Moonrise Retreat, Day Two

Waking up in the Texas Hill Country is always a good thing.  Waking up with the view we had was miraculous.  The sheep were already baa-ing in the pasture right outside the back door, and the sweet outdoor kitty Dottie was curled up in one of the patio chairs just waiting for someone to come out with a cup of coffee and snuggle with her.  The sun was rising just over the horizon.  I feel those hills running through my blood and it's like coming home when I am there.

Our plan for Monday was to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War.  Admiral Chester Nimitz, who headed up the entire Pacific conflict after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, is from Fredericksburg.  I had always wanted to visit the old museum located in his parents' hotel on Main Street, which is still there but scaled down.  The tickets now get you into three places:  A big, new state of the art museum where the entire history leading up to the conflict is told and all the major battle strategies are outlined, the old hotel with its history of Nimitz's family and the hotel, and another facility that houses a restored PT boat, a torpedo bombing airplane and a beach bunker where battle reenactments are done several times throughout the year.  There is SO much to see that your tickets are good for three days, so you can leave and come back at your leisure.

We spent two hours at the big museum and were only a little over halfway through!  It was fascinating to Jav and I.  We never realized how far back the US/Japan conflict went.  We never realized the enormity of what happened at Pearl Harbor.  We never heard the strategy Nimitz used for all of the different battles.  The boys didn't really get into the details, but they liked the videos that were shown in each new phase of the war.  Even for thinking adults, there's only so much your brain can take at one time.  So we decided to walk to Main Street and have lunch, then go back to finish up.

We ate lunch at Wheeler's, where we had the nicest server that the boys loved right away.  I normally get a Reuben sandwich there, but decided to try beans and cornbread.  Perfect!  We promised to take the boys to Dooley's, the five and dime that's been there since before I was born, and let them pick out one thing to buy.  They have a new store a few doors down from Dooley's with the same kind of merchandise, it has an old feel with hardwood floors, but it's nicer and a little more expensive.  More like a dime and quarter store.  But it isn't the same.  I hope to high heaven they don't end up putting Dooley's out of business!

I love Dooley's.  I just like walking around and taking in the smell of those old hardwood floors.  Everywhere you look there is color and it makes me feel like a kid again.  My grandmother, mom and I used to go to Mott's Five and Dime quite a bit and the smell and look is exactly the same at Dooley's.  Joel picked out marbles and Gabriel got a fidget spinner (sigh, he had left his at home), and we got t-shirts for Cade and Macy.

After Dooley's we headed back to the Museum to take a look at the restored bomber and PT boat.  The videos were so interesting, especially the one with actual footage about life on an aircraft carrier.  I really feel the boys understood a little more about war, the sacrifices made by servicemen and women, how hard and scary to be away from home and facing unknown situations constantly.

We were pretty wiped out when we got back "home".  We ate a quiet dinner, watched a little Rangers and returned to our balcony to eat ice cream and look at the stars.  We also learned something interesting about tin roofs:  When a branch scrapes against them in a good Hill Country wind it's impossible to sleep!  We switched the A/C to Fan setting and that seemed to help.