Fredericksburg with the family

Planning an outing this summer has been a challenge, primarly due to the unrelenting heat! We finally decided to just knuckle under and do it! 

Our grandsons are both fascinated with WWII history, primarily the weapons, ships, vehicles, etc. They're not quite into the biographies yet. We proposed a trip up to The National Museum of the Pacific War, in Fredericksburg. It's a little less than a 2 hour drive away, so even the boys don't mind driving for that long. We departed  mid-day on Tuesday, August 16 for the 4 day trip. 

Fredericksburg city has created a wonderful city park complex that includes a campground, and much more. It seemed like a perfect place for us, and we arranged a hotel room 6 minutes away for Kendra and the boys - knowing the pool would be a big hit. 

Steve drove the rig while I picked up the family in the van. When we're staying fairly close to home this arrangement works well. It gives us much more flexibility when traveling in close quarters like city attractions. It also gives us the option of going two seperate ways in smaller groups. By 4:00 we were all settled in. Kendra and boys were swimming and I was exploring the city park with the dogs while Steve took a much deserved break.  

The city planners did a great job, in my opinion, of arranging the design of the entire park area. It includes not only multiple types of athletic facilities, including a golf course, baseball fields, etc. but also a nature center with several very interesting hiking trails and group facilites all over the park. 

A short hike down one of the closest trails was the perfect way to get the blood moving after the drive. The dogs loved it of course, but were annoyed that I kept stopping to take photos. 

The "nature center" aspect of the park includes an emphasis on butterfly attracting plants, so I learned about some new natives I hadn't encountered before. There is no physical "center" as such,  but several plantings that feature special plants and landscaping features are scattered around the park.  There are several "twig" structures, ornate garden ornaments, and areas of carefully tended native blooming shrubs to attract both animals and humans. This twig enhanced ramada covers a comfortable bench with a view of the garden.  

After a swim the family came to the campsite for dinner and a bit of relaxing. The camping area is adjacent to the Gillespie County Airport, which is just busy enough to be interesting. With a few private planes and some fire fighting planes taking off the boys had airplane spotting as evening entertainment. Texas A&M Forest Service has a Fredericksburg office at the airport and houses several of their planes there, so during the high fire season, as we're experiencing now, they are quite active. Activity seems to stop in the late evening so noise isn't a problem.They have several of the Air Tractor AT-802F model, shown here at takeoff.

On Wednesday we went straight to the main feature, the Museum of the Pacific War.

 Fredericksburg was the birthplace of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who commanded Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II. Justly proud of the connection, there is a lot of support in the community for the museum. The museum is a complex that includes several seperately housed collections featuring not only the war but the man Nimitz himself. 

Part of the the museum is contained within the hotel that was owned by Nimitz's grandfather, and in which he lived for several years. The museum displays are interactive, appealing to young visitors, with several short videos and many examples of vehicles, weapons and equipment. Informational posters include historic details, for those who want to move slowly and absorb more of the history.

Some of the many displays are just too large to capture in a photo! further impressing the boys.  Jaxen especially has studied many aspects of WWII, so was really excited to see displays of specific battles he knew something about. Raylan was more impressed with the tanks, guns, planes, and the various Q&A interactive displays that he knew (almost) all of the answers to. 

We finished the day with dinner at the Auslander.  The restaurant is a fixture in Fredericksburg, established 20 years ago. The name means "foreigner" reflecting he fact that the community was settled by German immigrants. This restaurant serves a menu reflecting the area of Germany known as Bavaria. And excellent food it is! We really enjoyed our meal. 

The next day we headed over to the Pacific Combat Zone museum, which is part of the overall museum, but housed in a seperate building a block away. 

Displays here include a TBM torpedo bomber 

displayed as though waiting to be armed while on the hanger deck, a model of the USS Enterprise, the PT-309 named "Oh, Frankie" after the skipper of the boat met Frank Sinatra prior to shipping overseas.

There is also a large amphitheater for presentation of reinactments and other programs. 

We had seen all the displays in time for lunch, so headed back to camp. We had been looking at the Airport Diner across the tarmac from our site and decided to give it a try. 

It's a 1940's style diner, very comfortable and they've really set the mood with model planes suspended from every light fixture, and some wonderful watercolors of planes done by a local artist Lance Von Prum. You can see some of his amazing work here.

