Daily Archives: January 26, 2012
Monuments and Battleships . . .
Today started with a trip up to the Houston Ship Channel for lunch at Monument Inn. Located right on the Channel, where, along with really great seafood, you get a fascinating view of the large barges and ships coming up from Galveston Bay to the Port of Houston.
We were meeting Rudy Legett and his wife Caroline there for lunch. Rudy is an Aqua Hot Repair Technician, and one of the few that will come to your coach, rather than you having to take your coach to them.
We had a great time getting to know Rudy and Caroline, and hope to run into them on the road again soon.
Leaving Monument Inn, we stopped off right down the road to get some photos of the San Jacinto Monument, where Sam Houston surprised Santa Anna and his troops, and defeated the 1400 main force with only 900 Texans. Over 600 Mexicans were killed, and more than 700 were captured. Meanwhile, only 9 Texans were killed.
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Across the road from the Monument, lies the Battleship Texas, the only remaining dreadnaught battleship, and one of the few that served in both WWI and WWII.
The USS Texas fought at the D-Day Landing in Europe, and the Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in the Pacific, and after being decommissioned in 1948, became the first US battleship to become a permanent museum.
Coming back to the RV park, I dropped everyone off and headed back into Clear Lake to work with a couple of clients.
Finally getting home about 5 pm, I napped for about an hour, before Jan and I when over to Nick and Terry’s for a while. After watching one of our favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory, we drove over to Dickinson to have a late dinner at Monterey’s Little Mexico.
We were happy to hear that Nick and Terry have decided to stay an extra day, so they won’t be leaving until Sunday morning. Yeah!
Tomorrow we’re all going to drive down to Galveston to show them the sights, and then tomorrow night we’re having dinner at Floyd’s Cajun Seafood with Brandi, Lowell, and Landon.
Thought I’d repost our visit to Martha’s Vineyard in 2009.
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Thought for the Day:
“Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again!”
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Martha’s Vineyard…
Originally posted on August 5, 2009
Today we took the ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard to check out this famous island.
We sailed on the MV Island Home, a ferry that can carry up to 76 vehicles, including semi tractor trailers and big RV’s. But we didn’t take our rig, or our truck over. We just took ourselves.
The Island Home can also carry up to 1200 passengers, although we were probably only about half full. The trip takes about 45 minutes and was very comfortable. We even had a breakfast sandwich and coffee during the trip.
Our port on Martha’s Vineyard is called Vineyard Haven, and is one the two large ports on the island, the other being Oak Bluffs where a ferry also docks.
Getting off the ship we saw an Island Sightseeing bus so decided to jump on. Our tour lasted almost 3 hours and took us all around the island.
Our guide pointed out the many houses of the rich and famous. Ted Danson, Michael J. Fox, Doris Day, Diane Sawyer, and many others.
Our first stop was at a Aquinnah Indian area at Gay Head Cliffs. There were several small restaurants, gift shops, a lighthouse, and most importantly, restrooms.
GayHead Lighthouse
The Gay Head Cliffs are one of the many beautiful areas on Martha’s Vineyard, and supposedly, one of the best beaches.
Gay Head Cliffs
We didn’t get to visit the cliff area, but here’s a pretty pic from the Internet.
Moving on down the road, we passed The Field Gallery, an outside art gallery with some very strange art work.
Field Gallery
We ended our tour at Oak Bluffs, the other harbor on the Island.
Oak Bluffs Harbor
The town is very quaint, with many cute little houses left over from a 19th century Methodists camp meeting area.
Oak Bluffs Houses
These houses originally cost $400.00, but now can go for over $400,000.
After a VERY good meal of Mexican food at a place called Zapotec,
Zapotec
we checked out the Flying Horses arcade.
Flying Horses
As the sign says, it houses the America’s oldest carousel.
Carousel
It was built in 1876 and spent the first 20 years of its life at Coney Island in New York. Then in 1896 it was moved here to Oak Bluffs where it’s been ever since.
While we were waiting for the VTA bus to take us back to Vineyard Haven and our ferry home, I caught a shot of this beautiful stay-rigged schooner sailing offshore.
Schooner
It’s amazing to think that ships like this once sailed around the world.
We got back to our rig about 6:30 pm, tired, but having really enjoyed our day.
Tomorrow, a whale watching boat trip, we hope…
