Sept. 5 & 6

Thursday - went for a hike in the park.  They have a nature trail but we didn't get very far because the path was very overgrown.  We are a little wary of snakes & critters.  Headed into town to see the Pacific War Museum.  It was very interesting.  We were there for 3+ hours and did not see it all. The tickets are good for two days, so will continue tomorrow.  We walked through the memorial park where they have plaques that families or organizations have donated to honor those who have served in Pacific wars.  We looked and found plaques for the Oklahoma and the battleship, St. Paul, one of the ships my Dad served on.  www.pacificwarmuseum.org.
Stopped for refreshments afterward and then picked up groceries on the way home.  We changed in to our jeans and boots and headed to Luckenbach, TX.  Turns out the "town" of Luckenbach consists of a small touristy general store with a bar in the back, outside seating on picnic tables and a dance hall they open on weekend nights.  Oh, and a separate little bathrooms building.  Nothing air-conditioned. The first lady we saw there asked if we were from South Dakota (Gary had his t-shirt on) her son had gone to Mt. Marty and then Creighton.  Small world.  Gary did find a nice cowboy hat in the store, it looks good. There was a small group of musicians playing outside, just jamming together and singing a few songs.  We stayed for a couple sets, then headed home.  A lot of deer in this area, we saw them during the day too.  It appears they feed & raise them, it is a well known deer hunting region.

Captain at the wheel 

Plaque in Memorial Park

Cowgirl in Luckenbach

Audience seating area

Friday - up and got my one hour walk done.  Trying to get in shape for Amazon, less than a month away.  Gary went in to Fredericksburg to finish the Pacific War Museum tour.  He went to the Admiral Nimitz museum &th Pacific Combat Zone display.  I researched campgrounds, worked on the blogsite and laundry.  In the afternoon, we drove east through Stonewall to the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch.  After stopping at the visitor center, you drive through the ranch grounds, past the cemetery where he & Lady Bird are buried, then around the air strip, past the stock barns and end at the airplane hangar by the house.  In the hangar they have displays, including LBJ's cars.  We bought tickets for the tour of their summer White House.  A park ranger gave us the tour, she was very good.  Two ladies from Austin were with us on the tour, it was very entertaining to listen to their comments & the ranger's comments, since they were all from Texas.  Very proud and adoring of the Johnson's, they oohed & awed about everything we saw.  It was fun to see the phones, furnishings, decor, and clothing from the 60's.  Next we drove to Johnson City and saw his boyhood home.  We headed south to Blanco, TX, hoping to find wineries not on the main strip.  Nothing! When we saw a sign to head back to Stonewall, we took it.  A back road through farms/ranch land, curvy and hot.  We were both getting disappointed when we came upon the town, Albert, TX.
A small bar, the Albert Ice House along the highway, with a large shaded deck under a large Texas oak tree, outside fire ring and a dance hall.  Outside bathroom house again, but much nicer than Luckenbach.  There was a BBQ concession trailer, The Pig Pen, that served hot food.
Great bartender and we visited with a gentleman that had retired there from Houston.  One sign says there are four people in Albert, one sign said three and two gals sitting there said they had met the one lady that lives there.  The bar was going to have a singer coming in after 6:00, we should have stayed there to hear that.  Again, not air conditioned, but they had ceiling fans everywhere.
This was definitely a Kathy and Gretchen kind of stop!
We left there to visit a winery before they closed, found one that had a Tuscany look.  Went in and found out they wanted $12 to taste - not interested!  We went back to Fredericksburg for supper and ate at Cultures, then walked through a few shops that were still open before going home.

Lyndon B & Lady Bird Johnson

Albert Icehouse, Albert TX

Outdoor seating & huge oak tree