MEMORIES WITH ANGIE AND RICK..DAY 2 CONTINUED

Saturday March 12…continued - After our leisurely morning cruise, we headed to San Jacinto Battleground State Park to climb the San Jacinto Monument and visit the site where Sam Houston lead his troops against the Mexican army for Texas independence. Actually, we took the elevator up the tower to view miles and miles around the area.

This tower is actually taller than the Washington Monument, 555 feet. Of course, this is Texas, remember! The Monument is a 570-foot tall shaft topped by a 34-foot star. The monument is dedicated to the “Heroes of the Battle of San Jacinto and all others who contributed to the independence of Texas.”

A great view of the ship channel from the top.

This is our next stop…USS Texas.

There is also a very nice museum in the base of the tower.

We also watched a very informative 35 minute movie about the Battle at San Jacinto. It was excellent.

The State Park is located near the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel and one of the tourist attractions also located here is a tour of the USS Texas.  Battleship Texas is a New York class battleship and is the last remaining battleship that participated in both World War I and World War II. This is a wonderful self-guided tour. Rick enjoyed it immensely.

Boys at play.

Visitors are free to roam just about any where on the ship. There are lots and lots of steps up and down. Paul did really great with his repaired knee.

Pilot House.

Look what we found still on the shelf in the kitchen.

Latrine.

These don’t look very comfortable.

Guns aren’t only for boys.

Can you tell from this photo who is always cold in our group?

We stumbled upon an extra treat on the battleship tour. A World War II vet was being honored and receiving a flag flown over the USS Texas. The ceremony was very moving, and who doesn't get a little teary-eyed with the playing of taps.

This was also the 102^nd birthday of the USS Texas. It was commissioned on March 12, 1914, We were a little surprised that this date wasn't being celebrated at the ship.

If you are in the Houston area, don’t miss the USS Texas. Such a treat.

It is now 4:00 p.m., but Marsha said she wanted Angie and Rick to see just one more thing before we called it a day. We all looked at each other and said…”Okay.” Our last stop of the day was the The Eclectic Menagerie Park. On the edge of the Rubenstein Family’s 108 acre Houston pipe yard, sits an open-aired public museum. There are numerous handmade metal sculptures by local and famous artist. We have stopped here several times and find each time that new sculptures have been added. Four new ones appeared this year.

One of the four new ones.

Absolutely no idea what this is.

One of our favorite old ones.

It was another long day touring. Don't even ask Marsha to show you around town unless your ready for very exhausting and long days. This girl never tires!!!

Since we didn't stop for lunch, we decided dinner was in order. We stopped at the Chinese Buffet in Sugarland, Texas and had an amazing dinner. The Cafe East Chinese Restaurant was loaded with just about any Chinese dish you could imagine. We aren't big buffet eaters, but this was delicious. Rick was hungry for Chinese....ha ha!!

After dinner we stopped back at the RV where Angie treated us with a dessert. We enjoyed a few drinks and talked about our eventful weekend. Rick and Angie are heading home to Mission, TX, in the morning and with jumping ahead into Daylight Saving Time tonight, they headed home early. I'm sure it had nothing to do with our tour guide nearly killing us this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

MAKING MEMORIES WITH ANGIE AND RICK…DAY 2

Saturday March 12 – Today we headed with Angie and Rick for a cruise on the Houston Ship Channel. But we had to make a quick stop along the way at the “Stone Heads”, aka Presidents’ heads. We stumbled on these guys a couple years ago and have visited them several times since. We used to be able to wander around and among the heads, but vandalism forced the artist to move them to a fenced in area. They are actually made of fiberglass.

How this got in there we have no idea. But it is cute.


We arrived at the Ship Channel with time to spare before are 10 a.m. boarding. This is a free cruise. It is extremely popular. On-line reservations need to be made weeks in advance. There are three sailing times today (100 people per trip), and they are all booked solid. We did this trip a couple years ago with our daughter, Carrie,  and enjoyed it so much we wanted to share it with Angie and Rick.

The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of 150-plus private and public industrial terminals along the 52-mile-long Houston Ship Channel. The Ship Channel is an amazing economic boom to the city of Houston.....read all about it here.

We boarded the Sam Houston.

A 2015 study by Martin Associates says ship channel-related businesses contribute 1,174,567 jobs throughout Texas, up from more than 1 million jobs cited in a 2012 study.

This activity helped generate more than $264.9 billion in statewide economic impact, up from nearly $182.6 billion. Additionally, more than $5 billion in state and local tax revenues are generated by business activities related to the port, up from $4.5 billion.

Houston to the west.

Paul, Marsha, Angie, Rick

What a great day so far. That was part of Marsha’s tour for Saturday. We will finish up the tour in the next post.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

 

MEMORIES WITH ANGIE AND RICK DAY 1..CONTINUED

Friday, March 11 – Continuing with our tour of Houston, we stopped for lunch at Treebeards for Jambalaya and Seafood Gumbo. Yummy!

They have several locations. We visited the one on Main Street in Old Market Square, Historic Houston, with plenty of old architecture to enjoy. Treebeards restaurant on Main is in the 2^nd oldest building in Houston!

Old Market Square is fun to visit. Several murals and lots of old buildings are found in this area.

The La Carafe building is listed on the National Register for Historic Places and is believed to be the oldest bar in Houston and is the oldest commercial building still in use in Houston. It was closed when we visited…darn.

Many of the bars and restaurants contain original features of the
buildings in Old Market Square.

Across the plaza is Lauren’s Garden which is dedicated to the victims of September 11, 2001. A very nice tribute to a young lady lost on Flight 93. The back drop is quite thoughtful......a building similar to one of the twin towers.

The tower rising in the distance reminds us of both our vulnerability
and our strength.

Part of the garden area.

We then jumped in the truck and headed to a couple temples we recently visited and wrote about. The Vietnam Temple, Cao Dai Temple, which unfortunately was closed, but our friends were able to enjoy the outside

We also visited BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, India Temple.

That was enough for one day! We dropped Angie and Rick off at their hotel so they could rest for a couple hours before dinner at the Elks Lodge and an evening of cards. What does Marsha have in store for them tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!