- Joined
- Jun 13, 2008
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- 7,838
- Location
- Marietta, GA
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Display name:
Drake the Outlaw
I have several items on my aviation bucket list and checked off two of 'em last week. Early Saturday morning my son Alex and I flew commercial from Atlanta to Newark NJ and picked up a rental car which got us the 100 or so miles North to Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. We were there by 12:30 or so, and had plenty of time to walk the airfield prior to the show. It was a beautiful fall day, with blue skies and leaves just beginning to change. For the afternoon (~2:30-4:00) airshow, we located ourselves on a bench near the center of the action and watched various Golden Age and prior aircraft and replicas do their thing. The oldest airplane they flew that day was a 1909 (?) Curtiss pusher. There were mock dogfights (Fokker triplane vs Bristol F.2B), a toilet paper cutting contest, and a demo flight by a replica Fokker D.VIII (the parasol monoplane fighter), complete with a rotary engine. After the show, we browsed through the 4 museum buildings where they have a collection of (pretty motley) vintage aircraft from the teens and twenties. To cap our day, we took the afternoon's final flight on Rhinebeck's New Standard biplane. Lots of fun, and a beautiful early evening to fly over the Hudson Valley.
I'd left Sunday open just in case we got weathered out on Saturday, so we had an open day. We spent that time well. First, we made our way down to the USMA at West Point. There, we took an hour and a half bus tour that hit the highlights of the campus - the drill field, the chapel, and some of the Revolutionary War history of the site. We also toured the museum, although some areas were closed. After that we drove about 5 miles South and hiked Bear mountain, which along the Appalachian trail. The segment we hiked was up the highest hill (mountain?) in the area and was (my estimate) 2 miles up and the same distance down. The challenge of the trail was its incline. There are approximately 1300 granite steps that make up a big portion of the trail. 1300 up. 1300 down. I got winded a couple of times on the way up. Surprisingly I wasn't sore the next day. The views from the top of the mountain were great - you could look up and down the Hudson Valley. The day was clear enough we could make out the skyline of NYC, which is about 50 miles south.
Monday was a travel day. We dropped the rental car back at the Newark airport and took Amtrak from there to DC, arriving on a drizzly afternoon. That weather persisted for the balance of our stay in Washington.
On Tuesday, we took the Metro subway and a bus to the Udvar-Hazy center near Dulles. That was about an hour and a half trip. The museum was awesome. I was amazed at all of the displays and how well the aircraft and artifacts were displayed. Enola Gay, SR-71, Shuttle, an array of sole survivor (or close) WWII Axis aircraft, plus plenty of US military and civilian hardware. There is a viewing area where you can overlook the restoration shop. Currently in the shop are: Me-109, B-26 Flak Bait, Douglas SBD, Japanese Ohka, Russian Sturmovik, and probably a couple of others. One of the interesting exhibits was the disassembled B-17 - Shoo-Shoo-Baby. Its fuselage was parked adjacent to the modern military jets, with the closest being an FA-18A. Amazing that a modern fighter jet is about 90% as big as the B-17, which I think of as a large airplane. I'd go back to Udvar Hazy in a heartbeat.
Wednesday we went to the downtown NASM. I know they have been revamping the museum, but I struggle with their process. Currently over 50% of the museum is closed for renovation. I get that you have to update things, but why not update a gallery or two at a time, not the whole thing at once? I picked up on a couple of exhibits where the information wasn't quite correct and a couple of spelling errors too. Kind of surprising. Also, it was obvious that they are trying to put something of a spin on the demographic makeup of the pilot and astronaut ranks. Despite those things, it was a worthwhile stop. I need to go back to the NASM/mall location when it is complete. I've been there 3 times and my batting average is terrible. One time it was closed for the full remodel, once (only) the lobby was open, and last week about 40% of the space was open.
After finishing our NASM visit, we dropped by the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and the other very important/historic documents on display. That was a good way to spend an hour or so and was something which should create a memory and context for Alex.