Unfortunately the light reflection makes a big hole in the one that was near our table, and Jax isn't really sad, he's just hungry!

On our final day we made a quick return to the Pacific Combat Zone in order to watched a presentation of a M2-2 flame thrower. 

The setting is very realisitic and gives the reinactors plenty of room to simulate actual battle. You can see the palm trees suffered greatly from our freeze last winter. 

A group of reinactors introduced themselves and their roles on the "combat assult team", descriping the actions they would take in actual battle. They then gave us a demonstration of the weapon's (literal!) fire power. The heat could be felt all the way back into the audience and the boys were quite impressed! I can only imagine what the operator feels while using that weapon.

Following the demonstration everyone scurried to the fire extinguishers. The two tanks of fuel carried on the operator's back were totally consumed during the short burts. In the time it would take him to load new tanks he would be very vulnerable to attack, one of the many aspects of team work that presentation covered.

Normally the reinactors actually do a simulated battle, 

but the weather was so hot and humid that they begged off, and I don't blame them. One last quick tour through the gift shop and it was time to depart. 

The trip home was uneventful, and I think we all had a successfful trip. The kids very much enjoyed the pool and time to swim, and as it turns out, a highlight was the snack machine at the hotel. They'd never used a vending machine before! Time to unpack the RV now!

more pics in the photo album here

Top of the Rockies Scenic By-way and Leadville, Colorado

Wednesday, August 16

What a beautiful day for driving. We woke up to the sunniest morning we'd had in several days (of course, now that all the photos have been take under clouds!)

We departed Rifle Gap State Park and wandered through the back scenic country. Beautiful ranches and smaller holdings all scattered across green pastures lined the roads. What a contrast to the sagebrush and rock formations we had driven through for the last two days.

Red Cliff Bridge

We continued on, eventually ending up on the Top of the Rockies Scenic By-way. We climbed in elevation until we hit the 9,000 foot zone, enjoying many glimpses of the road we'd just been on as it looped back and forth up the mountain.

Railroad tracks, remnants of mining activity in days past, including a mine and home for the employees. and few cabins scattered across the valley floor and on the slopes give scale to show how steep the mountains are in this area.

The gorgeous snow capped mountains in the distance provide a visual contrast and reminded us that it's going to be chilly up here on top of the Rockies!


It proved so when we stopped onTennessee Pass to take a stretch. The wind was biting, and this is August! We could only imagine what it must be like in winter. We soon discovered there were several military memorials to explore, and it seems they are here because the climate in this area was essential to their training.

One is the memorial to the 10th Mountain Division. After seeing Finnish troops overcome Russian forces in 1939 the head of the National Ski Patrol began pressuring the War Department to form a similar unit. There's an excellent summary of the history of the little known 10th Mountain Division, on the National WWII Museum website.

Another, the Norwegian Monument, provides the history of the formation of the battalion known as the "Viking Battalion" and a summary of their accomplishments and importance during WWII. The 99th infantry Battalion (Separate) was activated at Camp Ripley, Minnesota on August 15, 1942 as per written instructions by the War Department.

This unique elite unit was to consist only of Norwegians and Americans with direct Norwegian descent. Soldiers picked out for this elite unit had to have a working knowledge of the Norwegian language and preferably already knowing how to ski. The link at the beginning of this paragraph takes you to the official website and has the full history.

For the next two days well be staying in Molly Brown campground, near Leadville. Named for the famous "Unsinkable Molly Brown", it's a nod to the mining history in the area.

The other campgrounds in the area are also named for local historic characters. Baby Doe and Silver Dollar are right next to us. The Wikipedia article on Leadville does an excellent job of covering the history of the area, as well as many of the famous personalities, so I won't try to repeat all that here.

Our campsite is spacious, and surrounded by pine trees. It's only a short hike to Turquoise lake, so after getting set up the pups had an outing, but no swim as the air and the water this time of day are chilly.

Thursday

I was 29 degrees this morning. . . wow, are we ever going to have a hard time adjusting to Texas temperatures!

Today is tour Leadville day. No particular destination or shopping list in mind, except of course, a quilt shop. There's only one in town, Mountain Top Quilts, and it is a hybrid antique and quilt shop - quite fun to rummage around in!

