Gulf Coast Trip

Flexibility - that's our theme song.......We had plans for a summer trip, reservations made and everything, but fate intervened....again!

Our youngest dog, Watch, had been having trouble with his back legs so we took him to the vet. He had done well on our trip to Goliad but suddenly seemed to be having more pain. The short story is, he needed bilateral TPLO surgery on both back legs for torn ligaments. By the time he had recovered the summer was in full swing and so were the fires raging all over the western states, where we were originally headed. So, another summer at home!  The surgery and recovery were a long haul, but he's as good as new now (maybe even better!) and able to travel. 

When Kendra announced she had promised the boys a trip to Corpus Christi to visit the USS Lexington and the Texas State Aquarium, and invited us along, we jumped at the chance!  

It was a super trip in spite of the heat and humidity, we have enough of that at home so it wasn't a big surprise. 

Our first outing was to the USS Lexington - the boys were so excited they just couldn't wait to try out the guns on display at the entrance. 

We knew the temperature would climb really quickly so we toured the flight deck first. The whole deck is covered with a variety of aircraft, many of which are on loan from the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida.

The website for the Lexington has information on a lot of the individual planes, as well as the ship itself. One is currently being refurbished, and it was interesting to see the work that was being done on it.  There were opportunities to sit in, touch and pose with the aircraft, so lots of great photo opportunities.   

Touring the ship is a rich experience in history and what life on a carrier was like, but wow! are there a lot of stairs! 

Elevators are available in many areas for those who can't navigate the ships steep stairs, but the boys loved climbing the stairs as they have seen in movies and videos, comparing their preferred techniques with each other as they navigated the steep steps and railings. 

Getting all the way up to the bridge provide a bigger challenge than some of us wanted to tackle, but Raylan worked his way all the way to the top
- his reward was the ability to "adjust" every one of the many brass dials, knobs and wheels.

A quick lunch in the "mess deck cafe" gave us an opportunity to cool off before touring the below deck sections. The ship is a maze of small rooms set up to illustration various aspects such as sick bay, officers quarters, and displays of models of various military aircraft and ships, all contributed by military history enthusiasts.  The detailed work done on man of the models was very impressive!

A final touch for the boys was a session in the flight simulator, located on the hanger deck. The attraction's promo states "If you have nerves of steel, join the men and women in the Training Exercise “Screaming Eagles” and hope that it is just the eagle that screams!" I was a little concerned that the experience might be a bit much for little 7 year old Raylan, but he thoroughly enjoyed it, as did Jaxen.

By early afternoon we all agreed it was time to head back to camp and the cool comfort of the trailer. 

By evening the weather had cooled a bit and we enjoyed sitting outside, enjoying the view while the boys busied themselves in the sandy "beach" and playground down by the office. 

The following day we were up and out early as we headed for the Texas State Aquarium, again, we wanted to get ahead of the heat as much a possible. We started out with the dolphin show and when that was over we admired the many sculptures along the way - many made from recycled/found materials and some cast in bronze.

Raylan was especially fond of the "found" items sculptures - colorful sea creatu
res made of plastic items like bottles, discarded plastic gardening tools, parts of games, all found along the beaches of the gulf. 

We stopped at one pool area and enjoyed petting the rays - they have an interesting texture and I had no idea we have four kinds here in the gulf! Unfortunately, with all the reflections, they are hard to catch in a photo. Jaxen has always had a fascination with sharks, so he was quite excited at the opportunity to pet baby sharks, as well as watching some of the larger ones swimming in the huge tanks.

I was able to capture the boys watching sea horses from inside a bubble - a novel experience and a really good way to watch the little creatures.

We really enjoyed all the displays of the smaller animal life too - all well done, and with excellent posting of information next to each.  As Kendra commented, we're glad the boys can read all that themselves now!  

We were still a little tired from the day before so called it a day a little earlier than we might have otherwise, and Kendra and the boys had to drive back home so the timing worked out well and we all counted it a very successful trip. 

While we were in Corpus Christi we stayed at the Corpus Christi KOA Journey. Steve had  researched several camping possibilities and settled on it.  The campground is situated  behind Mustang Island, so the water is calm and there isn't any surf.  

The campground has nice grassy sites, some with individual dog kennels and some with fire pits and extra paved patio space. The restrooms, showers and laundry facilities are nice too. We checked out the little camp store which has bait and beer (all the essentials you know!) and a few other grocery items. The staff are all very friendly folks, and we really enjoyed our stay!