Wild Texas Newsletter
Your Guide to Texas Parks, Travel & Recreation

December 2003

IN THIS ISSUE

From the Editor
A Trip to Fredericksburg
Brief News
About the Newsletter

*** FROM THE EDITOR

"Hi, my name is Shannon and I run WildTexas.com, perhaps you've heard of it?"
Sorry, I figured a reintroduction was in order since it appears I managed to go the entire year of 2003 without getting a Wild Texas Newsletter published and distributed to you all. Now that's a definite low point I do not aim to repeat in the coming year!
Sentimental geek that I am, I couldn't let the year close without reconnecting to wish everyone well in the coming year. Many names grace WildTexas.com and our sister site, NoticeToAirmen.com -- names and personalities that have become familiar to Justin and myself over the years. While we actually "know" only a small number of you (friends, family, work-mates and the like), we are grateful for everyone's participation and enthusiasm. Your shared experiences and travels, emails about outdated park information or other site errata, good humor and so much more are what make our sites the communities we always hoped they would be. Thank You!
Okay, sentimentality out of the way, I have just one last personal wish to share from our home to yours --
Happy holidays, and blessings for a safe, happy and healthy New Year!
Shannon & Justin Moore
WildTexas.com

*** A TRIP TO FREDERICKSBURG

Editor's Note: I originally published this trip report in our discussion forum on December 14, 2003. I hope you'll forgive my redundancy if you follow the Wild Texas Forums regularly and have already read the trip highlights. A more thorough report with accompanying photos will be posted after Christmas.

We just got back from Fredericksburg & the Hangar Hotel about 20 minutes ago. We had a terrific time window shopping in Fredericksburg, watching planes takeoff and land from the balcony at the Hanger Hotel, and touring the Admiral Nimitz Museum (a Texas State Historical Park).
The Hanger Hotel has been open six months and may look like a customized large airplane hangar on the outside, but it's nearly a 5 star hotel on the inside... but still only $125/night ($150 is the nightly rate when not in the off-season, I believe). Justin "discovered" the hotel in a pilot enthusiast newspaper (General Aviation News), and we checked out the facility a month or two ago on one of Justin's training flights with his flight instructor. We were all quite impressed with the rooms and airport diner, making it a natural choice for our 5th wedding anniversary.
On Friday and Saturday, we toured Admiral Nimitz State Park in Fredericksburg and were very impressed with the amount of information and the presentations -- the size of the Nimitz Hotel on Main Street belies how much more there is to the museum and museum grounds. The George W. Bush Museum of the Pacific War is within short walking distance from the Nimitiz, and it's so large we actually didn't get to see all of the exhibits despite one long midafternoon/evening visit (they closed at 5 PM). Very informative. There are hundreds of plaques memorializing entire boat, nurse, medic, etc. crews and retelling various events. For those of us who weren't even alive for these events, it brings the enormity of the sacrifices and obstacles faced in war more to life.
On Saturaday morning, we were one of two couples that braved the cold (35 degrees or so) to visit the morning's first "Pacific Combat Zone" tour offered by the Nimitz Museum, featuring impressive static displays -- entrenched military positions, tanks, a simulated aircraft carrier hangar deck with a TBM Avenger aircraft, an American PT boat and a Quonset hut hospital, among other things. Very well done, and again, you don't expect much from the outside of the "tour grounds", but once inside it's clear they've spent a lot of time and money to make it an accurate and informative history-based tour.
Website links related to our visit:
Nimitz State Historical Park/Museum
- http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/nimitz/
Pacific Combat Zone tour
- http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/nimitz/exhib.phtml#pcz
George W. Bush Museum of the Pacific War
- http://www.nimitz-museum.org/
Hangar Hotel
- http://www.hangarhotel.com/
That's all for now... check back on WildTexas.com after Christmas for a complete Wild Texas park profile of Nimitz SHP and accompanying photos.

*** BRIEF NEWS

I have a personal goal of making the Wild Texas Web Guide the most useful reference for Texas residents and visitors, and YOU can help.
How? It's easy!
Anytime you're surfing the Net and find a website you think Texans or Texas visitors might find useful, be sure to visit our Web Guide's "Suggest a Link" page to share the URL with us. We list a wide variety of websites, including general travel and commercial websites.
You are welcome to submit your own website or personal home page, or business URL. I don't promise to list every link that gets suggested, but I welcome all suggestions. PS: I review all submissions, so don't worry about trying to see if a site is already listed before submitting it; I can do that automatically. :)
What's the page to visit if you find a cool site to share?
Wild Texas Web Guide, "Suggest a Link" page
- http://www.wildtexas.com/guide/index.php?t=add_link
Thanks, everybody!

*** ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER