A Day Out at the "Airplane Museum"

We went to Udvar-Hazy on Saturday with Granny, Granddaddy and the kids.  If you don't know what Udvar-Hazy is, it is the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum annex that is out by Dulles airport.  Its where they keep all the big stuff that won't fit in the building on the National Mall that most folks see and think they've seen the Air and Space Museum.  Its basically two huge hangars in a "T" shape, with an Imax theater and a 620' tall observation tower that over looks the airport thrown in.  Note:  I'm going to mix some pictures from Saturday's visit with some I made earlier, so if you see Flat Kimmy, don't worry, she's safe at home in Alabama. 

The kids had a blast, especially Joseph.  One of the first things they saw was the "Tiger Plane" (their words).  Then Joseph ran down the ramp, as slow as we could get him to go, to the SR-71 that is the centerpiece of the front hanger, or the top of the "T", where all of the terrestrial aviation is.

The "Tiger Plane"

SR-71 up close and personal.

 

Discovery over the shoulder.

The view no Soviet pilot ever saw.

 The museum has a little Cessna 150 inside that they let the kids climb in and handle the controls.  Its educational for older kids because they can work the controls and watch the ailerons, etc., but for Janelle and Joseph, it's just fun.

They got out of the Cessna and Joseph ran off toward "the yellow airplane".  You might notice that he looks pouty in the picture.  That's because we stopped him from climbing over the seat and getting to the plane.  He was a little disappointed that he couldn't touch everything.

If you've never been there, you should put it on your list of places to go the next time you're in DC.  They have a treasure trove of aircraft from the very beginning of modern aviation to today, and cat walks around the hangers that provide a multitude of views.

A Concorde.

In the entry vestibule.

Note the rear facing machinegun.  How would you like to fly that into combat?  Especially since they forbade parachutes back then, since a parachute would only encourage the pilot to abandon his aircraft.

 A Piper Cub, over the wing of a Boeing 707, with the Concorde on the rear left.

If the planes aren't enough, you can always go up in the observation tower and watch the traffic into and out of Dulles airport.

Wide angle view of Dulles.

Can you find our van?  The kids did.

There are two displays which I consider the crown jewels of the museum.  The first is THE Enola Gay, the B29 that dropped the atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II.

This is hard to see, but this is where the Army Airman sat and the bomb sight he used when he pickled the two atomic bombs that ended WW II.

The second crown jewel is the recently added Space Shuttle Discovery.  It is really something to see and I think it is pure genius to display it like it is.  It is not "restored" at all.  It looks just like it did the last time it returned from space.  The previous owner of this display space was the Space Shuttle Enterprise.  I really don't know if the Enterprise was  real or a model.  I'm still confused about that, but the difference is striking.  The Enterprise was a museum piece, the Discovery looks like a bird of war.  Here's a few contrasting pictures:

Enterprise

Discovery

 Here's a few more of the Discovery and her battle scars.

The heat tiles underneath.

It's really sad to know that this wonderful craft probably marks the end of manned spaceflight in our generation.  The other displays at Udvar-Hazy that show the beginning of the space race, when we put men on the moon with vacuum tube technology and no more computing power than a modern pocket calculator makes one wonder why it is too hard to send men to space in 2012.  I guess its a matter of will and leadership.

Our visit ended like any other good day at Udvay-Hazy, with a meal at the highest priced McDonalds in Virginia, but the only one where you can watch airplanes on the base leg to the runway at Dulles.

Finally, just because I couldn't resist this shot (all in good inter service fun), my tribute to the US Air Force.  For the record, the Enola Gay was a US Army Air Corps aircraft.  The Air Force didn't exist until 1954. 

The Great American I Met Today

My day started with me over sleeping.  That's not a huge deal, since my schedule is largely set by me.  However, it did throw off my routine and had me planning to get on the bus at a time I'm not accustomed to.  Just as I went out the door to go down to the street for the bus, it passed by.  Again, no big deal.  I just started walking.  It's only a mile to the Metro station.

Just as I had turned onto the road that runs by the Metro station, a blue Tundra stopped next to me with the window down.  The driver, with a thick accent, said "Metro?".  I wasn't sure if he was asking directions, or my destination, so I asked him to say again.  He said, "Going to Metro?", and I understood the intent of his question, so I said, "yes, thank you", and jumped in. 

That happens from time to time, not too often, but since I'm always walking in uniform it is not a remarkable occurrence.   Once it was a retired Army Officer, who I would guess was a General.  Once it was a young guy in a beat up Volvo who said he was recently back from Iraq with USAID and the Army had ridden him all over Iraq in MRAPs, so he thought he'd repay the favor a little.  Sometimes, I politely decline; usually because I'm almost home.

Back to my ride.  As I got in, I noticed the big Harley Davidson sticker in the back window and there was country music on the radio.  The driver (again, in the thick accent I couldn't exactly place, except European) asked where I was stationed.  I told him the Pentagon.  He told me that he "spends a lot of time at Arlington Cemetery".  He goes on to say that he is a Patriot Guard Rider and they had just ridden for a Marine yesterday and they're riding for an Air Force Captain tomorrow.  I told him that we really appreciate all the Patriot Guard does.  He also told me that his grand-daughter is in the Army at Ft. Sam Houston.  I said, "she must be a medic".  He said that yes, she is.

He was wearing short sleeves and had several visible tattoos.  I noticed one on his forearm that was a design with words around it.  I don't explicitly  remember the design, but I think it was an American flag.  I was focused on reading the words, which said, "French by birth, American by the Grace of God".

