George Bush Presidential Library

Oh my! That’s what we kept saying to each other all through this amazing museum. We arrived just as the museum was opening and before we knew it, we’d been there almost 4 hours!



Most of what I remember about George H.W. Bush was Desert Storm.  It was the first conflict that we saw almost live on TV.  There was so much more that I never realized.

Born in Massachusetts, he was on his way to Yale when Pearl Harbor was attacked.  He joined the Navy to become an aviator.  After a 10 month course he was commissioned as an ensign just before his 19th birthday.  After the war, he married Barbara and returned to Yale. Yale provided returning GI’s with an accelerated program, 2/1/2 years. Once finished, he and Barbara moved the family to Midland Texas.  He worked for several years in the oil industry before becoming president of Zapata Offshore Company. 

He ran for senate several times but never won.  He finally was elected as a congressman and thus started his political service.  He would go on to be appointed US Ambassador to the UN by President Nixon.  He also served as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, working hard to keep the stain of Watergate from tainting the party.  He was asked by President Ford to head the CIA, which he did for over a year. 
The exhibits in this library are so interactive with news reels running it each area.  Its very easy to lose track of time. 

George H.W. Bush Library VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

If you ever find yourself in College Station, Texas, please take the time to see this amazing museum!!

LBJ Boyhood Home and Ranch

We left Medina Lake and drove to Johnson City, Texas to view LBJ’s boyhood home.  LBJ’s father was a Texas state senator and as a boy he would go with him to the Austin.  His mother had a love of teaching. Each evening, they would gather round the table and she would have the children debate different issues.



His father had a law office in this home and had the only telephone in Johnson City.  They also had a bathtub inside the house!
We then drove 14 miles down the road to the LBJ Ranch.   He donated his Texas ranch in his will to the public to form the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, with the provision that the ranch "remain a working ranch and not become a sterile relic of the past". 

LBJ Ranch VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Lady Bird remained at the ranch until her death in 2007.  Daughter’s Lucy and Lynda have homes somewhere on the ranch property. We were able to tour the bottom floor of the house.  The ranch was to have been the final stop on President Kennedy’s travels through Texas and the staff at the ranch were busy getting ready for that visit.  Of course that visit never occurred and Johnson was sworn in as our 36th president.  President Johnson wanted to be able to work while at the ranch, so there are many telephones and in most rooms 3 televisions. One for ABC, CBS and NBC.

I was in high school during these times.  What I remember most, of course, was the Vietnam War.  He felt he was pulled into this war and to him it was a ‘no win situation’.  But through his “Great Society” program and his war of poverty, he created programs such as Head Start, food stamps, Work Study, Medicare and Medicaid. He continued Kennedy’s legacy with the passage of the Civil Rights Bill.

Tomorrow we go on to visit the George H W Bush Library in College Station.  A history filled 2 days with 2 presidents.  One a Democrat and one a Republican!

Medina Lake

We left the Rockport area Saturday and drove the 200 miles north to the Thousand Trails park at Medina Lake.  Our thought was to be able to get a little fishing in.



This is the result of the drought in Texas.  It is so sad.  In the bottom corner you can see the fishing dock.  So there will be no fishing here.  However, we do have a lot of deer roaming around.



They certainly have no fear.  This is what Thousand Trails calls a preserve so these deer know that they are safe from any type of hunters.  The downside is you have to be very careful where you walk!!!

USS Lexington

We finally got to Corpus Christi to see the USS Lexington.  After circling the area several times (a lot of ‘one way’ streets) we found the parking lot. There is street parking but they all had parking meters and we knew we were going to be there a while.




We started the self-guided tour at a leisurely pace.  The flight deck was one of our favorite stations.
 
                                            


The tour is divided into 5 sections. we read more info in some areas than others. We spent a lot of time in the area set aside to remember Pearl Harbor.  It was one of the best displays we had ever seen.   They even had a huge model of the area, showing where each ship was prior to the attack.  

The ship is named in honor of the Revolutionary War Battle of Lexington. It was originally to have been named Cabot, but she was renamed while under construction to commemorate USS Lexington (CV-2), lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. Tokyo Rose gave the ship the nickname “The Blue Ghost” because it was painted a dark blue. The “ghost” portion of the nickname came from the fact that they thought they had sunk the Lexington four times during the course of the war.
“She sinks beneath the deep blue seas each evening, all hands aboard, only to re-appear each morning on the horizon.”


We leave the Rockport area tomorrow and are heading up to Medina Lake.  Hopefully our internet and phone signal will be a lot better than it is here.

Fishing

Ed doesn’t get to fish very much.  So after buying a license and bait, off we went to a local fishing pier here in Rockport.



Copano Fishing Pier is the old bridge.  You can see the actual bridge next to it.  This time of year there is the possibility of catching Sheepshead or Black Drum.  They said at night  under the lights you can try for Spotted Seatrout.  We were there for about 4 hours and the only thing biting were these tiny fish.



He finally started using them as bait.   I got a some pictures of the pelicans and seagulls.  They were all sitting at the end of the pier that has a fish cleaning station.  The people who have boats launch from this area and then come in a clean the fish they caught.  They throw the fish parts to them, so they all stick around this area.



It was a good day, a little overcast and breezy.  I sat and read my book while Ed fished.  We will probably go back again before we leave the area.  Maybe we will go at night and see what we can catch then.

Bay View RV Park and a Really Big Tree

We arrived at Bay View RV Resort on Saturday.  We got all set up in site #155.  The park is a little run down, but its our understanding that under the new management, they are working at making it better.  We met a lot of wonderful people when we went for Karaoke that evening.

 

Sunday we took a ride into Rockport.  We never thought about it being a Sunday.  A lot of things were not opened.  We walked around the marina area for a while. 

    

Here are a few sculptures around the marina area. (Kim the turtle is for you)
We also drove over to Goose Island State Park to see “The Big Tree”.



These tree is a Coastal Oak tree and they are very prevalent is this area.  This Big Tree is over 1000 years old and has a trunk circumference of 35 ‘ and a crown spread of 89’.

We plan to go into Corpus Christie to see the USS Lexington and Ed wants to do a little fishing.  We have a couple of weeks so we will do it at a relaxing pace.