Texas History Field Trips– Museum of the Coastal Bend
I don’t know if this is going to be our first field trip, or not, but it’s the one I’ve started researching, so far. The Museum of the Coastal Mainland is located in Victoria, Texas. This is about two hours from NW Houston.
Here are the basics on the museum:
Open: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Cost: Adults $3.50; Children $2; under 2 free
The La Salle portion of the museum consists primarily of an exhibit about Fort St. Louis and 7 cannons brought from France by La Salle (my 2 year old’s favorite part of the Alamo was the cannons, so this should be right up his alley). There are also some artifacts recovered from La Salle’s ship La Belle.
The museum website contains numerous learning activities, as well as a page which lists extra resources for learning more. Most of the additional resources for kids are concentrated on archaeology, but it’s still a start.
I don’t really expect us to spend a whole day at the museum. Generally, my kids are only happy in one location for a couple of hours. But it seems a shame to travel four hours roundtrip for two hours at a location. So, I’m looking into other things to do in Victoria.
The forerunner is the Texas Zoo for two reasons. 1) We have a zoo membership at the Houston Zoo that will get us in to the Texas Zoo for free. 2) It’s a zoo, and my kids (like most kids) love zoos.
Other possibilities are The Children’s Discover Museum, a walking tour of Victoria’s historic homes, McNamara House and the Nave museum.
We’ll be eating lunch there, which provides even more choices. The most economical choice is packing a picnic lunch. There are a couple of nice places where we could go to have a picnic. One is Riverside Park. If we go to the zoo, that would be really convenient since the Zoo is located in Riverside Park. Of course, if we decide not to pack a lunch but still want to picnic, we could stop at Fossati’s delicatessan, the oldest deli in Texas (in operation since 1882; at its current location since 1895; still operated by the Fossati family). If the weather prohibits a picnic, there are many restaurants in Victoria. If we go that route, I’m leaning towards Furr’s. It may not be the most historical choice, but it has a buffet, and I’m almost assured that my somewhat hard to please when it comes to culinary matters children will find something that they will actually eat. Of course, we might have to stop into the Rosebud Fountain for a milkshake before heading home.
Other Victoria attractions:
The Old Mill
De Leon Plaza
Links about Victoria’s history: