TimeSharing Today | Jul / Aug, 2026 Page 18
OWNERSHIP & TRAVEL
to help understand where, why, and how they were used. Several were used in movie-making.
We spent the night at a Best Western Hotel in Long Beach, WA. Nearby, we discovered Dylan’ s Cottage Bakery & Delicatessen, which has a wide variety of pastries. We settled for both raspberry and apple fritters. Delicious!
We drove through two old forts now operated as Oregon State Parks. And, of course, we had to stop for lunch at one of Western Oregon’ s favorite places: The Tillamook Creamery. It was an easy drive down Hwy 101 and 22 to our home in Dallas, OR.
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, McMinnville, OR
For many years, we have bypassed the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, which is only 25 miles from our home. So, we decided to visit it for a January day trip. It is basically all indoors, so the weather wasn’ t a problem.
There are airplanes of all types and sizes in the museum, from a copy of the Wright Bros. first airplanes to Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose. He designed and built it to use in WWII to move massive amounts of supplies quickly throughout the war-torn countries. Unfortunately, his prototype was not completed until the war was over.
The plane is actually made of wood. He piloted it on its only test flight. He reached an altitude of 25’ before landing, a half mile from where he started. It was later shipped to Portland, where it was broken down into smaller parts for hauling on barges for the trip down the Willamette River. Then the various pieces were loaded on trucks for the trip to their final resting place in the museum.
Next to the space portion of the museum there is another very large building. There, you can learn about space programs, astronauts, and their trips to the Moon. They also have an SR-71 on display. It is one of the world’ s fastest planes.
Within the Space section of the museum has many interpretive displays that explain the roles of each craft in shaping our space program. There is even a copy of the Rover and the Lunar Lander that the astronauts lived in while on the Moon.
There is a small café in the Aviation Museum, so you don’ t have to find a place to eat in town. The museum has many people on hand to explain the planes’ uses and specifications, and why we need so many different types of planes.
So, check out what is available near you. You don’ t have to drive to Yellowstone, Washington, D. C., or Disney World to find an enjoyable and educational place to visit.
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