There are books, handcraft related as well as western history and a few kids books, yardage (short cuts and folds) kits, yarn, completed quilts - some new and some vintage, vintage clothing, glassware, and.... well, you get the idea. Lots of fun to browse.

Leadville has done a fine job of retaining and promoting their mining history while also accommodating more modern tourist interests such as the winter sports, craft brewing, and antique collecting. Main street sports several original buildings with the old fashioned plaster and brick facades and some very interesting murals, and  many of the side streets are a wealth of beautifully restored little Victorian frame houses.

The setting is beautiful, with the snow capped mountains behind the church spires and ornate building roofs, and we actually had a bit of sun to show of the beautiful clouds. Those clouds seem to come and go quickly here, and with a "high" in the 50's it cools off quickly when the sun disappears.

After the quilt shop we stopped at the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum. Oh my goodness, what an amazing collection of fantastic mineral samples, mining equipment, dioramas explaining gold mining history, life size scenes depicting coal and hard rock mining, famous people in the industry - wow! This is a stop worth making for those at all interested in the history of mining and children will get a lot out of it too, as there are hands on activities, videos, and the dioramas and scenes clearly explain the processes and history. The facility houses four stories of exhibits and photographs, as well as a research library. We only made it through two floors before our brains were full, and our tummies empty.

Soaking up all that history and information made us hungry, so we asked for recommendations and decided on the Golden Burro. Good food and reasonable for where we are. Steve had the best tamale he's had in a long time, and my burger was good too. The place has been in business for 75 years, so they must have something going for them.

Back at camp the dogs were anxious for a romp, so into the woods we went. We had a nice leisurely walk down to Turquoise Lake for a short but enthusiastic swim session - it's never long enough to suit the dogs, though.

And we take one last look at the lake before we head back to camp to begin the packing up.
We depart in the morning for Trinidad State Park.

Custer's Last Stand

June 13-15
This is another of those locals on our bucket list. After touring several other Indian Wars battle sites on our way to the area we were pretty well acquainted with the history of the time.

A visit to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is a solemn experience in many respects.

Custer National Cemetary

Immediately adjacent to the parking area is the Custer National Cemetery, so we look a little time to walk the rows and read a few of the headstones. Originally established in 1879 to protect the graves of soldiers who died in the Little Bighorn battle it was later enlarged and includes burials from veterans and spouses, as well as children, from almost every military action up until the closing in 1978, Only plots already reserved are still available. A small booklet is available for a self guided walking tour. It has some fascinating details about the history of the cemetery as well as many of the individuals interred there.

Only a short distance from the cemetery is the Little Bighorn visitors center. An informative film, nice displays, and a fantastic presentation by a ranger (from Texas!) who has been studying this historic event since he was 18. 'Guess he knows a little about it!

After the ranger's presentation we took a bus tour with the Absaalooka tribal tours (Absaalooka is the true name of the tribe that came to be known as the Crow). Narrated by a member of the tribe, we learned more about the event as well as a little of their culture, and the inter-tribal politics that had an impact on the battle. Specific facts about the battle were discussed as we viewed the actual locations. The guide explained how the terrain impacted the actions of the soldiers and the Indians.

A portion of the Little Bighorn Battlefield

For those unaware of the timeline of events - here's the brief history. (A much more detailed version is available here.) We all know pioneers headed west for free or cheap land. When they came into contact with the Indians (it's ok to call them Indians, they use that term too) there were often conflicts. Sometimes they got along, sometimes not. Usually at issue was the conflict over land to farm (pioneers) and land to hunt (Indians).

A treaty was signed giving most of the Dakota Territory to the Indians, including some land not assigned to a specific tribe, but open for all to hunt. The Black Hills were included in the treaty area. Forts were established along the main travel routes so the military could protect the settlers as well as keeping the settlers from bothering the Indians.

Shortly after the Civil War, when many men were returning home, with no jobs, a financial recession hit the nation hard. At about the same time gold was discovered in the Black Hills. There was no stopping the pioneers from flooding into the areas that were supposed to be off limits to them. President Grant tried various ways of managing the situation, but several Chiefs (Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, primarily) wouldn't go along with his plan and insisted on staying off reservation, in the open area. This was when the military was sent in to "round then all up and get them to the reservation".

