Its a pleasant walk from our site to the three huge buildings that make up its' campus.
One building for the air museum, another for space (although it also contains planes and helicopters) and another one houses a wild aviation themed water park).
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| Yep, that is a real 747 on the roof! looks like kids can slide out the doors and down into the waterpark.... |
There are planes and space paraphernalia scattered around the outside of the buildings as well. We can see a huge 747 from our campsite.
A tremendous amount of money and thought was put into this museum. The buildings themselves are phenomenal.....beautiful wood and stone appointments, sparkling floor coverings, acres of clean glass, well thought out and carefully done displays and plenty of things for to keep kiddies happy. All the railings are glass so children aren't lost behind barriers, a number of aviation themed playgrounds both inside and outside buildings, nice snack area (no plastic chairs and tables here.....beautifully upholstered maple and cherry seating), and even an amusement type bi-plane ride in the entrance to the space building.
Hmmmm. The internet just slowed to a crawl and I can't load anymore pictures tonight. Just when I was going to show you what was in those gorgeous buildings! Check back tomorrow?
Visiting this museum jewel is definitely on our bucket list. It's right up there with the Smithsonian in DC and the Air Force Museum in Dayton. Somewhat worrisome though is that there were no visitors shown in your pictures. Any word as to the status of their bankruptcy filing?
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous building! I love the wood and stone. The plane on top is amazing - and you can slide into water from its doors???? They really thought of everything! Can't wait to see what you discovered inside - dang internets!!
ReplyDeleteSorry we missed this during our visit to Salem. I hope you got some photos of the water park!
ReplyDeleteLooks so interesting! Is that a vineyard on the museum grounds? We're having internet torture, too. Soooooo slow and sometimes none at all.
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