was the site of Camp Logan, a World War I Army training camp. After the war, in 1924, the land was deeded to the City of Houston to be set aside as a park dedicated to the memory to the fallen soldiers of World War I.   The arboretum was created in  1951. The area has 5 + miles of walking trails in the heart of Houston.  There were interpretive signs about owls, hummingbirds, butterflies, and lotuses.  We arrived back to the trailer in time to watch some of the Continental Cup Curling taking place in Las Vegas.

Sunday we packed up leisurely with Galveston Island State park as our destination. As it was less than an hour away we were not in  hurry. We arrived at the state park and were set up just after noon. We had time to do a short  walk around the campground before heading back to the trailer to watch the Continental Cup final.  We saw some an interesting looking small trailer in the park.

Monday we headed into Galveston.  Our first stop was the Pleasure Pier,  We then wandered around historic downtown Galveston.  Many of the building are well preserved examples of Victorian era architecture.

Our next stop was The Ocean Star,  an offshore drilling rig museum.  The Ocean Star is a  retired jack-up drilling rig (i.e. once in place stands are jacked down to the ocean floor).  The museum features three floors of models and interactive displays illustrating the story of offshore oil and gas from seismic technology to exploration and production. Scale models of production platforms, actual drill bits and remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) as well as videos and exhibits explain drilling, geology, seismic, well servicing and production. We took the walkway out onto the drill floor of the rig and visited the exhibits on the pipe deck.  The picture below shows the size of several off-shore platforms compared to famous landmarks.

On our way back to the truck, we stopped in at the Peanut Butter Warehouse.  No peanut butter at the time, just a shop with a variety of stuff.  When we asked about it, they said a lady was setting up a shop that was selling food later in the month.  Maybe peanut butter? 

Tuesday we did some walking in Galveston Island State Park. We completed about 4 miles of trails but no alligators, snakes or other reptiles appeared. There were a few of ducks enjoying the warm Texas weather away from the cold Canadian winters.  We saw some interesting flowers, and what we think was a Mississippi kite in a tree.

Wednesday morning was beach day. Our walk took us from the day use area on the ocean to Jamaica Beach. Jamaica Beach is a small town mostly rental cottages, The walk took us almost 2 hours.

Later in the afternoon we drove into Galveston to look at the carvings made out of oak trees. The oak trees had been damaged by Hurricane Ike.  Instead of just uprooting them all,  many town people felt that oak trees should be honoured and this seemed like a good way of doing so.

After viewing the carvings we stopped at Olympia , a Greek restaurant that had been recommended to us.  We were not disappointed. John had lamb shank and Joan crab stuffed salmon.

Thursday morning we left early for Victoria, Texas. Just after noon we arrived at the Lazy Longhorn RV Park.  That was after an adventure with our GPS (not the GPS's fault this time).  Wednesday evening, we decided to see which route the GPS would take us to Victoria (along the coast, or back towards Houston).  We didn't have the RV park address with us, so we just put in an address in downtown Victoria.   Close enough for planning purposes.    When we arrived at this address, which wasn't any where near the RV park, we realized that we forgot to put the RV park's address in when we started off this morning, so we reprogrammed Greta. and soon arrived at our destination. The park seems to be very nice, full mostly with permanent snowbirds from northern USA.