Fredericksburg, TX: National Museum of the Pacific

We did not expect a First Class World War II / Pacific War Museum in the heart of Texas.  But that is exactly what it is:  top notch, very well done, interesting and worth every minute of our time there.

I am talking about the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas.  It is also the hometown of World War II Navy Leader and Admiral Chester Nimitz.

The museum is really a collection of museums, galleries and displays in a magnificent 6-acre layout.  The H.W. George Bush Gallery houses the majority of the displays inside the main building.  We spent hours there.

I was impressed with the concise/comprehensive history displays that began with Asian history leading up to the early 1900's and into the 1040's.

The gallery had a variety of displays, recordings, video and memorabilia that was organized well and very comprehensive.

We took a break for lunch and went through another section of the gallery.

One thing I appreciated about the informational displays and photographs which was for me - new material.  Some World War II information is 'standard fare' but here they had quite a bit more.  Some battles for islands in the Pacific I had never heard of.  Very captivating.

Outside, there is a Plaza of the Presidents

and a Memorial Courtyard with a garden and surrounding limestone walls with hundreds of plaques (which I somehow failed to take any pictures of)

Next door and part of the complex is the old Nimitz Hotel which houses the modest Nimitz Museum.

It began as his grandfather's hotel and now holds artifacts of Frederickburg's most famous citizen.

That is all for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles.  Thank you for viewing!

LBJ Ranch and Texas White House

While we were in Fredericksburg, TX we drove out to the LBJ Ranch and Visitor Center.  It was well worth the trip.

We drove over to the Visitor Center, picked up a map and some info and went on a driving tour.  First stop was the school where he first went.

The Junction School is also where he returned in 1965 and signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  In fact, during is tenure in office, LBJ signed over 60 education bills in law.

We went around back for a peek inside.

Next, we drove over to the LBJ reconstructed birth place where he was born in 1908.  Nearby is the cemetery where he and his relatives are buried.

Lots of Johnson's are buried here.  The president died on January 25, 1973.

The driving tour took us around the airstrip and show barn where there are cattle and goats.  The ranch is still in operation and is a 'working farm' open to the public.

LBJ was very fond of his ranch and conducted a lot of presidential business out of here.

After the airstrip was built, he regularly flew there.  In fact he spent 480 days of his presidency here which was about 25%.

It occurred to me that building an airstrip, having the presidential jets flying into the ranch -- all must have cost a lot of money back in the 1960's.  Since he started out as a school teacher before he became a state representative, where did he get all his money to do this?  Or did taxpayers pay for all this?

When we got to the ranch house visitor's center, we parked and took a guided tour.

As we went over to the farm house I snapped a few pictures.

The place was known as the Texas White House.  It was bought from LBJ's aunt and both the ranch and the house expanded over the years.  Lady Bird wanted to make sure this portion of the ranch was open to the public and it was donated to the park service.  She used the place until her death at age 94.

Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed inside.  The guide took us through the office area that had been added.  LBJ liked 'high tech' and had an intercom system installed.  He had three TVs set up side by side in three different rooms in the house so he could monitor NBC, ABC and CBS's daily version of world events.  And he had extra telephones installed throughout the house.

The place reminded me a little bit of the Eisenhower Farm at Gettysburg.   And Truman's 'Little White House' in Key West.

The trip made me want to see more Presidential Libraries, Museums and 'white houses' so we will be on the look out for the next one.

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  And thanks so much for all the comments lately!

Comments That Look Like Spam - What to Do?

I hate the idea that I keep getting spammed with 'Anonymous' comments.  It bugs me and not sure what to do.  I figured out the easiest way for me to 'clean it up' is going to my Google Blog dashboard where 'Comments' are listed on the left column.

Next, I can readily see the legitimate comments and those that are 'Anonymous'.

Then I can just check the box of the offenders

And then go back to the top of the page and click on'Delete' .  That removes them pretty quickly.  

I tried using the Spam button, but it seems I got even more 'Anonymous' comments.  

