Pima Air & Space Museum

  

                    A few months ago a long time buddy of mine came through town to visit for a few days.   We got in a lot of Exploring while he was here.  Hopefully he is moving to Flagstaff in the near future, and our Exploring can continue.  Flagstaff is across the state, but compared to Seattle, much closer to me.  And between Benson and Flagstaff--so many great Exploring sights are waiting to be checked out.   We both lived in the town in the past and many other parts of beautiful Arizona, but the pictures I have from then are old---and I want to keep this blog page as recent as possible.     On this day we made it to the Air and Space Museum in Tucson.    In past blog posts I have ventured close but never have actually went inside the museum. 

Looking back at one of the many hangers to Explore.

Past visits found me outside the great fences.

One of the few places --be it the air force presence or the razor wire fences-that

I stay out of when the signs say "Stay  out!"

                    On this day we actually started out on a hike -nearby and happened to drive by part of the very large plane bone yard.   We were told at the museum that there are nearly 4000 planes here at the moment.   And that is actually a greatly reduced number.   Plane parts are used on other planes, or sold to other countries that still use such -outdated- to our government planes.  And it is actually one of the few aspects of local government that makes a profit. 

I jumped out of the rental car to snap a few pictures of the bone yard.

But these do not do justice of the massive size of this place.

It is much like attempting to take pictures of the Grand Canyon.

Seeing this sparked my buddy's interest in visiting the museum.

We had some time to kill--and he said he would foot the entrance fees.

This is an amazing museum--but tickets are not cheap.

I hope to return very soon with our boys  because they would love it!

This is the amazing greeting visitors see when they first turn into the museum.

The clouds were again amazing on this day.

All day we fought the heat hoping the clouds would bring rain.

Tons to see and learn

Inside and out of the hangers.

The main building also holds a food court and a very large shop to buy souvenirs.

Although  I am not sure how many people would wish to come to a museum to eat.

The old men /workers in the hangers are super informative on all things plane related.   And life related I am sure also.

"Professor Getty" by a missile.

Checking out the cockpit.

All paper air planes and super kool!

Cramped in a cockpit.

Super shiny!

We got to see this amazing team perform a few months back.

Replica of one of the first flyer's.

This is a very hands on museum.  And great for youngsters.

Near the above flyer is also an amazingly large collection of patches worn on flight jackets from around the world.  

I do not believe TWA exists any  more

Time to brave the heat and venture outside. 

If you are willing to pay more--you do not have to walk, and get a guided tour.

Several presidential planes can be found here.

All huge aircraft.

It seems like a huge waste  but welcome to big government I guess.

This planes history is amazing.

Equally amazing is how it can even fly!

It was over 100 outside on this day  and in the middle of the huge air field I found this bench.

I do not know who would want to sit here--and sweat like crazy  but I guess it's nice it's an option. 

Airplane graffiti

We have had many a flat tire on all of our cars.

But I can't imagine changing one on an airplane.

Than it was past time to find some lunch.

This brings us to today's unofficial official business of the blog!

I need to work on the title but basically I pick a local business that gives great service and with

out there knowledge tell about them here.

Today it is Cracker Barrel. 

We received so much food   quickly  for a relatively small price.  And although it was all

very fattening it was super good!

And that is not just because we were both starving. 

Next post   some more great Exploring around Tucson

with "Professor Getty."

Much more Exploring and pictures on my Washington state blog page

http://exploreb-ham.blogspot.com/

And my first blog page  www.wyomingjack.blogspot.com

Please check them out.

And as always

**HAPPY TRAILS!!**

Thunder & Lightning Air Show Tucson

           Welcome back readers!   I have so many posts, new features, and pictures waiting to go on this new page.  Thank you all for being so patient with me.  And thank you to everyone that enjoys and shares this page.   I have been to a lot of air shows through the years, but none compared to how great this one was!  On this day not only was it enough of an under taking and joy of course, to bring along all three of our kiddos --our daughter brought along a friend of hers.  We left the house to mommy and the dogs, so that she could enjoy herself alone.  Free time is very rare in our house.  Each of the kids had there own camera --to take in the action.  And after viewing the film--I have to say they are very random--but have you seen my pictures,  so am I.  I have to also say that they have a great eye!   Many of the pictures were better than what I am showing here today.  Maybe soon I will rewrite this with the kids help, and there pictures.  I purposely never put our kids names in these pages--- to keep it more secure.  But if you ever are bored enough to know way more about me than anyone should--or wish to see many more Exploring trips---please check out MY first and longest running blog series at  www.wyomingjack.blogspot.com        As our budget gets better, the trips on this very page will get better too.   At the moment many of them are very local to our new home in beautiful Benson, Arizona. 

 

Notice the smiley face in the sky.  ;)

 

 

Did you buy tickets to the gun show??

Sadly for me--it is only a cap gun show.

At any rate for this event --you did not have to  because most things were Free.

 

 

 

After a long bumpy ride across much of the base I was really wishing we had not brought our low to the ground car.   Than through the metal detectors. 

Police and security were all around.  But we were on an air force base.

The officers and such were very willing to talk to anyone even if you were not wearing a sun dress.

 

 

Is this a photo bomb?

I will leave the jokes about dropping the bomb in this case to you.

 

 

To serve and protect?

 

 

The air show started off with the flag slowly dropping to Earth

as a jet circled it and the pilot sang the national anthem.

 

 

 

I give this performance and the entire air show a 9 ranking out of 10!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                             My jokes --usually do this....

  I apologize if I snapped you in any of these shots.  But with 250,000 visitors expected over the two day event, snapping any pictures with out people in the back ground was nearly imposable.  Especially as the day grew warmer, and any spot of shade-even if it was connected to an airplane, was filled with people. 

 

Several water refill stations lined the air field.

 

 

A drone.  I was also informed how bad idea it really would be to use one of these for target practice--no matter how tempting it may be.  I have since gotten reports from fellow hikers in other states, seeing these fly around them "observing."  Kind of creepy-for sure.

 

 

Speaking of target practice.

Do not give our youngest a gun, look at the look on his face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mission control and the kids confirm --the show was a huge success!

 

 

 

 

 

Even some past classics to enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course the real show was up in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We opted to leave the heat and check out a local park before the main stars of the show took to the air.  The Thunder Birds.   Luckily they perform in the air, so we got to see much of the show while sitting in the park and eating lunch. 

 

 

 

 

 

We used our GPS to find a park, so it took several attempts to find a park with actual shade and fun things to do.

 

 

This great mural was at the edge of this park.  I believe it was called Swan Park.

 

 

Any guesses were we Explore next?

 

 

 

Quickest way to guess or send any comments about what you see here

is on MY Facebook page    Exploring with Wyoming Jack/Bobble Head