Tribal politics were having their own effect on the situation. The Sioux (Lakota) and Cheyenne were trying to push the Crow out of the area. The Crow, thinking that if they could get rid of the Sioux they'd be in good shape, were happy to scout for the Army. It didn't turn out so well for anyone. The Indians knew this was their last stand, and whether Custer knew it was his "last stand" as he went into battle or not, it was a major turning point for the Native American cultures in the area.

Monument on the mass grave on Last Stand Hill

After careful scouting, planning and discussions, Custer divided his troops into three groups, hoping to surround the tepees set up in the valley near the river. Gathered for hunting and a seasonal celebration, the village setting was full of families.  Though the attack was a surprise, the Indians resoundingly defeated the Army. The battle, over two hot June days in 1876, resulted in the deaths of over 260 soldiers and attached personnel. It's hard to say how many Indians were killed, including women and children, but the number is probably under 50.

A mass grave holds many of the remains, and there are markers throughout the park, indicating where it is known that someone fell - white for soldiers, red for Native Americans. A few have names, but most do not.

There is also a peace memorial, dedicated to the Native Americans who were involved in, and perished in, this battle. The memorial has panels around the curved walls with names and etched portraits. It's beautiful, and definately worth the short walk up the hill from the visitor center. There's more information about the Indian Memorial and what happened to those who died in the battle here.

After two days of touring the sites and digesting all the historic information we decided on a lunch out, at the trading post near the entrance to the park. Good souvenir shopping, and the best "Indian Taco" I've ever had. HUGE fry bread heaped with goodies.

7th Ranch RV Park was home for the duration of our visit to the Little Bighorn. There aren't a lot of housing choices in the area, but we were very pleased with our choice. 7th Ranch is named for the 7th Cavalry, Custer's command.

7th Ranch is situated inside a working ranch of several hundred acres. They have a few head of cattle, and some great scenery! Guests are free to take dogs off-leash anywhere outside the immediate fenced campground area, so there's plenty of room to roam and good grass and sagebrush to check out.

The spaces are comfortably large, and some have shade trees. There are also a few tent spaces, and a playground for the little ones. The laundry facilities are pretty small, but seem to be adequate for the needs of visitors. It seems most guests stay only one night so the area really empties out during the day. The owners and camp hosts are all friendly and helpful, and we really enjoyed our stay!

The evening view from our site - a Charlie Russell sky

On the map, the closest town is Garryowen - which turns out to be a one acre, privately owned town (the ownership is too long to discuss, and irrelevant). The name is  unusual so I just had to look it up. 'Turns out, the tune Garryowen is, and has been for many years, the official tune of the 7th Cavalry.  Here's the full history,  along with the music. It seems like a good name for this tiny town near this infamous location so closely connected to the 7th Cavalry.

This little "town" houses a private museum of Native American artifacts. They also have an extensive gift shop with a range of goods from typical souvenirs to high end art work and traditional Indian jewelry as well as art works of rawhide, feathers and beads.

The album is here, and there's more information on each of the individual photos.

North to Montana, and the Indian Wars

Sunday, June 11,

'Time to say goodbye to Devils Tower and wander our way further north.

We hadn't been on the road very long when we dropped down over a little rise to see this view...

 brrrrrrrrrrrrrr, us Texans aren't really ready for that!
Home for the night,  Deer Park, just outside Buffalo, WY.

The park turned out to be perfect for our one night stop. A nice little laundry room, a level site right on their central green area, and a trail along with a huge mowed meadow that worked for our evening ball toss with the dogs.

They really offer a variety of activities and housing choices. They have a few cabins, and there's a small playground for little ones, along with horseshoe pits.

We toured the town of Buffalo in the afternoon and what a nice little town it is.

They've really played up their western heritage. Everything is very clean and it's clear they are proud of their history. A few things really caught our attention.

One such item was this statue of Nate Champion in front of the museum.

This cowboy had the kind of grit it took to ranch in the old west, but big money and big ranching got the best of him in the end.

This article in American Cowboy describing his ordeal is worth a read . . .  The Story of Nate Champion. The situation described in the article was apparently pretty common at the time as we found the Nate Champion story referenced in several museums as an example of the situation that existed for small cattle ranchers at the time.

