Friday, August 11, 2006

Fly, Fat Ass, Fly.

Amanda and I took a trip to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles Airport yesterday. Very cool place to visit. Billed as "America's Hangar", the cavernous building houses a myriad of authentic, restored flying machines that the Smithsonian can't fit in their downtown location. The highlights, for me at least, were seeing a retired SR-71 Blackbird (Which for it's last mission set a record by flying from LA to DC in 1hr, 4 min.), the Enola Gay (Which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. For an incredible account of the plane and its crew read Stephen Walker's Shockwave.) and the Space Shuttle Enterpise (Which never launched into space, but was used for many test landings and is the flagship of the shuttle fleet.)

Toss in an obsevation deck from which you can watch planes landing at Dulles, an Imax theater and an incredibly courteous staff and you've got a fun place to lose yourself for a day. I'd say it's a must-see for anybody who remotely likes aviation or ever thought about being a fighter pilot as a kid.

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