A Saturday Adventure: San Jacinto Battleground

We went on another family adventure on Saturday. This time, we headed east to the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. Can you believe none of us had ever been there before? It was the perfect cool, sunny day for a visit.

Big boy, bigger monument!

Will was so excited to visit his first battlefield.

We climbed (via the elevator) to the top of the monument and had views for miles.

After visiting the museum, we ate a picnic lunch

and played in the shadow of the 489-foot tall monument.

Then we went hiking! The interpretive trail led us through coastal prairie, a tidal marsh, and a bottomland forest. It is meant to look and feel like it did in 1836. No one else was around, and we had the trail completely to ourselves. It was beautiful!

After our hike, we drove over to the Battleship Texas.

My favorite sailors

The Battleship was leaking like crazy this summer, but my understanding is that she is stable for now.

The U.S.S. Texas was built in 1913. (No wonder she leaks!)

These guns still move, and they proved to be most interesting to the boys.

Inside we saw everything from the brig and the ship's store

to the bridge and sick bay.

The U.S.S. Texas was built to house 900 sailors but at times had up to 1800 on board.  She is the only remaining ship that served in both World War I and World War II.

These boys loved visiting the battleship. Gene and I did too.

The whole day was one great adventure for my little Texans!