As usual, we're going to miss a big local event - the annual Longmire Days celebration. Anyone who's read Craig Johnson's series about Sheriff Longmire, or watched the series (now on Netflix) will get the picture. The little town in the stories is modeled after Buffalo. Their annual celebration brings the cast of the show and fans together for a week of activities. It sounds like fun! . . but we'll be in Nevada by then! If anyone's interested, here's the Chamber of Commerce's page with the key info.

In the morning we loaded up the wagon and headed for the freeway heading north toward Sheridan to find the on-ramp was being patrolled by a wild turkey! What a rare sight! We've gotten used to all the rolling green grassland dotted with cattle and antelope, but this is the first turkey sentry we've seen, and right in town!

Monday, June 12
On our way north to Sheridan, WY, we stopped first at a monument recalling the Fetterman Fight.

To put this in perspective historically, a full ten years before the infamous Battle at Little Big Horn the settlers and U.S. Army were engaging in armed battle with local tribes across the northern plains.

The Fetterman Fight was one such battle. In December of 1866, Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors engaged a force commanded by Capt. William J. Fetterman. The soldiers had been sent out to rescue a wagon train.

Using a decoy plan, something the Indians weren't noted for doing before, they lured the soldiers into an ambush. All 81 men in Fetterman's command were killed within 30 minutes. Only The Battle of the Little Big horn stands as a worse defeat for the U.S. Army, and victory for the Plains Indians.  The monument noting the details of the battle overlooks beautiful rolling grass covered hills. It's hard to envision the shooting, yelling smoke and chaos that must have taken place.

Unfortunately The Fetterman Fight was not the only incident of its kind. A treaty had been signed that allotted certain lands to the Indians and left a corridor open for settlers to travel, as well as for hunting. The idea at the time was that the military would be responsible for keeping the settlers out of the agreed upon Indian lands, then GOLD was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a large piece of the land deeded to the tribes, and that turned the agreement upside down.

In 1866 Fort Phil Kearny was established at the forks of Big and Little Piney Creeks. One of three forts along the trail, the mission of the post was three-fold - protect travelers along the Bozeman trail, prevent inter-tribal warfare among the Native Americans, and to draw the Indian forces away from the development of the railroad line that was under construction in southern Wyoming.

Site of Fort Phil Kearney

By 1868 the Union Pacific Railroad had reached a point to the west where travelers could bypass the trail forts and all the risk, and in the Treaty of 1868 the U.S. government agreed to close the forts. Fort Phil Kearny was burned shortly thereafter. It was in terrible shape by then anyway, having been built from green logs and green lumber. After drying for only a year the wood had shrunk so badly the walls all had huge cracks, and many structures were deemed unsafe for occupancy.

Shiner and a wagon box

The current buildings and structures on the site of the original fort are reconstructions, and do help to give visitors a feel for the place. Frequent sighting devices around the perimeter of the site make it easy to identify specific landmarks and the sites of specific events.

A short gravel road from the site of the fort leads visitors to the Wagon Box fight. Here, soldiers took refuge in a corral made of wagon boxes - Shiner lends scale - not a very large shelter as you can see, and though this was high ground, they had no shelter other than the boxes.

The Connor Battlefield State Historic Site, only a short distance north, is another memorial to the events of those days.

This was the site of the Battle of Tongue River, between the Army and the Arapaho.
This was the single most important military engagement of the Powder River Expedition of 1865 because this particular battle caused the Arapaho to ally with the Sioux and the Cheyenne. The alliance thereby creating the large force that overcame the Army in the Fetterman Fight, a year later.

The Conner Battlefield site is located along the tongue river, and has been developed into a very nice park and campground. One of those hidden jewels we really enjoy.

Conner Battlefield monument

The Tongue River curves around the park, which is beautifully maintained. Lots of trees, a few graveled pull-through sites and some tent sites and picnic spaces. $11 a night for a pull-through right on the river. No hook-ups. The park does have restrooms and water is available.

This area is dripping in history - one could do a tour here focusing on military history, another on the Native American aspect, and another focusing on the pioneer perspective.

To view them all at once is of course more realistic, but hard to process as there is so much information to digest. . . so many brave and hardworking individuals. No good guys and bad guys, just everyone trying to do what they thought was best at the time.