Evergreen Aviation Museum - this & that

Wednesday July 14, 2010

Signs by the washrooms.

We frankly don't understand what scenes of a shoot-out and the Lewis & Clark Expedition as well as duck hunters and cases full of machine guns have to do with aviation.

Back to airplanes, there are several illustrations around the museum. The one above has to do with postal officials pressuring pilots to fly in bad weather.

That wraps up our visit to the Evergreen Aviation Museum. If you've never been, it's quite a spectacular and worth a visit. If you've been before, you may find it disappointing. And don't forget - if you want a cup of coffee at their cafe, be sure to be there two hours after opening time or two hours before closing time because, although they can afford to build expensive buildings - even a water park with a 747 on the roof, they can't seem to pay their cafe staff for more than four hours a day.

Evergreen Museum - Hughes H-4 Hercules

Wednesday July 14, 2010

Museum admission - Adult: $20, Senior: $19.

The star of the show is the Hughes H-4 Hercules Flying Boat also known as the Spruce Goose.

They've built a handy platform at the side of the building so you can get a higher view.

Bad lighting in the rear view shot.

Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum - outside

Wednesday July 14, 2010
McMinnville, Oregon

Third in the list of places we don't feel the need to revisit (along with La Conner and Leavenworth) comes as a surprise - the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

This was at least our 3rd visit to this museum; the first was probably in 2002. There have been a number of changes since the last time we were here. As stunning as the place is, it's becoming a little too theme-park-like for our tastes.

We didn't remember this building across the highway from the museum but it belongs to Evergreen as well.

I like the hedge across from it that spells 'Evergreen'. More attention-grabbing is the 747 (!!) on the roof of a building to the left of the aviation museum.

It is to become the 'Wings & Waves Water Park' where people will be able to slide out of the airplane into a pool. There are plans for a resort hotel and, yes, they have vineyards too.

The 'Spruce Goose' is in this building.

New to us - we like the addition of runway numbering on the driveway up to the aviation museum.

Later additions were the IMAX theatre (above, right) and more recently the Space Museum (left, opposite aviation museum) which is housed in a building identical to the Aviation Museum. We didn't even go in the Space Museum.

On the walkway between museums are inlaid planets and information about each one.

It seems that no expense has been spared... but if you want a cup of coffee in the place before 11:00 am, you're out of luck.

Trip report - south to Oregon

Tuesday July 13, 2010

This was an uneventful day spent mostly driving down the I-5 from Marysville, Washington to McMinnville, Oregon.

To save money and for its proximity to the Evergreen Aviation Museum, I chose the Red Lion Inn for our lodging. The tax on the room was only about $1!

It wasn't really horrible but it made the Holiday Inn look much more professional by comparison. Here, the desk clerk seemed like a student with an after school job. The room, while well-equipped, clean and tidy, smelled of a cheap, sickly-sweet room deodorizer. The building backed onto a residential subdivision so there was some noise from people yelling in their yards, music playing and dogs barking.

The do-it-yourself breakfast was included. The breakfast room was rather dark. They had that same yucky looking gravy we'd seen at the Holiday Inn, but at least there were waffle irons.