Saturday, October 27, 2007

Foliage, Farmlands and Fun at a Museum--Our 3nd Trip to McMinnville


We started our trip by taking Hwy 26 over the coast range.


This is our umpteenth trip over this highway because it is the main route to Portland, hospitals, and the airport.


We are over the summit and on our way down into the valley.


Some autumn color is still visible.


We've left the main highway and are heading south through all the little towns--Banks, Forest Grove, Yamhill, etc.


I'll bet the early pioneers were happy to see the wonderful woods and pastures in the Willamette Valley.


A cute little pond and someone's farm off in the distance.


A picturesque barn and green fields.


The Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville. We went here after my appointment with the oral surgeon. Results of the biopsy aren't back yet.


A Blue Angels plane


A Russian MIG 23 from the Korean War.


The museum currently has 80 planes.


They are building another building to hold space exploration rockets, nose cones, etc. It will be open next year.


A Coast Guard Helicopter


DeWayne is reading about the Saber jet used in the Korean War.


More planes.


And a cute little plane for one person.


A Fighting Tiger used against Japan in WWII.


And more planes.


Orville and Wilbur Wright's plane. The first flight for man at Kitty Hawk, NC


The nose and the entrance to the cockpit of the Spruce Goose. They had to go by boat to get to the entrance.


Beach balls to keep the plane afloat. I couldn't believe it--beach balls in a hi-tech (for those days) plane.






Looking back to the tail section. We didn't go up into the cockpit. It was an extra $50 per person for that tour!!


The Spruce Goose from the second floor of the museum. It is HUGE. It is all made out of spruce and cedar and 5% metal. Howard Hughes built it in 1947.


The Lunar Rover. It weighed 70 lbs on the moon (because of decreased gravity) and was easy to unfold and set up for two astronauts. It only cost $6 million (each).


Autumn colors in the parking lot.


More color. We passed this on our way to the Omni Max where we sat in seats at the equivalent of seven stories high and watched a movie called "Cirque de Soleil" in 3-D. It had acrobats under water, synchronized bungee jumping in a Redwood forest, and from a line hanging from (we're guessing a helicopter) in what was similar to the Valley of Fire and gymnast doing all kinds of leaps and balancing feats.


On the way out we passed the Spruce Goose Vineyards in the late afternoon sun.


More vineyards.


We had a full harvest moon on our way home. I hope you enjoyed your visit to the museum and our tour of a small part of Oregon.

3 comments:

ebow said...

Great pictures mom. What a beautiful day to go. I love how the plants in one of the pictures looks like yellow fire. I would love to see the spruce goose up close!

DJ said...

The plane pictures look so good with the black background. What a nice trip you had. I love seeing all the trees and colors, thanks.

Dennis said...

Mig 15's were used in the Korean war, some of these 15's are restored and may be seen flying at some of today's airshows. The MiG-23 was designed in 1964-66 as a successor to the MiG-21. Numerous MiG-23 fighters were shot down by Israeli F-15 aircraft during the 1982 Lebanon conflict, and Libyan examples were successfully engaged by US F-14 fighters during skirmishes in the mid-1980s. Great blog!