It's a Bird...It's a Plane

Oregon locals will know about the place we went yesterday in McMinnville. It's called the Evergreen Air Museum, and it houses Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" built in California with the idea of flying equipment and soldiers during World War II. It's a huge thing that was able to take off and land on water (or land).

Hughes only got the chance to try it once, and only briefly, in Long Beach, California. My husband was actually there to see it fly. He lived in Long Beach at the time, and school was let out so the locals could go watch. I think Jim was around 12 years old at the time.

You can get some idea of its size from this photo.

The museum's a neat place with all sorts of military and other kinds of aircraft, and videos and interactive demonstrations throughout. Kids (like me) can actually play on a helicopter flight simulater, and watch themselves crash when they goof up the controls.
Here's a pic of just the tail of the Spruce Goose. I couldn't fit the whole thing into one frame no matter how hard I tried.
Here's the nose with a plane next to it that may give a sense of scale.



This is an old smoke jumper's kit. Remember Spam? Nummy num.










This mural is painted on the wall in the flight simulator area.

Don't you think this would make a terrific tattoo? Maybe for my 65th birthday?

After the museum visit, we went next door to their HUGE brand new IMAX theater. We watched a film in 3D about the Apollo moon walk missions, narrated by Tom Hanks, and dizzyingly realistic. It was great.