Day 28 San Jacinto Battleground (Continued) and Day 29 - Shopping Day

On Saturday, the folks visited San Jacinto Battleground. This is the battle where Texas gained their independence from Mexico.  A monument has been built to honor those who fought.  The monument is 570 feet tall.  The folks took an elevator to the top.  Actually, it is not to the top, but close to it.

View from the top of the monument.  You can see the Battleship Texas in this photo.

The reflecting pool. Battleship is in the back on the right side.

Another view from the top.

The star is at the top of the monument.  Mama couldn't get a good picture of it, so she took a picture of a  picture that is in the museum.  You can see the windows where she took the other pictures from.

Another picture of the battleship from the top of the monument. She did a zoom on this picture.

The monument, but the top is cut off in this photo.

A faraway picture of the monument.

White Pelicans in bay

We were asked what chicken fried steak is.  Chicken fried steak is not chicken.  It is a tenderized cube steak that is battered and fried like chicken or that is Mama's understanding.  There is a place that the folks are going to try that is supposed to have the best country fried steak in Texas.  It was featured on Food Network and one of the other campers told Dad about it last week.  Country fried steak is the same as chicken fried steak, I think.

Day 29

The folks went shopping today at Camping World. They bought some spice racks to hang behind the stove.  That will free up some much needed space in the pantry. They also bought a cover to go over the window in the door.  The sun shines through the window now even though it is frosted, so we are hoping it will keep it a little cooler.  Dad bought some covers for the tires on Goldie.  It's important to keep your tires covered if they are sitting in the hot sun and not moving like ours are doing here.   They visited a few other stores, but didn't really buy much.  Camping World is an hour away, so that was two hours just in travel time.

They ate at Spring Creek BBQ   Mama had ribs and Dad had sausage and beef.  Mama said it was good, but she would rather go back to the place they ate last week, Willy's, because it was really good.  No pictures of the food.  Mama forgot.

After they got home, Daddy started talking about going to Sonic for ice cream.  Mama said we could go!  We have not been anywhere since we got here three weeks ago.  Mama packed our frosty treats and off we went.  It felt so good to feel the wind in my hair and to see something outside of the campground.

Here we in the Jeep eating our frosty treats.  Mama didn't want to buy us anything since our tummy's were so messed up last week.  We are back to normal now and she does not want to give us anything new. We didn't care.

Our view at Sonic.

After we got back from Sonic, we decided to drag Scout around the campground.  We met a newly retired couple who are camping for the first time.  They just bought their motor home yesterday.  Mama felt sorry for them because they do not have a clue as to what they are doing.  They can't even get their TV to work.  Mama said that Daddy could help, but they said that was okay. They would work on it when they got home. We think it is just something really simple because the TV is turning on, but they only get a blue screen.  They said they didn't know how to plug in the RV or anything when they got here and the park manager helped them.  Mama is shocked that the salesman didn't go over things with them.  I hope they do okay unhooking it tomorrow, but we will be here if they need help.  The lady is anxious to get home. She didn't know that people brought their dogs camping, so she left hers at home.  The husband is excited about camping, but the lady is not.  I think she felt a little better after talking to Mama and petting me and Scout. Mama said she bets they leave really early tomorrow morning.  The lady was ready to leave today. The husband ran over the light pole yesterday with his truck.  We hope they make it home to Louisiana okay.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Went To Sonic

Day 28, Touring Battleship Texas & SanJacinto Battleground

Yesterday, the folks left us to go sightseeing.  They toured the Battleship Texas. She was in service for WWI and WWII.  Mama thought it would be pretty boring, but she actually liked it.  She said it was interesting to see how the men lived.  Visitors are allowed to walk all over the battleship.  There were many steps to climb and Mama said they were scary to her. She wore sandals yesterday not realizing she would be climbing around the ship.

Texas Battleship - it was hard to get a picture of the entire thing.

These are the steps that Mama had to climb up and down. There is no way Scout could have done them. She still can't get in the RV without help.  :::sigh::: There were three decks and the bottom was the boiler room. They were allowed to explore all of them.

Some of the many guns on the ship.

This was the bakery.

A view of the San Jacinto Monument from the ship.

Executive's Office

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen.

One of the many bunk rooms.

These bunks were just in the hallway. No privacy.

Dentist office.

Commissary - it was loaded with cigarettes and magazines.

Another view of the commissary.

Barber Shop

There was also a sick bay, operating room, prison, laundry and probably other rooms that Mama is forgetting. Some of the rooms like the bunk rooms, sick bay and laundry rooms had a strong odor.

Many of the sailors were said to be from rural areas and living on this ship was their first time having indoor plumbing and electricity.

Boy Scouts are allowed to camp on the battleship and Mama said she bets they have a great time. There were a lot of boys that were running around the ship and they were very excited. 

The battleship is located in the bay by the San Jacinto Battleground.  That was the battle that won Texas' independence from Mexico.  Many of the soldiers that died that day are buried there.  However, look at this poor guy. They put a parking lot around him.

Grave with parking lot around it.

Mama wanted to look at the other tombstones, but Dad got attacked by mosquitoes so they had to leave.  Mosquitoes attacked them at 1 p.m. on a sunny day.

They then drove to Monument Inn. It is a restaurant that Mama had read reviews on.  It is a seafood restaurant and even though Mama is allergic to shellfish, she wanted to eat there. It is on the bay and there are views of the bay from the tables.  They did not have a window seat, but they could still see the boats and the ferry taking cars back and forth.   They serve cinnamon rolls with their bread!  She ordered a chicken fried steak.  It came with fries and a salad.

Portion sizes seem to be large in Texas.

One time Mama ordered a country fried steak at a Bob Evan's in Missouri and when the waiter came by at the end of the meal, he said to Mama "I knew it didn't stand a chance!"  Can you believe he said that to her?  Anyway, this one was too big and she brought some of it home for us.  She said it was good, but we thought it was great!  Scout didn't even want to go to bed last night because she knew there was some left in the refrigerator.

Anyway, back to the meal yesterday... Dad had the fisherman's platter. Mama didn't take a photo because Dad didn't want her taking a photo of his food.  He's strange.  LOL   They had fried mozzarella sticks as an appetizer. They both said it was a good meal, but not great.  If they are ever in the area again, they might try it again.

After lunch, they visited the The San Jacinto Monument.  It is 570 feet tall.  It is a memorial for the men who fought for Texas Independence.   We will write about that later as this post is getting too long and Dad just said he is ready to take me for a walk.  Duty calls, you know.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Needs A Walk This Morning