Sunday, June 29, 2008

Airplanes

Saturday we decided to go to the Smithsonian's new Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum near Dulles airport in Virginia. This is an enormous hanger that houses hundreds and hundred of airplanes. There was a replica of the plane the Wright brothers flew ,the space shuttle Enterprise and some of every kind of airplane in between. It was amazing to see so many kinds of planes all in one place. We saw lots of World War II planes. The Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, is there. The SR71, The Blackbird, a spy plane used until recently was there. That plane flew from Los Angeles to Washington DC in 64 minutes. There was even an exhibit about the IUE (International Ultraviolet Explorer.) That is a satellite that my beloved worked on for many years. It was cool to see him looking at something that had been such a big part of his life on display in the Smithsonian. It was a fun Saturday thing to do.


The Enola Gay



The white plane in the back is the Concorde



The space shuttle is huge!



Dennis by the IUE console

5 comments:

Cazzie!!! said...

Now you are talkin'...I soo love this post, and now my kids want to come on over and have a look there too :)

Sling said...

I loved the Smithsonian's air and space exhibit,when I was there in 1972!..
The Spirit of St. Louis' being one of my favorites. :)
..By the way,when you think about it,shouldn't the 'Air and Space' museum be empty??..just wonderin'. ;)

rosemary said...

I would love to go to the Smithsonian...maybe some day. Great pictures...you must have been pretty proud of what your husband helped work on.

Anonymous said...

Oh what fun! Isn't it amazing if you stop and really think about the first flight...it really wasn't that long ago, and my grandfolks reading about it in their paper. And look how far they've come in flight....amazing. My dad was a pilot in the Air Force for 31 years...started flying in WWII by the seat of his pants he used to say.

My favorite dreams are flying ones.

Jennie said...

Oh my, I haven't been by in a while. We are planning to go to the Smithsonian next week sometime. I wish I could have met you there!