On the cheap
Do the Texas Battleship. Kids are free with an adult ticket. On a Monday for one adult and three kids it was $10 to get on board. It took us about an hour to explore all the decks and let the kids spend time sitting in the seats of the big guns and pretending. We took our time and really enjoyed the battleship.
Take a picnic lunch. There are plenty of shade trees and picnic tables. There are decent bathrooms and plenty of space to run and explore.
Drive the battle grounds. You have to pay $1 to enter the park but keep the receipt they tape to your windshield on your windshield, and you do not have to pay again when you go across the road to visit the San Jacinto Monument.
Anyway, Drive the battle grounds. When you pay your $1 at the guardhouse, they will give you a map of the grounds. On the map you will see numbered markers. When you drive around, the markers coincide with boulders that have the same number engraved on them. Between the map and the boulders you will get a brief outline of the battle of San Jacinto and see where Sam Houston was wounded and where Santa Ana surrendered. To us Texans, this is a big deal. I was excited to share it with the 10 year olds. The five year old was just happy to be there.
The San Jacinto Monument, the only cheap things to do is walk the grounds and view the first floor museum which is very small but interesting. They do have nice bathrooms and water fountains. The monument is where things get pricey.
Expensive
The San Jacinto Monument does not have kids free with an adult. Estimate at least $4/person for each activity. You will need tickets to see the 35 minute movie (we did not see it). You will need tickets to see the photographic exhibit of "Developing Houston" (we did not see it). You will need tickets to go to the observation deck and if you go to the observation deck, be prepared with several quarters. It is $0.50 per viewer (binocular). The observation deck was disappointing. It cost us $13 just to get up there and another $1.50 to give each child a turn with the viewers. We were up there maybe 5 minutes and the kids were done. The viewing deck does not go all the way around. It is a small area and gets crowded easily. They did have a short one minute video giving an overview of the battle and surrounding area, but it is almost impossible to hear over the chatter of other visitors. There is one plaque with information about the Houston Ship Channel that was pretty interesting. It was interesting, but not something I would do again.
Trip Stats:
- Who: Mom, two 10 year old boys and one 5 year old boy
- What: San Jacinto Monument and Texas Battleship http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/
- When: on a Monday, day trip (11 am - 3pm)
- Where: La Porte, Texas (about an hours trip from northwest Houston)
- Why: outdoor play and Texas history education
- Costs:
- Texas Battleship (on a Monday) $10 for one adult and 3 kids
- San Jacinto Battleship (on a Monday) $13.50 for one adult and 3 kids and another $0.50 / viewer ($1.50 for three kids to have a turn with the binoculars)
- Parking $1
- Optional costs - There is a concession stand by the battleship which we did not look at since we took a picnic. There are gift shops at both the battleship and the monument. I did get suckered into buying some really cute sailor hats for the boys ($13/hat), but the boys really looked cute in their sailor hats.
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