That evening, we caught the Metro to Reagan International and flew home.
Anyway, a really good 5 day trip with a lot of aviation and other content. I enjoyed it, Alex enjoyed it, and we got some father/son time.
Note: To ride the Metro in DC, you need a SmarTrip (I'm not certain that's the right name) card you can buy in the entrances to the subway. Fares to various locations are listed nearby, so you can load the card with whatever amount of money you expect to spend. If necessary, you can add money to the card later. I found the Metro to be easy to use, clean, and very convenient from our hotel near the mall.
I'd left Sunday open just in case we got weathered out on Saturday, so we had an open day. We spent that time well. First, we made our way down to the USMA at West Point. There, we took an hour and a half bus tour that hit the highlights of the campus - the drill field, the chapel, and some of the Revolutionary War history of the site. We also toured the museum, although some areas were closed. After that we drove about 5 miles South and hiked Bear mountain, which along the Appalachian trail. The segment we hiked was up the highest hill (mountain?) in the area and was (my estimate) 2 miles up and the same distance down. The challenge of the trail was its incline. There are approximately 1300 granite steps that make up a big portion of the trail. 1300 up. 1300 down. I got winded a couple of times on the way up. Surprisingly I wasn't sore the next day. The views from the top of the mountain were great - you could look up and down the Hudson Valley. The day was clear enough we could make out the skyline of NYC, which is about 50 miles south.
Monday was a travel day. We dropped the rental car back at the Newark airport and took Amtrak from there to DC, arriving on a drizzly afternoon. That weather persisted for the balance of our stay in Washington.
On Tuesday, we took the Metro subway and a bus to the Udvar-Hazy center near Dulles. That was about an hour and a half trip. The museum was awesome. I was amazed at all of the displays and how well the aircraft and artifacts were displayed. Enola Gay, SR-71, Shuttle, an array of sole survivor (or close) WWII Axis aircraft, plus plenty of US military and civilian hardware. There is a viewing area where you can overlook the restoration shop. Currently in the shop are: Me-109, B-26 Flak Bait, Douglas SBD, Japanese Ohka, Russian Sturmovik, and probably a couple of others. One of the interesting exhibits was the disassembled B-17 - Shoo-Shoo-Baby. Its fuselage was parked adjacent to the modern military jets, with the closest being an FA-18A. Amazing that a modern fighter jet is about 90% as big as the B-17, which I think of as a large airplane. I'd go back to Udvar Hazy in a heartbeat.
Wednesday we went to the downtown NASM. I know they have been revamping the museum, but I struggle with their process. Currently over 50% of the museum is closed for renovation. I get that you have to update things, but why not update a gallery or two at a time, not the whole thing at once? I picked up on a couple of exhibits where the information wasn't quite correct and a couple of spelling errors too. Kind of surprising. Also, it was obvious that they are trying to put something of a spin on the demographic makeup of the pilot and astronaut ranks. Despite those things, it was a worthwhile stop. I need to go back to the NASM/mall location when it is complete. I've been there 3 times and my batting average is terrible. One time it was closed for the full remodel, once (only) the lobby was open, and last week about 40% of the space was open.
After finishing our NASM visit, we dropped by the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and the other very important/historic documents on display. That was a good way to spend an hour or so and was something which should create a memory and context for Alex.
That evening, we caught the Metro to Reagan International and flew home.
Anyway, a really good 5 day trip with a lot of aviation and other content. I enjoyed it, Alex enjoyed it, and we got some father/son time.
Note: To ride the Metro in DC, you need a SmarTrip (I'm not certain that's the right name) card you can buy in the entrances to the subway. Fares to various locations are listed nearby, so you can load the card with whatever amount of money you expect to spend. If necessary, you can add money to the card later. I found the Metro to be easy to use, clean, and very convenient from our hotel near the mall.
