National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredricksburg, Texas

I have to admit that I was a little bit wary of going to this museum.  Museums are great sources of information, but they can also be overwhelming!  So much information to absorb in a short amount of time...and with little ones to keep happy/reasonably quiet & out of trouble, sometimes I have a hard time processing all that information in a way that I can retain what I've learned.  Admission for this museum is good for 48 hours, but we decided to go on our final day in Fredericksburg, which means that we had to pack it all in in just one very full day!  We arrived shortly after opening and tackled the Admiral Nimitz section first.  I spent most of that section helping Genna find her pleasant side. ;)

Before tackling the George H.W. Bush Gallery, we needed food so we could focus.  Unfortunately, the Museum has no picnic area, so we crammed ourselves into the truck and ate in our parking spot along the street.  Fabulous, really.  But, hey, at least we could think now, and Jake was ready to sleep, allowing me to pay attention, too!  This section of the museum was all about WWII, the part of the War in the Pacific.  They did an excellent job of laying out the early tensions in Asia that set the stage for Japan's push for dominance, followed by America's response.  Everyone had audio guides, which were nice, but the best parts, I think, were all the video displays that detailed individual battles in the war.  The combination of the audio guides, the visual displays, both written and memorabilia, as well as the videos, made it easier to grasp the information.  It really is a very well laid out museum!

The kids were absolutely awesome. Obviously, it was all over Genna's head, but she didn't seem to care!  She was in good spirits, and somehow managed to not be excessively noisy, though in one section of the museum she ran circles to burn some energy!  Jake slept for a couple of hours after lunch, too!  Just when the ranks were starting to get restless, and I was afraid some heads were going to explode with all this new information, Steve decided we needed to make a mad dash to the final tour of the Combat Zone.  He was under the impression that they were going to do demonstrations, which was not the case, after all.  I think the kids were done, and when Jake pooped, we made an early exit.  We spent a good six plus hours here at the museum...pretty sure we got our money's worth!!

P.S.  We left our camera in the RV, hence the lack of pictures from our visit here.