Friday, March 19, 2010

Fredericksburg





It was a beautiful day in Fredericksburg, and we started the day with a visit to the terrific Museum of the Pacific War, entering through the Admiral Nimitz house and museum. After a short trip through the house, one goes through an open courtyard with plaques commemorating all the units that served in the Pacific under Nimitz. The main museum is complete, educational, and fascinating. We got through 1/2 of the tour in a little over an hour, then visited the gift shop.





     We then went to visit Treys Petmecky's parents, Bill and Fay who retired in Fredericksburg. Their daughter Licia and kids Fiona and Liam were there, and you would think they had been best friends with Beth and Drew for years! The kids flew kites and played Wi while the grownups visited, then we went to Charlies for lunch. Charlies is an unknown local treasure that few tourists find out about, but is crammed full of locals everyday who enjoy wonderful hamburgers (specialty on Jalapena cheese rolls!) and play FREE miniature golf. Needless to say, the kids loved the place, and we all enjoyed it, too. Turns out Bill's family goes back to the beginning of Fredericksburg, and his great-great grandfather was the first Pastor of the VerEins church that we visited yesterday! In addition, his father was a first cousin of Admiral Nimitz! We had a great visit with them.
Lea and Beth then went back to their rental home to relax, and Becky, Jim and Drew returned to the museum. We started with a walk to the "Pacific Combat Zone" 3 blocks away, which is a great add-on to the main exhibit hall and has a one hour tour. One sees among other things a TBM bomber on a simulated carrier deck; the last surviving PT boat that actually fought in the Pacific (PT-309); and a replical of the Tarawa beach head, complete with Japanese tanks. We returned after that to the main museum, and completed the self guided tour. There is so much to see, and it is so well done, that we missed a lot.
     We returned to the house, got the dogs (who loved played in the big yard), and ate sandwiches and relaxed together for a few hours.





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