Weekend in Independence

Labor Day weekend, we hit the road to Independence, OR for a few days with Margaret and Greg.  On the way, we stopped to pick up Jersey to dogsit for the weekend.  We took advantage of good weather the first day to go to a local market and then out to Silver Falls for a hike.

Rain was in the forecast on Sunday, so we went to check out the Evergreen Aviation Museum, home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.

We were all a bit surprised to see this new building as we approached (yes, that is a full-size 747 on top)

.We speculated about what it could be as we went through the Aviation museum and the Space museum.

The beautiful Jenny or JN-4 trainer used for WWI pilots:

A hot air balloon basket:

Ford's passenger plane.  Can you imagine being a flight attendant on this thing?

And, the famous Spruce Goose (well...one of her wings):

And, a little info about Hughes' bird, from a poster there:

There were more planes outside as well:

The walkway between museums featured our solar system embedded in the sidewalk:

Once inside, we were wowed by the size of this:

See Andy looking up at it?

And, what would a space museum be without a setup of the moon landing?

The collection of helicopters was impressive as well:

The space museum had interactive stations where you could try to hover a helicopter:

Or land a space shuttle:

We had a great time, and enjoyed learning and even re-learning about our history in aviation and space.

On our way out, we noticed this sign announcing the intended use of the mysterious 747 building:

Mixed feelings about that one!

Anyhow, we enjoyed our time in Independence - these outings as well as the games, walks, good food, Wii challenges, and just catching up on what had changed since our last visit.