Christian McKinley is having fun on the ropes course at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas.
Taking a picture before touring NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas, are Judy Neilson, Christian McKinley, Isabella Stout and Ruth Anne Fox.
Girl Scouts with Troop 969 sold nuts and candy and numerous cookies, received donations from community service activities, and held a pancake feed at McDonald's, raising enough money over the past two years to go on a troop trip out of state. The scouts chose to go to the beach at Galveston, Texas, see the sights and then spend a day at NASA Space Center in Houston, Texas, before heading back to Alva.
After a very long day of driving to get to Galveston – about 13-and-a-half hours due to the construction in Dallas, Texas – the scouts were up early the next day to attend Moody Gardens. There they enjoyed the aquarium, 3-D and 4-D shows, paddle boat, majestic gardens, rain forest and – the highlight of the trip – the ropes course. That evening they enjoyed supper at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and then rode the rides on the Pleasure Pier. The Texas Star Flyer took the riders up 150 feet in the air for a wild swing overlooking the Gulf. The scouts also enjoyed the ferris wheel, bumper cars, tea cups, log ride, glider and a few other rides.
The next morning the scouts were ready for their next adventure: Schlitterbahn Waterpark. There they enjoyed the new Massive Monster Blaster, 926 feet of twisted flume, the lazy river, and other water rides.
While the girls and their assistant leader were playing in the water, their leader enjoyed a historic tour that was on land and sea. There she learned some of the history of Galveston, saw the sites and enjoyed a dolphin tour of the harbor.
Part of the tour was to see some of the tree sculptures of Galveston. In 2008 Hurricane Ike covered most of Galveston Island in a tidal surge. The damaging combination of winds and waves immediately uprooted many of the city's trees and killed many of the canopy oak trees. Others were killed from the standing waters after the hurricane. A group of homeowners decided to rejuvenate the area with tree sculptures. Many of the homeowners had carvings done of something of importance to them; a family pet, fire hydrant and Dalmatian at the fire station, engineer at the railroad, dolphin, geisha, Japanese yew tree, pelican, guitar, Tin Man and Toto, angel, frog, bunny, and many more. After an evening meal at Rainforest Cafe, the scouts enjoyed spending time on the beach walking in the surf.
The next day the scouts toured the Texas Seaport Museum and the Tall Ship of Texas, the Elissa. The Elissa is a sailing cargo ship that was restored by Galveston Historical Foundation in 1982. Afterwards they took a harbor tour seeing the new casino boat, drilling derricks, the many fishing boats and the new naval combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords that was in port for the commissioning ceremony. It is a 421-foot-long ship that was named after the former Arizona congressman Gabrielle Giffords who was injured during a 2011 shooting. Security was very apparent due to the high profile people coming in for the ceremony. The scouts also learned that gambling is illegal in Texas, so they motor the casino yacht out 10 miles before they start playing the games. It is rumored they start them with their alcoholic drinks first so they are ready to start gambling. That evening the scouts traveled to Kemah to enjoy feeding the sting rays and riding rides on the boardwalk.
The next morning the scouts traveled to Houston to the NASA Space Center. There they learned the history of the United States space exploration. They took the tram tour seeing the original flight control center, the Orbiter tour, and then toured and played in the rest of the museum. The scouts enjoyed seeing how much they would weigh on different planets, touching a moon rock, and seeing the many different space ships. They were amazed how cramped the living space was on each of the rockets. They learned about the plans for future space travel also.
The next morning it was time to head back to Alva. Due to an accident and construction again, the scouts were stuck in traffic for three hours between Houston and Dallas. After 14-and-a-half hours the scouts finally made it back home. The scouts attending were Christian McKinley, Isabella Stout, Ruth Anne Fox and Judy Neilson.
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