Monday, August 11, 2008

In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue




Did you know that Christopher Columbus landed in Corpus Christi, Texas? Well, he obviously did because we saw his ships there! What's that you say? Those weren't the REAL ships?

We took a Girl Scout trip to the Texas Coast at Corpus Christi, Texas. As anyone who was on the trip could now tell you because I shared it so much, I was born in Corpus. I was almost born on the 'High bridge' from Portland to Corpus. I can now say I have driven on that bridge....twice. Our first stop of the day was at the CC Science & History Museum. It is a really fun museum. We have the Witte Museum in San Antonio. They NOW have a cool area for kids called the Treehouse, but for the most part, with occasional revolving exhibits, they have the same exhibits they had 20 years ago when I took 2nd graders there on a field trip. It's a very hands OFF experience (other than the Treehouse), so not much fun for kids & not that great for me, since I tend to want to feel & touch things as much as read about them. THIS museum in Corpus has lots of stuff to do, plus the just look at it stuff. There is a kids area with a mock boat they can play on. Even some of the older girls went up in that. We have a multi-level troop and on the trip had girls from 7 to 16.

One exhibit that had us moms laughing was a display of letters kids had written to the museum. First, there was a list of how kids spell museum. It started with muzam and continued from there. I laughed because Natalie for years (and occasionally now) will call it a muzam (which rhymes with "Sha-zam!" from some old TV show!). Letters had things like:
  • I hated it.
  • I loved, loved, loved, loved it.
  • Your museum is very nice but I think it is mean that you hurt animals that didn't do anything to you. First you kill them, then you starch them.
That last one had us laughing quite heartily. Don't go starching any animals around kids!

The part I was most interested in wasn't as great as I expected. There are replicas of Columbus' ships in CC. Two have been dry-docked because they were hit by another large ship and could not stay afloat in the water. We were only allowed to go onto one of them, the Pinta. It WAS fascinating to see what the ship would have looked like, and see the pulley system they used to raise things out from below deck. However, we could not go onto the Santa Maria, and the Nina is still docked in the water & you can't go on that one, either. Since I've been on the Mayflower 2 in Plymouth Massachusetts, I was a bit disappointed in not being able to do more than just listen to a lady (whom Natalie found quite boring) and then not be able to see more of the ship. I am amazed at the conditions these men and boys endured on their journeys.

We spent the night at the Texas State Aquarium, but that deserves a post all its own another day. We pulled into our driveway shortly before 2 a.m. this morning (Monday morning). I have slept most of the day. I was utterly exhausted. I had the girls in bed much earlier tonight & am heading that way now myself.

Here are a few "muzam" pictures:

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