The Lee Family: Spring Break 2017, Day 5: San Jacinto and Home

Our last day of our Spring Break road trip. We got up and packed up our things, ready to be out of our hotel which wasn't the best we've stayed in. It worked fine for two nights though and the girls slept well on the coach bed. We checkout of the hotel and headed to a little breakfast place called Bon Appetit Cafe across from NASA that had great reviews on Yelp. It was really cute inside and the hot chocolates looked amazing! Of course both girls ordered one, while CK and I got a cup of coffee that was actually delicious. Usually cafe coffee is pretty terrible (I think). The girls' hot chocolates were delivered and looked almost too good to drink! Of course, they enjoyed the whipped cream and then slowly drank their cocoa. The girls loved their pancakes and CK and our breakfasts were equally delicious! It was a great spot and we were thankful for Yelp's recommendations once again.

After we were all stuffed with yummy food, we drove through Houston to the San Jacinto Battle Monument and Museum. As we started off, Sofia needed something to eat since she'd finished all of her books. She borrowed the book CK bought at the Space Center's gift shop. He'd bought Jim Lovell's book "Apollo 13" and she started in on it. I figured she would look over it, flip through the pictures and read a few minutes before setting it down.

The monument is in a bleak little part of Houston surrounded by a shipyard on one side and a various industrial and chemical plants on the other. It's hard to imagine a pretty significant battle occurred on that location. First off, the monument is proud of the fact that it stands at a total height of 567.31 feet, which is 12.31 feet taller than the Washington Monument.

The Battle of San Jacinto was fought on April 21, 1836. It was a decisive battle of the Texas Revolution which was led by General Sam Houston. The Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes. Santa Anna was captured and surrendered the following day. Three weeks later, he signed the peace treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country. Sam Houston became a national celebrity, and the Texans' rallying cries from events of the war, "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!," became etched into Texan history and legend.

To be honest, I'd never heard of San Jacinto before Sofia told me about it a few months ago. Fourth grade is when kids learn Texas history so she's learned a lot about our state's history and San Jacinto is actually a pretty amazing story. Once we arrived and parked at the monument, we bought tickets for the movie and walked around the museum waiting for the movie to begin. The museum has a lot of things from the battle, including guns and various soldier implements. The movie was really interesting and told the story of the battle, which was fascinating. It was clear that it wasn't just an important battle for the state, but it really was critical for the future of our country too. The battle really paved the way for our country to expand.

Following the movie, we headed up to the observation deck where we could look at the surrounding area where the battle took place. It doesn't look like much now and it's hard to imagine that such an important bottle took place there. We walked around the observation level and then headed back downstairs. CK headed to the gift shop for a bit while the girls and I headed outside to look around. It was a pretty cool place to explore. Sofia loved reading all of the inscriptions at the bottom of the monument. The inscriptions tell the story of the War of Texas Independence in less than 600 words.

After, we'd gotten our fill of San Jacinto, we loaded back in the car and headed toward home. The drive went pretty smoothly and after we'd gotten out of greater Houston, it was actually pretty attractive landscape. We did get a chance to stop at another Buc-ee's outside of Madisonville which is really pretty country. This Buc-ee's is literally in the middle of nowhere off I-45 and yet it is full of people. The girls were so super excited to stop at Buc-ee's again - I'm pretty sure it is their most favorite part of the entire week! We looked around, the girls bought another packet of gummy treats and bbq sandwiches and I got a cod sandwich which ended up being delicious! After eating, we continued down the road and Sofia was still totally engrossed in the "Apollo 13" book!

The drive home went smoothly and we finally made it home. We decided to swing by Casey's to pick up Buddy first. I couldn't believe how much I missed our little dog and worried about him during the week. He was SO happy to see us and it was great to be back together with him. After chatting with Casey for a bit, we headed home with Buddy to unpack, do laundry and get settled into our house after a super fun road trip. All said, we drove 1064.9 miles!

Two girls are excited to dig into their hot chocolates