If it keeps up I may have to go back to having each person who leaves a comment verify that they are not a robot.  But I was wondering:

How many of you were going to leave a comment, but did not because you had to go through the hassle of that?

Not sure what I am going to do about it but would be interested in how you handle it?  Or what do you suggest?

Thanks for joining us today on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Our Lunch (mostly) Spots in Austin and the Hill Country

From Livingston, we went over to Katy, Texas for a night, then on to Austin and then to Fredricksburg for a few days.  Along the way we ended up having lunch at three different places.  Our first experience was in the South Congress (SoCo) area of Austin at Guervo's Taco Bar.

I read up on it by perusing some recommendations and the verdict was mixed.  Some loved it and some were not so complimentary.

But we really liked it.  As I mentioned before, it may have been the best Mexican food I have had in a long long while.  I had a regular tamale plate and Pam had a couple of tacos.  I don't remember what Mark had but Megan had a black bean tamale.  On a scale of 1 to 5 I'd definitely give it at least 4, maybe 4+, and would go back again.

Two days later, we found out we could meet Georgeann and her daughter Sally in Clear Springs, Texas for lunch at the restaurant in town.

She said it was famous for catfish although it had other things on the menu.  We found the place and had a very nice time.  It was a Texas historic site because it once country store of sorts.  Now it is just the restaurant with some interesting Texas Country atmosphere.

It was great to see Georgann and Sally and the teenagers, and the atmosphere was fine.  It was a busy Sunday afternoon, but we still got served pretty quickly.  I had catfish and Pam had a hamburger.  All in all it was fine.  I'd give it probably a 3+ or so.  We may be back if we are nearby.

Next, we headed for Hill Country and spent a few days in Fredricksburg.  As you probably know, the area was settled by Germans and other eastern European immigrants back in the mid 1800's.  Pam and I lived in Germany for three years and love German food.  So we decided to splurge and eat lunch and dinner at some local German restaurants.  I looked at online reviews and did not find any 5 star accolades.  Most were rated about 3 (out of five.)

First we tried Der Lindenbaum.  It is right on Main Street in the historic downtown area.

The atmosphere was fine.  It was a little different trying to imagine a German place in the heart of Texas but they did a pretty good job.  We had brats for lunch.  Bratwurst and knackwurst along with German potato salad and sauerkraut.

I don't know what we were expecting, but it was just OK.  Nothing that memorable.  As we expected, it was pretty expensive so all in all, I'd give it a 3 out of 5.  Not sure we'd be back - too many other restaurants in town to try!

Even so we were not deterred and had already scouted out Friedhelm's Bavarian Inn and Restaurant on the edge of town.

It was closed the first night we were in town and drove by to check it out.  But when we went back on Tuesday night it was open and we joined half a dozen other people that were there for dinner.  The place definitely is well decorated and has the look of a Bavarian place.  And the waiters and waitresses wear German attire so that was interesting too.

It was a place that is geared for high volume during their busy season.  The middle of the week in the middle of June it was not real busy which was good for us.  We split an order of Jagersnitzel which was pretty good.  Again it did not remind us of the fantastic food we remembered from Germany but it was OK.  We got tagged with a 'share a plate' charge and ate off of pewter plates which I do not prefer.  It gave me a 'medieval' kind of feel, but I don't ever remember eating from metal plates in all our travels in Germany.  All in all I'd give it a 4 for atmosphere, a 3 for the meal and a 3 for the cost so a combined 3+.  Not sure we'd do that again.

The next we went over to Luckenbach Texas for lunch which is about 10 miles away.  We were so close we had to go see where "Willie and Waylon and the boys…" had been.  I read up on it and they said no lunch was served there but we thought surely they must have something.

There was a little store/post office and a bar out back. The whole town is more like a bar and a small neighborhood.  It was about 11:30 when we got there and sure enough - no food.  We could get a beer and a small bags of snacks, but not hot dog or hamburger or anything.  Looks like a fun place for happy hour or an evening concert (they have a bigger stage, big parking lot and area for the really big events and dances nearby). But for lunch on a scale of 1 to 5 I'd have to forgo a rating --- and we went back to the RV for lunch.

