On Saturday we headed out to the town of Fredericksburg, which is about 70 miles west of Austin, in the hilly part of Hill Country. It’s a really nice weekend destination, as they have a bunch of different stuff in the area.

We first stopped at the National Museum of the Pacific War. It includes a large collection of WWII artifacts, including a Japanese midget submarine, a B25 Bomber, a variety of uniforms, and lots of other stuff. One of the most touching artifacts is a hatch assembly from the USS Arizona (sunk during the attack at Pearl Harbor and now a national memorial). We rushed though in about an hour, though we could have easily spent four hours there.

We were in a rush because we wanted to check out the tour of the Pacific Combat Zone. The PCZ is an outdoor section of the museum, located on a three acre area a couple of blocks away. It houses the collection of large artifacts set in real-life scenes. These include a PT boat, an LVT landing vehicle, a torpedo bomber, and more. It’s really quite impressive.

So why is a museum of the Pacific War located in the middle of Texas? Because Fredericksburg is the home town of Adminal Chester Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet during WWII.

After visiting the museum, we took a walk down Main Street, which has a ton of different stores to visit. Furniture, antiques, cooking, toys, clothing, and more. It’s really quite nice (and pretty long–a five block stretch).

It was late in the day by now, so we headed back to Austin. However, there are a lot of other things to do in the area. You can spend a better part of the day just touring the wineries in the area, plus you are close to the LBJ Ranch and Enchanted Rock State Park. It would be a nice place to spend a relaxing long weekend.