Corpus Christi, TX (3-5-11)

Well, since Saturday's weather was not supposed to be the best, we felt justified in lazing around all morning.  I should have been doing laundry, but, I didn't.  By afternoon at least the rain and thunder had stopped, so we managed to get ourselves out the door to go check out the USS Lexington, a WWII vintage aircraft carrier.  We were not alone.  There were hundreds of cub scouts swarming the ship.  It turns out that  thousands of kids spend a night on board every year. You could see how excited these kids were, bringing in their sleeping bags and gear and in general running around the ship. What a great thing for them, such a unique way of learning and yet having a lot of fun.
    In retrospect we should have gone earlier in the day, because we didn't really get a chance to see everything we would have liked.  We wandered the flight deck and some of the other decks and we watched a movie (Fighter Pilot- Operation Red Flag) that was really awesome, and had nothing to do with the USS Lexington. The USS Lexington got her name when the original USS Lexington was sunk during World War II.  This ship was in the process of being built, so the  name was changed midstream.


Carriage house at King Ranch

       Sunday was King Ranch day.  Captain Richard King settled here in the mid 1800s and started what was  then called the Santa Gertrudis Ranch, with two land grants, when he was very young. Over the years it grew to encompass over 800,000 acres and was eventually renamed The King Ranch.  He raised Quarter horses and cattle, and  King Ranch is considered to be the birthplace of ranching.  Richard continually bred the cattle in order  to create a breed better able to withstand the Texas heat and dry climate.  Eventually the Santa Gertrudis breed was recognized as the first breed of cattle to be created in the United States.  After his death his widow and his son-in-law took over the running of the ranch, which is still a family owned business today.





brand new babies

       Our tour was a bus ride along pastures and fields as our guide explained the history of the area and also discussed current operation of the ranch.  He explained how the hundreds of horses that are born on the ranch each year, are raised and trained.  They don't "break" horses at the King Ranch.  Breaking a horse is a faster way to get it to do what you want, but training a horse is more humane and respectful.  The cowboys spend hours working with the young horses over the course of a year.






Quarter Horse at King Ranch

 

   Well, this morning we got up and moved the trailer to Goose Island State Park.  When we got there the volunteer told us which sites were open and let us go choose the one we want.  We chose site #1, which is about 15 feet from the water.  Because we got there so early, the site was still occupied- by a woman who really didn't want to leave and was at the ranger station trying to see if there was a cancelation.  We told her there was no rush to leave (check out time isn't until 2 pm anyway) because we could just park in front of her until she was ready to go.  Once we did that, we went for a walk out on the huge pier, and ate some lunch.  Later on we rode our bikes to see the "Big Tree" a 1000 year old oak tree.  It was huge.  While we were there we ran into Marilyn and Brad, a couple we had met in Quartzsite.  We knew they were following behind us traveling across Texas,  and we were trying to make plans to get together.  Hopefully we'll get a chance to get together again before we both move on.