McMinnville, OR

From the west coast we headed inland to McMinnville to explore the wineries in the area and to visit the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.  This region of Oregon is conducive to growing the Pinot grape.  Although other wines are produced, Pinot is the top seller from the region.  We were able to enjoy visits to several wineries.  Our favorite locations were those where the rolling hills of grapevines are visible from the highest vantage point.                                                                  

On this clear day, we could see Mount Hood in the distance.  Our favorite "story" location was at Maysara http://www.maysara.com.  Three sisters, ages 27, 25, and 22, run the winery.  The oldest, with a degree in wine making - enology - from the University of Oregon, is the wine maker.  The middle daughter oversees international sales, and the youngest, who we talked with, is in charge of Oregon sales.

Another great story was of the young couple with three children under 10 who literally planted their grapevines themselves.  The vines are planted in blocks, and often the grapes in that particular block are used for a particular wine named after a child or another person in the family.  Our unofficial research indicates that female names are used primarily.  Those who are experts in all things wine often use very descriptive, lively adjectives to describe the qualities of the wine.  We asked one wine maker if the qualities of the wine were similar to the qualities of the child who the wine was named after.  He laughed and said yes!

After a day of exploring the local wineries, we spent the next day at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.  Our primary interest was to see the Spruce Goose - the largest wooden airplane ever built.  Howard Hughes built and partially financed this giant plane's completion.  It was originally intended to haul men and equipment to Europe to aid in the efforts during WWII.  Because of it's size, few believed it would ever get off the ground...  of course except for Howard Hughes.  During an instrument test session Hughes did take off to the surprise of everyone there. The plane flew a very short distance about 60 feet off the ground.  That was its only flight.  WWII ended, and the plane was never pressed into service.  It sat in storage for years. Howard Hughes paid the storage bill which   was quite pricey.  The plane was finally acquired by the Evergreen group and now takes up a huge amount of space in the museum.  It's bigger than a football field! 

Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose / Evergreen Museum

Given the size of the Spruce Goose, it was impossible to get a picture of the whole air craft.  The plane sported eight engines, each with 3,000 hp, to power its flight.  This picture of one wing gives an idea of its massive size.

So why was Hughes' plane dubbed the Spruce Goose? The press mocked the construction of the giant wooden bird claiming it would never get off the ground.  They dubbed it the Spruce Goose.  Hughes hated the name and took every chance to say so.   The plane was actually not made of spruce at all.  It was constructed of birch.  One of many interesting points about the plane's construction is the use of many beach balls to make the plane buoyant as the plane is also a water plane.  The original beach balls are on display in the plane.

 

 The Evergreen Museum holds one of the best historical displays of aircraft from replicas of the Wright brothers' first airplanes to those utilized in the armed forces.  Many of the displays have stories of real people flying the plane which brings a very personal aspect to the importance of flight.

In addition to the air museum another building on the site it dedicated to space exploration.  The Evergreen group has secured quite a display of artifacts related to our exploration of space.  The third building on the complex houses an OmniMax theater where we were able to view a 3D movie on exploration of space with giant telescopes dubbed VBT's (very bit telescopes) by the scientists who use them.  Scientists from all over the world are working collaboratively in the Atacama Desert / Chile, about 17,000 ft elevation, using the VBT's to research the galaxies in deep space.  The 3D movie was included in our entrance fee to the museum.

All in all our day at the Evergreen Museum was well worth the trip!  After three days in McMinnville,  we headed east to Glacier National Park.