How's that for blowing up your preconceptions and stereotypes?  If I'd met the same guy under different circumstances (and recognized the French accent), I'd probably just thought he was another "frog" barely hiding his disdain for America.  However, this guy was a pick-up driving, Harley riding, country music loving, 100% American who is more patriotic (when it comes to walking the talk) than probably 75% of the people who will read this.

Lesson learned:  Great American's come in all shapes, sizes, and accents.  Don't judge a book by the cover.  I was proud to spend a few minutes this morning with my French born American friend.  

More on Janelle and my Hair

You may remember that Janelle has her own ideas about my hair, or lack thereof.  If not see here: http://www.wherethearmysentus.blogspot.com/2012/03/from-mouth-of-babes.html

If you're a Facebook friend, you may also know that I shaved my head in anticipation of deploying to Afghanistan (which didn't happen.  More on that later, maybe..)

Today, she was drawing pictures and telling us all about them.  She's getting really good for her age.  She'll draw pictures and craft whole stories about princesses and witches and dragons that go with what she drew (at least in her mind).  She drew this particular picture and ran downstairs and told me, "Daddy, I drew this picture of you!"

Just for kicks, I said, "Baby, where's the hair?"  She said, "Daddy, it doesn't have hair."  I said "Why not?"  She replied, "Daddy, you brushed your hair.  You brushed your hair and brushed it all off."

Beware - it could happen to you.  Take my advice and stick to combing.  :)

Chick-fil-a (A+ in my book)

My hat is off to Chick-fil-a.  For most of my life, I have just thought of them as a fast food place to get a good chicken sandwich, although at a premium price.  Lately, I have come to appreciate the company on a second level.  (you may know all this) Chick-fil-a is still a private, family owned company with Southern roots in Georgia.  The owners honor their Christian values by closing all their stores on Sunday to give their employees time to spend with their God and their families.  Publicly held companies can't get away with "traditional nonsense" like that.

Our local Chick-fil-a, up here in a DC suburb, has family night every Tuesday.  They already have a small "playplace" with tunnels and slides, but on Tuesdays they bring in some sort of family entertainment or event.  The only time I got off early enough to go, they had a folk/children's singer who involved the kids in the songs and let them play with instruments, etc.  

Last Tuesday, they had the Fairfax Fire Department out at the restaurant for a fire safety event.  They had one of the cows dressed up like a fireman and a firetruck outside for the kids to climb on/in and explore.  Joseph loved it.  The firecow came around to Jeni's table and interacted with Joseph.  A bit later, Jeni turned back to Joseph and he was gone!  After a brief moment of panic, she looked outside and saw that he'd followed the cow outside.  He got to get up in the fire truck and ask all sorts of questions.... mostly "how?"  There weren't many people there that early, so he had all the time he wanted.  One of the firemen asked Jeni how old he was and was surprised to learn that he's only 2 1/2, because of all the questions he asked.

Easter

We have our own little Easter tradition, since we've been living in town and don't have a legitimate yard.  We put the kids' Easter baskets out the night before and hide some eggs around the house so they can come down and search for what the Easter Bunny left.  You would have thought it was Christmas Eve Saturday night with all the excitement and all the questions about what the Easter Bunny might bring.  Jeni left an egg or two and a little chocolate bunny in each of their rooms when they were asleep and Sunday morning at 0700, Jannelle ran into our room, holding her bunny, and said "mommy, the Easter Bunny is gone!", meaning he has been and gone, so its OK to get up (much like Santa).

Staged Saturday Night

Looking high and low.

Joseph found his share

Sometimes the goodies hide in plain sight.

Janelle actually shared.  She peeled a chocolate bunny and offered it to Joseph and Jeni until I finally took it.

They've been big on giving puppet shows lately, so they each got a hand puppet.  Janelle got a rabbit...

and Joseph got a hedgehog.

After breakfast, or at least the time normally allotted for breakfast, I asked Janelle if she would like to do anything today.  She said she would like to go to "the farm".  When I asked Joseph, he said that he would also like to go to the farm.  We had originally planned to go to Reston Zoo because they were having free egg hunts with paid admission but since that would have cost around $50 and the kids don't get anymore out of it, we decided to do what the kids asked for and go to Frying Pan instead.  Plus, its free!

It's that time of year at Frying Pan/Kidwell Farms.  There were baby pigs, sheep, goats, cows, and chickens.  The kids were most interested in the baby pigs.

 

Piggies!

Piggies up close.

Piggies eating.

 Other fun things to do.

Cows are neat too!

and baby chickens

We've been there probably 20 times (remember, I said its free) and we've never seen this guy showing out like this before.

They have a lot of old farm equipment around there.

Some they use every day.  They also have some museum pieces of historical machinery.

 

But eventually you have to leave the farm....

... and go off to the playground. 

While the kids were playing, I noticed a map, posted on a sign I'd never noticed before, that showed the entire park.  It's much more than meets the eye.  There was a "nature trail" on the map that leads down to a "waterfall", so I convinced the kids to go on a hike to find the waterfall.  (again, words like hike and waterfall are in the eye of the beholder).

On the back 40, leaving civilization.

So much to see, and TALL trees.

and flowers to pick.

a little rest along the way.  Janelle wanted to take her flowers all the way to the waterfall, so she could put them in the water.

Gotta be careful and stay with Daddy.  There are a lot of thing to fall on here.

We finally found the waterfall!

Whew, that hiking really takes it out of you!  Let's take a rest before we go on to the car.

All in all, a really nice day.  We topped it off with a "picnic" at McDonald's on the outside tables.  The neat part is, the whole time, you could hear the jets roaring overhead either on takeoff or short approach to Dulles Airport.  Frying Pan Park is less than 5 miles from the runways.  Nature is where you find it.