Texas
Marine Life and Mission Control: Sea & Sky With Your Grandchild
Program No. 21489RJ
From space travel to sharks, discover all things sea and sky with your grandchild at NASA, an indoor rainforest, an aquarium and around Galveston Island!
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6 days
5 nights
12 meals
5B 3L 4D
1
Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
Galveston, Texas
2
Moody Gardens Full Day Field Trip
Galveston, Texas
3
Galveston Bay Seining, Historic Seaport, Island State Park
Galveston, Texas
4
Sea Turtle Talk, Sandcastle Building, Free Time
Galveston, Texas
5
Space Center Houston
Galveston, Texas
6
Program Concludes
Galveston, Texas
At a Glance
Do you and your grandchild love the ocean and marine mammals? Have you ever dreamed of flying through space? On an adventure on the Texas Gulf Coast, stir your fascination with both sea and sky. Wave to your favorite aquatic creatures at an aquarium pyramid, and trek through an indoor rainforest to learn about tropical plants and animals like the rare Saki Monkeys. Then head over to NASA to meet a real astronaut or member of Mission Control to find out more about space travel is really like. Go on a ferry ride and try to spot friendly dolphins racing with the boat, find out about sea turtles on a field trip to the beach and more!
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
I like to spend much of the day exploring. Whether walking through historic neighborhoods at a moderate pace or out and about on a coach, I prefer to keep my days full. Stairs don’t bother me, and I love to keep up with the group.
What You'll Learn
- Visit Space Center Houston and learn about NASA's future explorations to Mars.
- Go seining in Galveston Bay for a close-up encounter with the marine life that thrives in the area.
- Visit the giant pyramids of Moody Gardens to meet monkeys, macaws, penguins, seals and more as you stroll through a tropical rainforest and an aquarium.
General Notes
Program is for grandchildren ages 9-13.
Suggested Reading List
(10 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Marine Life and Mission Control: Sea & Sky With Your Grandchild
Program Number: 21489
Mission Control, This is Apollo: The Story of the First Voyages to the Moon
This book recounts space history from the Mercury missions through Apollo 17 and beyond. It is illustrated with stunning full-color paintings by astronaut Alan Bean, who walked on the moon with Pete Conrad on Apollo 12 and has devoted his post-NASA life to creating art.
Galveston: A History of the Island
Galveston -- a small, flat island off the Texas Gulf coast -- has seen some of the state's most amazing history and fascinating people.
Walking Historic Galveston-A Guide to its Neighborhoods
A Guide to its Neighborhoods is the city's
first practical, comprehensive walking guide of the Islands most concentrated
historic areas with interesting anecdotes about the people
of their past. Written in a very readable voice, the book is designed
for the Everyman who wanders the city streets and wonders about
the inside human stories of those who lived, loved, and worked in the
unusual buildings that survived them.
Discovery Channel Sharkopedia: The Complete Guide to Everything Shark
Great book with anything and everything you might want to know about sharks.
Interrupted Journey: Saving Endangered Sea Turtles
Large, clear, informative photos draw readers into this look at attempts to save the endangered Kemp's ridley turtle. Beginning with a 10-year-old boy who finds a nearly dead turtle during his patrol on a Cape Cod beach on a cold November day, Lasky details the efforts of a team of veterinarians, marine biologists, and volunteers to save the life of this turtle and others. The action moves from the New England Aquarium to the Florida Keys to the beaches of Rancho Nuevo, Mexico (with a map to show the way).
Lafitte the Pirate
This superbly written account examines Lafitte's fascinating career and frees the truth of the pirate's life from the web of fantastic myths which grew up around him.
America in Space: Nasa's First Fifty Years
The story of America’s space age is told with more than 400 carefully selected images. The story begins in the 1950s with intrepid test pilots venturing ever faster and higher, and opens out into the now-legendary Mercury and Apollo missions of the 1960s that made astronauts into national heroes. The space shuttle era shows us what everyday space travel might look like, while grand vistas of the universe expand our sense of wonder. The large format of the book captures both the human drama and the vast scale of NASA’s projects. America in Space is a photographic record of the greatest adventure of our time.
Sea Turtles: Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature
Bestselling children’s author Kay de Silva presents “Sea Turtles”. The book uses captivating illustrations and carefully chosen words to teach children about "the old man of the sea”.
This series is known as one of the most beautiful on the kindle. The pictures look great even in black and white and are excellent on the full color kindle. The description in the large text beneath is simple enough for early readers or for a parent to guide a child through.
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History
Using telegrams, letters, and reports, the testimony of scores of survivors, and our latest understanding of the science of hurricanes, Erik Larson builds a chronicle of one man's heroic struggle and fatal miscalculation in the face of a storm of unimaginable magnitude. Riveting, powerful, and unbearably suspenseful, Isaac's Storm is the story of what can happen when human arrogance meets the great uncontrollable force of nature.
A Weekend in September
John Edward Weems's account of the Galveston hurricane was written more than two decades ago, when many of the survivors were still living and available for interviews. This book is based on numerous conversations and correspondence with these survivors as well as a careful examination of contemporary documents and news reports.
