Orville and Wilbur
As a big airport/airplane fan, Riley enjoyed Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum a lot. The Kitty Hawk room was great. The plane is shown, which had interesting info about how/why it worked at all. Plus. lots of supportive historical collections: the stop watch that recorded the flights, their pocket watches, the telegraph key used to announce the flight to the world, a bike they'd made in their shop, extra propellers, etc. All original - pretty amazing.
Link via:
http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/index_full.cfm
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I'm a huge fan of aviation as well Riley .. in fact I'd love to take you and your dad for a ride in a new version of what you saw at the Museum.
The bottom right photo in the link below was taken in the bathroom of a small airport in central california - the bathroom can only be used by licensed pilots and everyone who uses this restroom signs their name on the bathroom wall .. maybe someday you'll be signing your name on this wall.
Brian's Cessna 172
Compared to what were used to that thing looks like it's made of nothing more than paper. Pretty amazing to see how far technology has come.
Riley I bet you would get a kick out of the Hot Air Balloon Museum in Iowa. You may have already seen it though.
Last Sat night the computer did not work at LAX International and lots of schedules got messed up.
I have flown with Brian....He is great!
Brian How do you post photos next to each other?
Riley...You must have seen many interesting things on your vacation! Grama pat
i don't think i'd take a ride on that plane. looks a little too close to my well crafted paper airplanes that crash into walls.
adam's right though, next time you're in iowa you should check out the hot air balloon museum.. if it's still around.
Dear Brian- Your plane is SO COOL. I'd love to take a ride in it.
Dear Adam and Craig - Dad thinks the hot air museum is still open. Here is a link we found.
http://www.nationalballoonmuseum.com/exhibits.cfm
I really like the Energizer Bunny ballon; it's like the star of the race here in Saint Louis. Every other balloon follows it. Here's a link.
http://www.ncstrawberryfestival.com/bunny%20balloon.jpg
Thanks for your comments.
Ya one christmas Grandma Pat bought Rachel and I aswell as Brian and Shannon Hot Air Ballon Ride tickets that flew over Napa Valley. It was amazing. I was suprised by how many people they can fit in each ballon, I want to say that it was like 14-16 people all crammined into eight square areas (2 per square all wicker) with the pilot in the middle.
The ballon took us over the valley flying right over the local vinyards and agriculture areas.The real amazing thing is that they really never know where and when they would eventually land, b/c of the vairiables involved with the weather. Even though b/c of their experience and expertise they had a rough general idea. The unpredictability made the ride a little more exciting aswell as scary.
We enjoyed the experience so much that Rachel and I want to plan a trip to New Mexico where one of the nations biggest hot air ballon feastivals takes place. Imagine seeing 100's of those ballons with all of their designs soaring high above the ground.