U S Air Force Museum

While in the area of Yellow Springs, OH we discover the Wright Patterson AFB and the USAF National Museum, what a great place to spend an afternoon! The beautiful entry opens further into three massive hangars each dedicated to a particular era of aviation history. To do justice to the Museum would take an entire blog's worth of post. Let's just say that having been to many aviation museums in my life, this ranks near the very top.

We start with the early days of the Wright Brothers, finding the actual wind tunnel they used in later years a fascinating piece of workmanship in beautiful hardwoods.


and numerous examples of unique planes up to & including the "racing era" machines!

they also have many examples of early engines, like this first supercharged one from days gone by:

The second hangar cover the WWII era and seems to dwarf the earlier building in size!

I was surprised to find a nice display of Louisiana's Chenault and his Flying Tigers>>>

Of course, no military aviation museum would be complete without the B-17...

As we wonder around, we are greeted by a sombering reminder of the end of WWII and the beginning of the Cold War, movement into the Nuclear Era!

I guess I was surprised to find any evidence of this in a public museum, especially shocked to see actual containers of those earliest weapons of mass destruction, acompanied with a small placard explaining that modern nuclear weapons have shrunk in size while growing log-rhythmically in power!

This fact coupled with intercontinental mobile delivery systems is pretty scarey...

And speaking of the Cold War, we enter the world of spy planes including one of the only remaining examples of the SR-71 Blackbird, what a machine, especially when you consider it's design dates back to the early sixties!

Just past the Blackbird we see modern contrasting examples of stealth technology....

All in all, a fun visit to one of the Nation's best exhibits of aircraft as evidenced by Kim's fascination with the place and it's many unique examples...

UPDATED_Visit with Family and Yellow Springs, Ohio

When I saw our path north to Minnesota was going to pass through Ohio, I knew I needed to make an effort to see my dad's sister and my cousins. I hadn't seen them in over 30 years!

My dad's family lives in the city of Springfield, not too far from the city of Dayton. We also wanted to visit the Air Force museum in Dayton to chose a campground halfway between the two cities.
To our pleasant surprise, this put us outside the nice small town of Yellow Springs. This artsy, fun town was filled with art galleries, fantastic restaurants, art and food co-ops and interesting gift shops.

The state park where we camped was a very well kept, quiet place. We pulled in next to a tee pee that was rented by a local camper.

Sam really enjoyed the friendly & quaint atmosphere of Yellow Springs. Each morning was spent at the local coffee shop, commonly referred to as "the living room of the town", where coffee, breakfast, and live music are served every day!

After a day of visiting the Air Force Museum (in another post), we set out for Springfield.

My cousin Tim and his wife Ellie live in what used to be my grandma's house. My other cousins Mike and Vickie along with my aunt Dottie all came by to visit. We had a great visit with talks about old times, grandma and updating on what was going on in our lives today.

Before we leave, Sam snaps a picture of the whole group. Thanks Tim for getting everyone together and for the great visit!

Kentucky Horse Park

As we drove along the highway towards the Kentucky Horse Park, we saw many fine examples of what Kentucky is famous for. Some were a bit on the ostentatious side to say the least! We knew we were in for a nice place to stay before we ever entered the park's beautiful campground. Set just to the east of the horse park proper, we opted to set up camp in the primitive area which we had virtually to ourselves. So, how's this for a scenic backyard!

The next morning, we entered the park where we enjoyed looking at numerous detailed bronze pieces of art, all horses of course!

The park boast a spacious museum filled with horse lore and history. Many examples of scenes from the past depicted by full sized preservations of the animals. The taxidermy work must have taken years!

Among the activities here, we highly recommend the wagon ride. It didn't take long for the Belgians, Jake and John to get hitched up. They seemed anxious to get going in the cool morning air.

As the boys pulled us slowly along, we marveled at the endless miles of pristine grounds and brilliant white fencing.
The oldest building on the property is the "Big Barn", constructed in 1909, was once the largest standing wooden barn in the United States.

Shortly after the wagon ride, we were led to a small show arena and given a sampling of what this "sport" is all about. Both english and western examples were shown. My favorite was the Paint with those marbled blue "catahoula" eyes!

The park is the ultimate retirement place for past champions. We were treated to a showing of several of these champions. I just had to get a closer look at him. I also enjoyed talking to the volunteer handler about the horse's temperament and daily routine.

Later in the day, we learned that the 'Egyptian Event' was beginning in the indoor arena, so off we went. There were many fine examples of the Arabian breed and the judges seemed very interested in giving each contestant their full attention. One of the prominent things the judges look for is the typy head profile that is a characteristic of this breed.

The whole affair reminded me of dog shows, the handlers running around the arena much like those showing hounds, jerking the lead and waving their hands to make the horses pose.

We also had a chance to view the show grounds for the World Cup, an olympic qualifying even that will be held at the park next year.

For those of you that know Kim and her love of horses - for me to say that she was in heaven today, would be a huge understatement.

But I must admit I too enjoyed this wonderful experience here in the home of the horse. KENTUCKY!