Today was a very different day to yesterday. We went to the Air and Space museum by Dulles International Airport in Virginia, it is an extension of the one in Washington. 
WARNING, WARNING!!!There are lots of pictures of aircraft in this blog, both in the museum and arriving or departing at/from Dulles International Airport.
Mayo had to go to work but as it was difficult to get there by public transport, Scott drove us. It opens at 10.00 am and we arrived about two minutes past so it was not too busy. 
As with all the Smithsonian museums entry is free. The first plane we saw was a Stealth Bomber, a very impressive looking plane, long and sleek. Behind it could be seen the space shuttle, Discovery.
Phoenix was keen to go to the simulators first so we headed in that direction. We went in the simulator that offered the Shuttle experience taking the Hubble telescope into space.
It went through the countdown sequence from 10, then ignition and then take off. We spent a few seconds driving upwards and then separated from the rocket. 
We were then floating in space, the telescope was deployed before we headed back to earth, going through re-entry and finally, landing. It was an interesting experience.
Scott and Phoenix were also going in the self-drive simulators, where they are trying to find aircraft and shoot them down. These usually end up rotating 360 degrees or more so I did not fancy that! 
They also get an opportunity to practice using the controls while the two people ahead of them are in the simulator. I wandered off to see some of the aircraft and, of course, the Wright brothers were represented.
I then came across Enola Gay, the is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. I was surprised by the size of the plane, it is huge. The wing span might even be longer than the length of the plane! There is a Boeing area, an area for World War I planes as well as an area for WWII planes. 
I could also see a Concorde but decided to return to the simulator area and take some photos of Scott and Phoenix in action.
From there we wandered down to see the Concorde, it was such a pity that something was hung in front of it so a photo was difficult to obtain. The best effort was from the walkway on the second floor.
The helicopter area was next in line and there were many types to be viewed, there were also a lot of microlite aircraft on view.
We went up to the second-floor walkway and manage a reasonable view of the Concorde, it was donated by Air France when they had stopped flying.
It is larger than I thought! We continued along and saw a variety of smaller aircraft, including a Lear Jet. We then went down a floor and walked along the walkway that overlooked the are devoted to space exploration. The shuttle Discovery is housed there and it was larger than I thought, having seen a shuttle on an aircraft carrier in New York.
We made our way down to the space vehicles and saw Gemini, Mercury and Appollo vehicles and they are not very large. on our way down to floor level, we managed to get some reasonable photo of Discovery.
We grabbed some lunch at a McDonalds McCafe, it being the only eating place available. I am not a fan of their fare and they did not have enough of the non-burger items on the menu.
That is very poor when there is no other place to eat. I did get a decent cup of coffee though.
One observation I have about the museum is that there may be too many exhibits. Parts of planes are often obscured by another and it can make the viewing very confusing.
After lunch, we went to the Observation Tower, and travelled to the top, 164 feet up. It is set up similar to a control tower and there is a 360-degree view so you can wander right round. The weather was fine but not clear enough to really see the what was on the horizon.
We were able to see planes from Dulles landing and taking off, BUT what made it extra special was the live feed from the Dulles Control Tower. This was a wonderful experience! We saw a variety of planes coming in and a British Airways (Airbus?) came right past the Tower so we had an uninterrupted view. Just as we were leaving, I heard a pilot come over the feed and he was obviously British!!
It was then time to return home and we made good time again even though the road was fairly busy again. Today was an enjoyable day and a totally different experience from yesterday, but I would not have missed yesterday for anything.
It was another good day on my trip and I was so grateful to Scott for taking me today and to Mayo, of course, for inviting me to stay with them and taking a day off yesterday to spend it with me.
From there we wandered down to see the Concorde, it was such a pity that something was hung in front of it so a photo was difficult to obtain. The best effort was from the walkway on the second floor.
The helicopter area was next in line and there were many types to be viewed, there were also a lot of microlite aircraft on view.We went up to the second-floor walkway and manage a reasonable view of the Concorde, it was donated by Air France when they had stopped flying. It is larger than I thought! We continued along and saw a variety of smaller aircraft, including a Lear Jet. We then went down a floor and walked along the walkway that overlooked the are devoted to space exploration. The shuttle Discovery is housed there and it was larger than I thought, having seen a shuttle on an aircraft carrier in New York.We made our way down to the space vehicles and saw Gemini, Mercury and Appollo vehicles and they are not very large. on our way down to floor level, we managed to get some reasonable photo of Discovery.We grabbed some lunch at a McDonalds McCafe, it being the only eating place available. I am not a fan of their fare and they did not have enough of the non-burger items on the menu.
That is very poor when there is no other place to eat. I did get a decent cup of coffee though.
One observation I have about the museum is that there may be too many exhibits. Parts of planes are often obscured by another and it can make the viewing very confusing. After lunch, we went to the Observation Tower, and travelled to the top, 164 feet up. It is set up similar to a control tower and there is a 360-degree view so you can wander right round. The weather was fine but not clear enough to really see the what was on the horizon.
We were able to see planes from Dulles landing and taking off, BUT what made it extra special was the live feed from the Dulles Control Tower. This was a wonderful experience! We saw a variety of planes coming in and a British Airways (Airbus?) came right past the Tower so we had an uninterrupted view. Just as we were leaving, I heard a pilot come over the feed and he was obviously British!!
It was then time to return home and we made good time again even though the road was fairly busy again. Today was an enjoyable day and a totally different experience from yesterday, but I would not have missed yesterday for anything.
It was another good day on my trip and I was so grateful to Scott for taking me today and to Mayo, of course, for inviting me to stay with them and taking a day off yesterday to spend it with me.
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