Monday morning we left Seaside with the sun shinning. It was to be a beautiful day for sure. We were heading to Crow Oregon, where a friend of Russ's owns a vineyard. But on the way we wanted to detour into McMinnville to see the Spruce Goose, which is in the Evergreen Museum.
We had an excellent and scenic drive from Seaside to McMinnville, passing many vineyards and wineries. I had no idea there were so many in Oregon. If we had stopped at them all, it would have taken a week to drive the six hours we were going to drive. And that may have been due to all the tasting,,,,no drinking and driving! We took Highway 26 from the 101 and then south on Highway 240 coming into McMinnville from the north. In the past Ray and I have come from Tigard.
Arriving at the Evergreen Museum, you see three giant glass and steel buildings. In the middle building you can see the nose of the Spruce Goose staring out at us as we drove into the parking lot. We parked and walked into the main building. The minute I walked in, I realized that I would not be able to be in the building for anymore then a few minutes. It smelled musty, likely due to the old leather etc in the old aircrafts. I knew Vonnie and Kathy could care less if they saw the Spruce Goose, so we decided we would drive down into Historic McMinnville. So leaving the guys to their fun, we planned to return in a couple of hours.
The Evergreen is for aviation enthusiasts. The displays range from designs from Orville and Wilbur Wright’s plane designed from two bikes, to a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. But the heart of this museum is the Spruce Goose which sits in the center of the museum. The Spruce Goose is built entirely of wood and is actually called the Hughes H-4 Hercules. The plane was designed by Howard Hughes and was built by ship builder Henry J. Kaiser, and was the largest aircraft of its time, with a wing span of 320 feet. It was built for the US War Department to transport war materials and personnel over to Britain in 1942. It was built mostly of wood except the elevators and rudder, which were covered in fabric. It was nicknamed the “Spruce Goose”, or the Flying Lumberyard. Due to many delays, the "flying boat" was not completed until after the war. The Spruce Goose only flew once and that was for a test flight. It flew a distance of 1.6 kms at a speed of 135 miles per hour. Howard Hughes stored the Goose in a special hanger and never flew it again. In 1980 it was put on display adjacent to the Queen Mary exhibit. In 1993 the Spruce Goose arrived in McMinnville Oregon, where it proudly sits today in the Evergreen Museum.
The price to get into the museum was $27 per person. And if you wanted to actually go inside the Spruce Goose, you had to pay another $25. But you didn't realize that until you came out, and that was where they would hit you!! LOL
There were many old aircrafts to take photos of, but the one of interest was of course the Spruce Goose.
While the guys were having their fill of old planes. Us three ladies jumped into Kathy's Honda and went into the Historic downtown area. It is a beautiful downtown with trees lining the streets. The Fall colours were amazing! On the street corners sat the coolest scarecrows. We believe the scarecrows were put together by different service clubs and businesses.
Lots of great shops to browse through. Vonnie supported the community by shopping in one of the shops. There were a number of tasting rooms downtown as well. These tasting rooms are different then the ones on the actual vineyards. We stopped in at the Willamette Valley tasting room. There was the usual tasting bar and also a number of overstuffed couches to sit at. Also high tables and stools. Apparently in the evenings they also have live music. That would have been so fun to see. But we did have to get back to the boys as our time was running out. So we decided just to do the wine tasting. Kathy opted out as she was the DD. Vonnie and I tasted only a couple and then purchased one bottle each.
We had an excellent and scenic drive from Seaside to McMinnville, passing many vineyards and wineries. I had no idea there were so many in Oregon. If we had stopped at them all, it would have taken a week to drive the six hours we were going to drive. And that may have been due to all the tasting,,,,no drinking and driving! We took Highway 26 from the 101 and then south on Highway 240 coming into McMinnville from the north. In the past Ray and I have come from Tigard.
Arriving at the Evergreen Museum, you see three giant glass and steel buildings. In the middle building you can see the nose of the Spruce Goose staring out at us as we drove into the parking lot. We parked and walked into the main building. The minute I walked in, I realized that I would not be able to be in the building for anymore then a few minutes. It smelled musty, likely due to the old leather etc in the old aircrafts. I knew Vonnie and Kathy could care less if they saw the Spruce Goose, so we decided we would drive down into Historic McMinnville. So leaving the guys to their fun, we planned to return in a couple of hours.
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| The guys outside the Museum. |
The Evergreen is for aviation enthusiasts. The displays range from designs from Orville and Wilbur Wright’s plane designed from two bikes, to a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. But the heart of this museum is the Spruce Goose which sits in the center of the museum. The Spruce Goose is built entirely of wood and is actually called the Hughes H-4 Hercules. The plane was designed by Howard Hughes and was built by ship builder Henry J. Kaiser, and was the largest aircraft of its time, with a wing span of 320 feet. It was built for the US War Department to transport war materials and personnel over to Britain in 1942. It was built mostly of wood except the elevators and rudder, which were covered in fabric. It was nicknamed the “Spruce Goose”, or the Flying Lumberyard. Due to many delays, the "flying boat" was not completed until after the war. The Spruce Goose only flew once and that was for a test flight. It flew a distance of 1.6 kms at a speed of 135 miles per hour. Howard Hughes stored the Goose in a special hanger and never flew it again. In 1980 it was put on display adjacent to the Queen Mary exhibit. In 1993 the Spruce Goose arrived in McMinnville Oregon, where it proudly sits today in the Evergreen Museum.
The price to get into the museum was $27 per person. And if you wanted to actually go inside the Spruce Goose, you had to pay another $25. But you didn't realize that until you came out, and that was where they would hit you!! LOL
There were many old aircrafts to take photos of, but the one of interest was of course the Spruce Goose.
While the guys were having their fill of old planes. Us three ladies jumped into Kathy's Honda and went into the Historic downtown area. It is a beautiful downtown with trees lining the streets. The Fall colours were amazing! On the street corners sat the coolest scarecrows. We believe the scarecrows were put together by different service clubs and businesses.
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| Love this classic scarecrow |
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| Kathy and I sitting with old Thomas Jefferson |
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| Kathy and the voluptuous Vonnie with Mr J. |
Then it was off to meet up with the guys and get back on the road.
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