San Jacinto Monument State Park

San Jacinto Monument State Park
La Porte, Texas
February 2009

Located on the southeast side of Houston, it was an easy Sunday morning drive of about 40 minutes from our hotel located by Bush Intercontinental airport. The kids enjoyed seeing the refineries and storage tanks as well as crossing over the Houston ship channel.

The monument is pretty cool and my kids really thought it was awesome. We did ride the elevator to the observation deck up 49 stories. This is highest they have ever been in a building. The view is pretty neat. Especially the Battleship Texas, my kids couldn't wait to see that next. We did the exhibit but didn't see the 40 minute movie. The park is run by TPWD, but the monument is run by the Texas Historical Society. So we got into the monument for free with our State park pass, but had to pay for the monument attractions.

Pros
- Pretty cool monument and reflecting pool.
- We had fun reading the each side of the monument. We took turns reading it.

Cons
- Surcharge for inside attractions (movie, exhibit, observation deck).