So that's a quick look at some places we've eaten in the last week.  More on the Hill Country in another post.  

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...

Roadrunner Backfill: Murals of Vicksburg, MS

I've become a fan of murals and get excited when we happen to find them across walls and buildings or where ever.  We discovered another well- done series of murals in downtown Vicksburg.  They are all on a couple of flood walls along the Mississippi River waterfront - aka the 'Riverfront'.

The project began in 2002 with its first mural painted by artist Robert Dafford.  The idea began after a visit by some townspeople to the flood wall murals in Paducah, KY. (Another town to put on our 'Visit List'.)  I liked the way it is laid out with the mural, then a plaque in front of the painting explaining its significance.  We learned a lot just by strolling along the walk way and reading about the city's history and heritage.

Here's a couple of things I didn't know:
The origin of the 'Teddy Bear' -

And the first one to put Coca Cola in a bottle -

Some history:

After our time down on the Riverfront, we went by the old store owned by Joseph Biedenharn that first bottled Coca Cola.

That's if for this edition of the Roadrunner Chronicles - thanks for joining us!

Some Time with Friends and Relations

We left Livingston, Texas for a short trip over to Katy, TX to be closer to nephew and bride/ Mark and Dean-na and nephew Drew.  We were able to see them at our campsite at Westlake RV Resort.  They had never been to see the Roadrunner so we had a brief visit, some good food.  It was great seeing them since the last time which was in April 2012 at Mark and Dean-na's wedding.

It was too short but still a great chance to catch up with them.

On Thursday morning, we raised our jacks and headed to Austin.  Friday we had lunch with Mark and Megan at Guervo's Taco Bar in SoCo/South Congress area of Austin.

Saturday we got ready for an afternoon visit from Terry and Joanne who live in Round Rock, TX about 30 miles from here.  We have known them since the late 80's when we all lived in Albuquerque.
We have kept in touch and were excited to see them again.  We saw them a couple of years ago at their place.

Had a couple of issues with the second picture.  Not only did I somehow get the 'monochrome' going on the picture, I didn't get back in time to get settled before the shutter snapped.  That ever happen to you?

And then for lunch on Sunday, we met Pam's Aunt Georgeann, daughter Sally and her two teenager's for lunch at Clear Springs Restaurant.  Not only was it some great catfish and a unique atmosphere, we really enjoyed seeing them again.

Georgann's parents were George and Dorothy who were like grandparents to our kids.  They came to see us while we were stationed in Germany and Hawaii.  They were on a bus tour through Albuqerque and we saw them a couple of times at their home in the Ozarks.

LBJ Library and Museum - Austin

Since we are in Austin, we wanted to see the LBJ Library and Museum.  We are never too sure what to expect at these things, but we found it to be quite interesting.  My first impression was that the building is large and mostly concrete.

 It is deceiving, though because inside, it is one of the better ones we have ever seen.  It was very well done.  First we saw the Presidential Limousine LBJ used while in Austin.

Then we saw the Introduction video of his life and presidency.  Nearby we walked though a gallery of famous award winning photos during his term.  (But no pictures allowed in there.)

LBJ was known for a lot of things -- one of them his humor.  He had a way of telling stories that were memorable and you can listen to some of his best ones at the display.  Then there was a replica of the Oval Office and his term highlighted on the walls.

The building is 10 stories tall with a few floors that are not open to the public.  From the second floor you can see some of the offices windows.

I found this display interesting:  famous people with links to LBJ who recognized the impact he had on their lives and careers.

I knew about LBJ and the Viet Nam War, the Civil Rights Act, his Great Society agenda and some other things.  But I was astounded to see the volumes of legislation he marshaled through Congress during his career.  Seeing pictures of him working the phones all hours of the night and day, cajoling, arm twisting and other forms of persuasion plus the lost art of negotiation --- he was in the middle of governing like I remember it.  Times and politics have changed since his time.

One of the coolest pictures was one Pam took of the dog tags of all those Heroes from Texas who died in the Viet Nam War.

Another great museum and time well spent learning more about about Presidents.  Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!  Until next time...