The flight up to Oregon was smooth and fairly clear. Although there were lots of fire related TFRs (Temporary Flight Restricted areas), but there was no smoke anywhere which was a welcomed change. Along the way, I snapped this photo of Mt Lassen and Mt Shasta.
I planned to fly over the TFRs which extended up to 11,000', but there was a 25 knot headwind at that altitude. Instead, we flew lower at 8,500' where only 12 to 15 knots was blowing against us. Of course, we had to fly around the TFRs, but the avoidance only added a few minutes to our flight.
As we crossed the Oregon border we flew under an overcast ceiling about 1500' above us. It was almost like the clouds knew they weren't allowed in California.
As we crossed the Oregon border we flew under an overcast ceiling about 1500' above us. It was almost like the clouds knew they weren't allowed in California.
A few minutes before reaching McMinnville the overcast ceiling broke up. It was a nice sunny afternoon as we passed by the city of Salem.
After 2 hours and forty minutes we completed the 377 nautical mile trip. The McMinnville airport is conveniently right across the street from the museum. If one were planning just a day trip, one could easily walk the short distance. However, we were going to spend the night, so we rented a car at the FBO. Near the airport and museum, there were two hotels that were in the $180 per night range. Just a couple of miles further, there were more reasonably priced hotels for $100 a night. Renting the car actually saved us about $35 over walking, allowed us to see McMinnville, and gave us many more choices for dinner that night.
Heading across the street to the museum, we found that it is composed of 3 large buildings and some outside exhibits. To the left is the aircraft museum, in the center an IMAX theater, and to the right is the space museum. We decided to start on the aircraft side. The admission was $27.00 per adult, cough, cough. That includes both museums and the theater.
Inside the expansive building, huge glass walls at either end admit streams of sunlight washing over the collected aircraft that are scattered haphazardly across the polished floor.
I suppose the big draw for the aviation museum is the Spruce Goose (Hercules H4). The famed aircraft from Howard Hughes certainly is large and must have seemed awesomely large in 1947 when it made its one and only flight. It still ranks with the A380, AN-225, and 747 as the largest aircraft ever to fly. There are quite a few aircraft on display and consequently, it is difficult to get far enough away from the Spruce Goose to gain a vantage where its enormous size can be truly appreciated. It's a little like sitting in the front row of a movie theater.
There are other interesting aircraft like the ME-262 parked under the Spruce Goose right wing. I also enjoyed the Wright 1903 and Curtiss Model D replicas. Even though they were not the actual articles, it was nice to see them in person, full size. Although there were a lot of famous aircraft on display, I would guess that most people were there to see the Vans RV-6 prototype. Just kidding. I was a little surprised and delighted to see it there with such good company. Sorry, no picture.
After a couple of hours we had seen every airplane, and in the interest of time, we skipped the helicopters. The space museum is just a short walk across the parking lot, on the other side of the theater.
The right half of the space museum is laid out roughly chronologically going counterclockwise from the main entrance. A replica of Goddard's liquid fuel rocket and a V-2 began our tour. There were exhibits on Sputnik and some other satellites followed. An unflown Mercury capsule allowed us a close up examination. I was amazed that NASA was able to convince anyone to climb into one of those things. It was much smaller than a sports car cockpit -- more like sitting in a single seat aircraft without all the windows and elbow room.
There is a Titan II ICBM standing upright in a deep well that allows the one perspective of seeing the missile in its silo. Another Titan missile is displayed on its side. I'm guessing that the museum caught a two for one sale on the Titans.
A Soviet Lunokhod (moon rover).
We worked our way to the back of the museum and found this mock up of a lunar module.
On the left hand side of the space museum are some more aircraft that didn't seem to have a 'space' connection including an SR-71, which admittedly flew pretty fast and high, but not actually in space. I never did get a photo of the SR-71 because it was so jammed in with other exhibits that no photo opportunity was forthcoming.
We finished with the space museum after about an hour and a half. Then we drove into town to find our hotel. After some zig-zagging and battling of one way streets, we finally arrived and checked in. It was about dinner time so we didn't settle in, instead opting to go back out to a brewpub that we noticed when driving through town.
We ate a nice dinner at Golden Valley brewpub which was fairly busy and then we sampled some of the McMinnville nightlife on N.E. 3rd street, where there are many bars and restaurants. We would like to think that we didn't stay out too late because we needed to get going early the next morning, but the truth is -- we're just getting old.
The next morning the weather was clear and again there was no smoke evident. After availing ourselves of the continental breakfast we were on our way back to the airport. The rental car return process might have been painless had we not been in Oregon. It seems that in the Beaver state, pumping one's own gas is deemed too dangerous for us mere mortals. Instead, they allow their most renewable resource, the pimply faced teenager, to do the dirty work. Fortunately, I already knew about Oregon's peculiar fueling proclivity from my previous travels to the state. All of which brings me to my embarrassing moment of the day:
Driving back to the airport I instinctively felt the need to top off the tank. That is what you do in rental cars just before returning them. Right? I pulled up to a pump at the first service station I saw. I rolled down the window and smiled at the attendant. "Filler up, please", I beamed. For some reason, I felt that going to a full service station was not only a novelty, but somewhat amusing. I'm odd that way. Then I offered my credit card and in a few seconds, I heard the fuel begin to flow. And then right away it shut off. Just like that. I heard the attendant try it again a few times, but the car wasn't having it. By this time my amusement had turned to embarrassment as I realized that I probably didn't need any gas at all, having only driven a few miles to and from the airport and around town a bit.
The attendant returned and asked if I thought the car should take more than a gallon. "Nope, that sounds about right", I answered with a straight face. The attendant handed my card back slowly and I signed the slip without any further discussion.
Back at the airport we dropped off the keys and loaded the plane. The morning air was cool and calm and soon we were in the air and headed south.
I punched in direct to Grass Valley and then we climbed up to 11,500' letting the autopilot log the PIC time. The wind up there was still blowing pretty hard from the north giving us a nice 25 knot tailwind. After about an hour we were in the vicinity of Crater Lake. There was still an active TFR over the lake although there was no fire and no other aircraft in the area. At 11,500' I was over the top of it anyway, so we diverted a little to the east to fly by the lake.
The tailwind along with the slightly more direct route home allowed us back into Grass Valley in only 2 hours and 13 minutes. Another quick trip made possible by the little plane that could.
