Texas Maritime Museum

Yesterday we decided we were wasting a perfectly good opportunity to tour a really neat museum here in Rockport, The Texas Maritime Museum. It is set in a beautiful spot right on Rockport Bay. It was only $5.00 each for we "Seniors", and well worth it.
There is a bit of maritime history here on the Texas Coast. This first photo is a 1:12 scale model of the French frigate "LaBelle", captained by French explorer Robert La Salle..Robert La Salle sailed from France to "the new world" on a ship like this in 1684. His hope was to arrive at the Mississippi River to establish a French colony here. Unfortunately he missed his mark by 400 miles and ended up off the coast of Texas near Matagorda Island..right off of our coast here at Rockport/Fulton. He left his ship, with some of his crew in charge, and headed West ..big mistake. Between native Indian attacks, illness and stupidity, the ship sank in 1686, without La Salle onboard.
If the name of LaSalle sounds familiar to you in Illinois it is because the very same Robert LaSalle had been to the "new world" on a previous trip. He explored the area of the Great Lakes and ended up entering the mouth of the Illinois River and establishing trading posts along the Illinois in the early 1600"s,,,hence La Salle Illinois and LaSalle county...just thought you may find that interesting...whatever.
They had cool replicas of the ships wheel, anchors, maps, etc.
Here is the "captain" of the USS HitchHiker, pretending she knows what she is doing...
The big postlike thing in front of me with the big brass top is what they call a "nocturnal", used for navigation at night by the stars, circa 17th century..The only "stars" I would like to navigate around are maybe, Johnny Depp or Robert DeNiro??
This area is a huge fishing, shrimping and oystering area...there were lots of vintage boats and motors on display. Here is an example of one...This is an old, old Johnson Motor..
...anyone remember this old dinosaur??
We wandered around the museum and then went up to the top of the lighthouse that overlooked the bay...I took some great shots of the view......Here is me with the harbor as a backdrop..When you think Texas, you rarely think of this view...ocean, blue sky, sailboats...
We had a great time, and headed back to our "house". You may have noticed in the photos that I actually do try to get out of my baggy jeans, shorts and T-shirts occasionally....but I try not to get in the habit of "dressing up"...I prefer my "uniforms"....comfort clothing...
Well, it is 10:30AM, time to take my coffee outside ..weather is 70 and partly sunny...LOVE IT!!! I will blog more after our trip to Oysterfest this weekend....