Given the limited living space in Bella I mostly content myself with small fridge magnets when looking for souvenirs. I never saw one for McAllen but thought this would represent my brother John well.
After leaving McAllen we headed northeast. Many more miles of agriculture, cotton, sugar cane and veggies. Just before reaching the gulf we began to see oil drilling companies and refineries replaced massive cotton storage facilities. On the way through Corpus Christi we saw the USS Lexington, the
WWII aircraft carrier called the Blue Ghost by Tokyo Rose. The Japanese kept reporting it sunk but it would appear again. A subsequent tour proved somewhat overwhelming for me as it went on and on. At the point of the engine room tour I had to return to the car to keep Raggie company. Himself spent another 1 1/2 hours viewing all those fascinating engines, planes etc.
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| USS Lexington |
Some of the highlights of the tour for me were the following:
A quite from a Military doctor, followed by pictures of a 101 year old veteran of WWI, and a vet from the Bataan Death March, a POW from the frozen North Korea, a survivor of Omaha Beach and a member of Merrill's Marauders.
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| The Navy does have a sense of humor |
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| USS Lexington Bridge |
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| USS Lexington Flight Deck |
The ship tour was followed by more gulf seafood for lunch as well as a driving tour of Corpus Christi. The downtown is quite nice and reminded me a bit of Long Beach, though better done. The route back to Bella was via Padre Island, a very long barrier island. The last leg off the island was via a short ferry ride which was free.
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| Padre Island Ferry |
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