Florida – Aviation Museum

After seeing the Air Force’s premier aviation museum, it seemed only fitting to head to the National Naval Aviation Museum at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida.

 

As we approached our destination with less than 4 miles to go, we hit stand-still traffic. We sat and sat. Then all of a sudden we heard a loud Whoosh right above us followed by other Whooshes. Bill immediately identified the source: the Blue Angels. People in the cars in front of us were getting out to watch the scheduled practice. That ended up being one of our more interesting hour-long traffic jams. 

We saw 5 Blue Angels practicing.

(picture from the web)

After the traffic jam/air show we parked our trailer at the campsite and headed to the museum. It is much smaller than the Air Force’s museum, but it gave us the chance to see some Navy planes not in the Air Force museum. Bill was particularly interested in the World War II planes.

Goodyear FG-1D Corsair

Grumman F6F Hellcat

General Motors TBM Avenger

Bill observing a North American SNJ Texan

There were many other interesting displays: planes from other eras, space vehicles, blimp gondolas, a giant screen theater where Barbara saw a National Parks movie, and interactive exhibits. Here are some older Blue Angels displayed in the signature diamond formation, only 18” apart.

And here is one of the president’s helicopters known as Marine 1.

On our way out we took a quick peek at the Pensacola Lighthouse.

Alabama - "Sweet Home"

Alabama is a new state for us. We are now down to 3 states in the 48 contiguous states that we have yet to visit. 

We spotted a Saturn 1B rocket at the rest area as we entered the state. Parts of it were designed and manufactured in Huntsville. The Saturn 1B is the little brother of the Saturn V rocket that took Apollo to the moon.

Saturn 1B, Alabama rest stop

We found a letterbox at the rest stop so Barbara can add Alabama to her letterbox list. We also stopped at a little airport in Evergreen, Alabama where we hoped to find a letterbox hidden four feet from the front of an old plane (a FJ-3 Fury). Since we were given permission to touch the plane - we poked and prodded it even opening a nice little compartment, but we didn’t find the box. :-(

FJ-3 Fury, Middleton Field, Evergreen AL

Then we camped at a pleasant campsite. We’ll have to come back some day and explore more of Alabama.

Since “home is where you park it” for us right now, we could say “Sweet Home Alabama” for one night. 

Ohio – Aviation Museum

While in Ohio visiting Bill’s parents we spent a day at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

(picture from the web)

The museum, located northeast of Dayton at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is the world’s largest military aviation museum. Bill had been many times before, but this was our first time seeing the newly-opened Fourth Building and the first time taking a tour. In fact we took two tours.

Our first tour was a special treat. We targeted going to the museum on the day that Jerry would be giving tours because Jerry, a former air force pilot, is a good friend of Bill’s parents. We so enjoyed Jerry’s explanations, anecdotes, extensive knowledge, and joyful presence. We were blown away by all the information he knew on each plane – and of course there are hundreds of planes. 

This particular tour covered the Early Years and World War II galleries.

Our second tour was in the Fourth Building that just opened last month. The 224,000 square foot hanger houses space vehicles like a Titan missile & shuttle replica, cargo planes, all sorts of experimental aircraft, and, Barbara’s favorite, Presidential planes. Most of this collection had been displayed in a hanger on the base that required taking a shuttle bus, but now it’s just another building of the museum.

Kennedy's Air Force One

We only spent a little time in the other two buildings. Here is Bill in front of a SR-71 Blackbird.

While we were looking at their replica of a missile launch room and comparing it to the real one we toured two years ago we met a former missileer.

Missile launch rooms: 

2016 Ohio museum’s replica (left), 

2014 South Dakota actual launch room (right)

One final word about Jerry. His son is a missionary in Hungary and was the guest preacher at Bill’s parents’ church. He sounded just like Jerry and gave an interesting message on his church’s response to the refugee crisis.

Pennsylvania – Hickory Run State Park

With the housing market slowing, we headed for Ohio. On the way we stopped at Pennsylvania’s Hickory Run State Park.

SHADES OF DEATH

This is our second trip to this park. We stopped here 15 years ago when we hiked the Shades of Death trail. We decided to hike it again, but this time following letterbox clues and hiking some additional trails (Sand Springs Trail and Hickory Run Trail). Despite the name, the Shades of Death trail is a pretty trail following a cascading stream through rhododendron thickets. It is too bad we missed the blooms, but we enjoyed the hike.

 

Possible reason for the trail name.

ORIENTEERING

One series of letterboxes at Hickory Run State Park is planted in conjunction with an Orienteering course. Orienteering is a sport where one uses navigation skills to race from point to point called controls. Here is a map of one of Hickory Run’s Orienteering courses.

Each control also had a brief description of the location, like:

1-      SE of intersection

2-      Depression

3-      Near power line

So one uses the map, descriptions, and a compass to follow the course of controls.

If you were doing a real Orienteering race you would note the letters on the control and race on to the next control. But for Barbara this was a nice walk in the woods and once she found a control she sought a letterbox hidden nearby.

HAWK FALLS & FIRELINE TRAILS

Bill hiked to two scenic spots. He hiked to Hawk Falls and even scrambled to the top of the falls.

Then he hiked the Fireline Trail to the overlook of the Lehigh River and Lehigh Gorge State Park.

Maine – Chop Point’s 50th

We took a quick trip to Maine to attend Chop Point’s 50^th Anniversary.

Chop Point July 2016

Picture of Chop Point from the camp's website

50 years ago some friends founded Chop Point, a summer camp on the Kennebec River in Woolwich, Maine. Barbara was a camp counselor there in the early eighties and later served on their Board of Directors.

1982 - Barbara (center of bottom row) with Chop Point staff

Through the years, Chop Point also started a K-12 Christian school and founded a camp in Nicaragua. Four years ago our daughter, Carrie, spent a summer at their Nicaragua camp, Campo Alegria.

We talked with other alumni, toured the facility, and had a great meal. Perhaps the most wonderful thing was to hear the words of the founding members and to see how Chop Point has transformed so many lives.

Chop Point 50th Anniversary
(Bill & Barbara are below the chimney)

This was a pretty quick trip, but we stopped in Wiscasset where Barbara found a particular letterbox, we poked in a little art gallery speaking with the artist of the following painting, and we took in the view of the Sheepscot River. 

Painting of Pemaquid Point Lighthouse

Sheepscot River, Wiscasset, Maine