Saturday, August 25th was our last day in McMinnville. We had to pack up the trailer in order to drive to the coast.
Waking up with my baby girl. The sleeping situation in the trailer is in flux most trips. For the most part the 3 boys sleep in their queen bed and then Michael, Ella and I sleep in the other queen bed. Sometimes Zeke will end up sleep on the fold down dining table bed and sometimes Ella will. It just depends.
Our adventure for this day was to go to the Evergreen Air & Space Museums prior to driving to the coast. We were just going to buy tickets for the day, but it ended up being cheaper to buy a family membership for the year. My mom and I are both on the cards so we can take the kids or Ga-Ga & Pa could take them. The membership included SO many other air museums including the Museum of Flight and the Pacific Science Center.
The main star of the museum is the Spruce Goose an H-4 Hercules. This was a prototype airlift flying boat that was made by Howard Hughes in 1947. The boat is made of mainly wood due to the restrictions on the use of aluminum and the concerns about the weight. Even though it's nickname is Spruce Goose it's made almost entirely of birch. The Hercules is the largest flying boat ever built, and it has the largest wingspan of any aircraft that has ever flown. It's massive and it fits inside the museum!!!
This is the picture on the inside. It's so huge!
The crazy part to me was the fact that these HUGE wings that were designed to be supported by water (see the picture above I got it online), but in the museum they weren't supported by anything. They were connected to the plane of course, but the weight of those wings just pulled downward seemed mind boggling. I would have expected there to be cables or something.
We found this cute Rosie Riveter photo op!
Nothings stopping Ella!
Addison's got this!
Anna is ready for action!
They had a bunch of these old airplane seats around the museum. Some were used as seating to watch little video clips and some were just there so you could rest.
One thing Michael and I both noticed was how amazingly comfortable they were. Plus roomy! Those bulky armrest are where the tray tables were stored. We are so getting ripped off now with those cramped uncomfortable airline seats.
The kids actually had a great time looking around at the airplanes. I was sure they were going to be bored.
Jack wanted a picture with his favorite plane.
With our admission we also got to go see one movie. Around noon we headed over to the theater and saw a movie that was narrated by Harrison Ford. It was all about the history of flight and how it's changed the world so much. It was amazing and of course at the end it made Christina and I cry. It talked about how amazing it is to visit these other areas of the world, but the best thing is always coming home. Then it showed pictures of people waiting at airports for their loved ones and their reunions...the smiles, the laughs and the tears. Oh my goodness....all the feels for sure!
Just outside the Space Museum is this super fun playground that is designed to look like different modes of flight. Love this Bi-Wing Plane. In the back on the left you can see the top of the Space Shuttle.
Ella's the pilot!
Where should we go girls?
Zeke was taking Ga-Ga on a helicopter ride.
These two boys have so much fun together!
After playing for a bit it was off to see the Space Museum. I love anything to do with space so this was what I was looking forward to. They had a timeline that you read through right when you walked in. It was so interesting reading about the race for space. Unfortunately the kiddos weren't as excited about this portion or they were just getting tired, but they held it together long enough for us to get to view most of the museum.
Lunar Module
I believe this is the type of jet that was used in Top Gun.
I this is in F-22 or something like that. I'm horrible with knowing the difference, but any rate these are amazing pieces of machinery!
On the walk over from the Air Museum to the Space Museum they have USA seal right on the walkway.
They also have the planets. This is Zeke being an Earthling...
a Martian...
and burning on the surface of the sun!
Once we were all done it was off to our next destination Garibaldi Oregon just north of Tillamook.
We stayed at the Harborview Inn & RV Park. It was great because my parents' hotel room was just a 100 ft or so from our campsite.
We got two sites right next to each other and there was this nice climbing tree and rock area that the kids could play in. It was definitely more urban camping though. We were in the heart of the small town right next to the parking area for the trucks and trailers and the boat launch was across the street.
He's to cool for school!
I knew that after having to pack up camp in McMinnville, visiting the museums, driving and then setting up camp that we would not be super interested in cooking dinner. I checked online and found this restaurant called Pirates Cove. It has amazing reviews and just a few miles from the campsite When we got there the parking lot was SO full. When we walked in it was quite confusing as to where we should check in...there were two desk areas, but neither of them was manned. Finally I saw a lady cleaning off a table and then taking back some folks. She was the only employee I saw. When we did get a chance to talk to her she said it would take 35 minutes for us to get seated and since there was 13 of us we would be seated at 3 different booths and most likely not together. Nuts!
So we went back toward the campsite to this place that we had passed on the way and decided to check it out. It had this sign on the outside of the building that said "Best Fish & Chips" which I'm sure tons of restaurants claim that, but we thought we should see for ourselves. The nice thing was they had one round table on the opposite side of the restaurant from everyone else that all us adults were able to sit at and then the kids got to sit next to us at the bar. Quite a few of us got the Fish & Chips and it was really good! Michael got Calamari that was yummy too. Pa got Clam Chowder which he thoroughly enjoyed. As for the kids....they were hit and miss. Children! And the reason that Michael, Owen and Jack are not in the picture above is because they decided that wrestling in the restaurant was an appropriate way to handle things and Michael decided that they needed to walk back to the campsite so he could have a 'Man to Man' or 'Man to Boy' talk....who knows it might have been a 'Come to Jesus' talk.
The kids thought the skeleton on the roof surfing was funny!
After dinner we sat under our covered area outside for a bit and then headed to bed. I tried to go sleep without my earplugs that night, but I kept hearing this guy saying the same thing over and over and I couldn't understand him. I figured it was a drunk guy a few campsites over. I finally decided to put my earplugs in and then I was fine. The next morning my mom asked me if I heard the auction going on the night before....then it made total sense! Yes....yes I did hear the auction last night! :) :) :)
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