Thursday in the Hill Country

The weather here continues to, um, be dreary, with off and on rain as well as wind. Makes it pretty dang chilly! I was thinking of other descriptive words, but decided to spare y'all the curse words. .

So we decided to head back to Fredricksburg. Our first stop was Der Auslander for lunch. Good German food! Brats, Opa's sausage (spicy!), spatzle. Yummy! And no, we haven't OD'd on German food yet.

Then it was time to spend the afternoon in a museum -- much to Max's dismay. They have a museum complex here called the National Museum of the Pacific War. It is awesome!

The complex starts with the Admiral Nimitz museum. This is what the building looks like.

I know, you are thinking, huh?!? A museum about the Pacific War and Admiral Nimitz!?! In Texas?!? WTH??? Well apparently Admiral Nimitz's family settled this area and the building you see above was a hotel that they owned. And of course, Admiral Nimitz was central to the Pacific War.

As I said, this is a complex. Next up was the Walk of Honor.

This is an outdoor area that has thousands of pavers and plaques honoring indivual soldiers, units, and even ships from WWII in the Pacific arena. At the end of the walk, they have a fountain that features a ship screw from an Essex Class aircraft carrier. Very cool!

Next up was the Plaza of the Presidents. It features information on 10 consecutive presidents that served in WWII, from Roosevelt to Bush.

Then we went into the George HW Bush Gsllery. OMG, what an awesome place! This laid out the entire story of WWII in the Pacific -- from events/history leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor to the signing of the surrender papers. We spent about 2 1/2 hours in here.... And could've spent even longer! I was so caught up in seeing and reading the story that I neglected to take ANY pics. (i was NOT my mother's daughter during that tour!) It is humbling to read about the sacrifices made there by our troops. While at the same time, it makes one proud of the US armed services.

They also have an area here called the Pacific Combat Zone, a guided tour. But since it is mostly outside, we opted to forgo a visit.

All in all, a pretty darned good afternoon! And yes, Max agreed that this was a pretty darned good museum.

Cheers!

Dr J