Today, we headed west toward the Oregon coast. We had planned to visit family outside Salem first, but they were not available. So we started early on our planned side trip to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
The museum complex includes an aviation museum, a space museum, and an IMAX theater. It was built in the 1990s by Evergreen International Aviation, whose offices are across the road at the local airport.
Because our main reason for visiting was to see the Spruce Goose, we only toured the aviation museum building. It was a pleasant and interesting two hours.
We had originally planned to find a motel in McMinnville for the night. However, since we were about three hours ahead of schedule, we decided to continue to the coast today. Ron called the Motel 6 we had reserved for tomorrow, and we added tonight to our reservation.
Arriving about 3:30 in Seaside, we got settled in and then went to surprise our friend Vickie. (She wasn’t expecting us until tomorrow morning.) We visited for a while, then went back to the motel.
Dinner at Bigfoot’s Pub ‘n Grub, right next to the motel, was really delicious. I’m sure we’ll be back!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose” at its home in the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon
