Final Update - Oregon Trip [December 2010]

So...I have been on hiatus...or something like that. I figured it is time to finish the re-cap of the Oregon trip. Fair warning...this will be a long post.

An alternate title for this could have been "pig, pig, pig....GOOSE!!"

We figured it would be best to start our day with a hearty breakfast. We were going to be on the road most of the day. My brother came across a restaurant that served bacon waffles, sausage waffles and ham waffles...ummmm...I GUESS we will try that place.

We decided we were not satisfied with the prospect of our waffles containing just one meat. We figured it never hurts to ask for something "off-menu." We asked our waitress if we could have all three meats in our waffles. She checked and was able to accommodate our request. Our waffles contained bits of ham, sausage and bacon. The "triple-pigged" waffles were a culinary delight.

Here is my brother showing off one of these bad boys:

Breakfast...check.

Our plans for the day included visiting The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. The museum is located in McMinnville, OR.

First, this is an absolute must-visit for any aviation or space flight buffs. It is not possible to see this unique combination of exhibits anywhere else in the world. The museum is split into multiple buildings. There are separate buildings for the aviation and space museums.

We started in the aviation museum. The pièce de résistance of the museum is a mammoth airplane - The "Spruce Goose." This plane was featured in the movie - "The Aviator."

The are no words, pictures or videos that can adequately convey the size of the plane. A couple things are truly amazing. It was built over 60 years ago and is made of wood. I included a number of photos below.

Here is a plaque that talks about the construction of the plane -

The following picture does a good job of providing a feel for the size of the plane. My brother and I are over six feet tall -

Each wing housed four engines -

The tail fin was enormous -

This picture was taken from inside the plane -

There are plenty of other exhibits spread throughout the museum. I included some random pictures.

This is a replica of the plane used by the Wright Brothers -

I do not recall what type of plane this was. I thought this was an interesting perspective looking into the air intake area.

Staring down the barrel of a machine gun -

A picture of one of my favorite air show planes - a P51 "Mustang" -

I loved the art on the nose of this plane -

There were lots of great exhibits in the air museum that are not shown here.

Ok...we were ready to visit the space museum. On the walk from one building to the next, I saw Uranus... (I know at least one person will laugh when they read that)

Anyways, the space museum contained some great exhibits as well. I included a couple of my favorites.

It is possible to get "up close and personal" with a SR-71 Blackbird. This plane looks "fast" just sitting there -

A Titan rocket was on display as well.

There were also displays related to both the Moon and Mars landings. The space museum is also awaiting the arrival of a retired space shuttle.

We ended the day in Pacific City @ the Pelican Brewpub. I shared about that experience in a prior post.

There were some other minor adventures after this. My posts hit most of the the main points though. A big thanks to my brother and good friend for making the trip possible. It was a blast guys!