The Spruce Goose

First stop today was at The Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, OR. The Centerpiece of this museum is Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose. Centerpiece is a bit of an understatement; The Spruce Goose fills the entire building. It has a wingspan larger than a football Field. The tail of the plane is as tall as a 5 Story building. The cockpit is 30 feet off the ground. The silver plane in the lower right of the picture is a DC-3 that is parked under the wing of the Spruce Goose. There is also a B-17 (same plane as the Memphis Bell) parked under the tail. Basically, This plane is Huge. Sure there are other planes made now days that are bigger, but remember 2 things. First this plane is made of wood, not some lightweight alloy like aluminum. Second, this is a seaplane, this plane is designed to take off and land in the water. Not some smooth runway. The rest of the museum was fairly cool also. One thing they do that I haven't seen in other Aviation Museums is for a few dollars more you could climb inside the B-17 display. I was fortunate enough to get about a 15 minute one on one tour of the plane. Standing inside the plane gives you a new appreciation for how difficult conditions were for the crew of the Memphis Bell and the other B-17s.

45th Parallel

Next stop was the 45th Parallel, Why? Because it's there... I've stood on the Artic Circle, The Center of the contiguous United States, The Southern most point of the contiguous United States, So why not the 45th.

Oregon Sunset

I ended my day watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I know this isn't the best sunset I've photographed, but anytime you can end your day walking 100 feet from your hotel room and watching the sunset on the Pacific is a good day.

Yachats, United States