Everybody was on a different agenda today. Jim and Kelley went for a short 1.5 hour bike ride, then Jim spent most of the rest of the day disassembling and packing the tandem (their tandem bike separates into 3 pieces and packs into 2 suitcases) while watching basketball on TV. Karen and Kelley did laundry, got the house in order, and spent a few hours navigating the local shops without really buying anything. Cam dedicated the morning to catching up on emails and paperwork, then toured the George H. W. Bush Museum of the Pacific War and the Admiral Nimitz Museum. Fascinating! The Nimitz Museum traced the life of Chester Nimitz from boyhood to Pacific Commander in WWII and beyond. The Pacific Museum was a comprehensive history of WWII beginning a century before the conflict as tensions grew between China and Japan. With only the afternoon available to Cam for the tour, and 3 separate city-block-size buildings housing the collections, he raced through the exhibits and still only covered half of the displays in the 2 buildings he viewed, and missed one of the 3 buildings altogether. Two full days are necessary to do justice to the museums. Cam was humbled by the courage of the men who boldly faced death daily with very little they could do to ensure their own return home. We glorify the idea of serving in the military without really understanding the hardship, and the heartfelt fear, and the horrors that soldiers experience in battle. The experience of reading about this war battle by battle was very emotional, and when Cam was ushered out of the museum at closing time, he felt a sense of reverence as he walked past the displays.
We had planned to eat leftovers for dinner tonight. However, we heard repeatedly this week about the Alamo City Cafe which is reported to have the “best hamburgers in Texas”. After this evening’s meal, I don’t think any of us can disagree with that assessment. The Alamo City Cafe sits out in the middle of nowhere, situated about 15 miles from any other than Luckenbach. Even Luchenbach with its population of 3 is 7-8 miles away. The only other reason anyone would visit this remote location is the “bat cave” adjacent to the Alamo City Cafe where millions of Mexican short tail bats reside in an abandoned train tunnel and exit the cave nightly from April-October to feed on mosquitoes and other insects. Unfortunately, we were too early in the season to witness the bats, but the burgers were in abundance. Despite the remote location, we had to scramble to find a place to sit. The cafe was full both inside and out when we arrived, but we finally secured the only remaining table outside on the patio. There was a live band playing on an outdoor stage. The seating inside the eatery centered around the open kitchen where all could witness burgers, onion rings, French fries, home made potatoe ships, milk shakes, and a variety of other edibles being prepared. The motif was 50s diner/bar. There was a refrigerator where you went to open your own bottle of wine and pour your own glass to bring to your table, sodas in another frig, and help-yourself beer in a huge bucket of ice. We started by ordering guacamole and chips. We had never seen such a large bowl of guacamole – the 4 of us couldn’t finish it. Then came the monster burgers (option of plain bun or jalapeno/cheese bun, avocado, all the normal fixings, etc.), huge baskets of fries and onion rings, smoothies, and milk shakes. We ate until we couldn’t swallow another bite, rested for a bit listening to the music, then ate some more. The meal, the music, the weather, and the friends created a perfect ending to a wonderful week in Fredericksburg.
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| A handsome young Irishman we met on the way to Alamo City. |
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