Saturday, March 31, 2012

Vacation's End


Sudoku Sam.




Entertaining Kent was a breeze, because he could entertain himself with his Sudoku book when we weren't entertaining him.

Kent really enjoyed the beach. He was fascinated by the marine life.

On Thursday we visited the Texas Museum of Marine History. It was quite fascinating. The view from the lighthouse was fabulous, and the wind whistling through the rigging of the sailboats in harbor was enchanting.

I was fascinated by a couple of the displays which many patrons strolled by nonchalantly. First, and near the beginning of the tour was an antique brass binnacle. The feature that astonished me was the Navigator's Balls, or Kelvin's Balls, not that they were there, but that someone (Kelvin, I suppose) was brilliant enough to figure out that the placement of magnetic balls in a certain way could serve to correct magnetic deviations on an ironclad ship.

The second attraction that piqued my curiosity was not astonishing so much as it was puzzling. There was a graphic/pictorial display of riverboat commerce in early Texas history. What caught my eye? The narrative of a side-wheeler which disappeared in 1832, "presumably sunk in the Brazos River." I have crossed the Brazos numerous times, and that fairly near the mouth of the river. It is an important river, but I cannot for the life of me imagine a boat sinking in that stream and no one knowing where. Doesn't seem credible to me.

At any rate, Kent's vacation ends this morning when he boards a plane to travel back to Indiana. We had a great week. Hope he would say the same.

6 comments:

Shelly said...

It does sound like you all hit some of the great places around here. Seeing great sites and learning new things never gets old!

Vee said...

I'm glad you had such a nice time with Kent as your guest. Wishing him safe travel home.

Lin said...

So, there's room for me to come down there now???? ;)

Sounds like a nice trip for all of you.

vanilla said...

Shelly, it is hard not to find neat things to see and do in this part of the country!

Vee, thanks. Your turn?

Lin, indeed. The "guest bed" is vacant, the sheets freshly laundered.

Sharkbytes said...

I once saw a special about digging up a Mississippi riverboat about 1/2 mile from the current river because storms and flood times make the river channel change. So maybe this has happened with the Brazos?

vanilla said...

Shark, I thank you for that suggestion, for it seems quite reasonable to believe that that could be the case.