I had a very relaxing and enjoyable Memorial Day this year. It was great to spend time with my dad and brother at a place I really enjoy. My brother came out from Vancouver and we drove together to Mc Minnville to meet my dad at Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. They had not been to the museums before. Yes, I have taken pictures there before. I like it and may do so again. They have a ton of wonderful stuff in there. We also watched a 3-D IMAX movie about the Hubble Space Telescope, which I totally loved. After the museums and movie we drove to Bethel, Oregon. It used to be a town a long time ago but all that are left are the school and cemetery. Some of my ancestors used to live there, including my great great grandfather. My dad wanted to see if he could find their graves.

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Continuing my tradition of going all the way, there are 312 photos.

Leaving Forest Grove we saw this, the oddest roadside cross I have ever seen. Zoom in and see for yourself.

The museum a while back was expanded to two buildings, now air in one and space in the other. That third building seen here is going to be, of all things, a water slide theme park type of place with waterslides coming out of the 747. Odd. They also have wine tasting from their own vineyard. I really like the whole place.

Just looking at showtimes. We did not go until later.

Hooray for big rooms full of helicopters and planes. Makes me happy every time. Such an incredible collection of engineering, ingenuity, and beauty.

Reminds me of a science project I did in elementary school.

I would like to go up in a hot air balloon some time.

I always end up with this same shot. I can’t help it.

It was really great to have my dad and brother with me at the museum this time. My dad really liked it. That made me happy.

There are a couple of planes there I love the most, and this is one of them. I really like sporty radial prop planes.

That is a pretty darn cool fire extinguisher.

Check out that beautiful monster.

I like the photo of the gigantic turbofan and my distant tiny-looking brother. Look at it larger.

There is another one of my favorites. What a gorgeous aircraft.

Fun with FLIR.

Recently I watched the riveting documentary, “Stranded: I’ve Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains“. Every time at the museum when I saw a section of airliner or seats where they did not belong, I thought of that movie.

My dad liked that Cletrac very much. I am sorry for the blurry bad photos. They are all I have.

At the Hillsboro Airport recently they were offering rides in a plane just like that one. I stopped by but it was way too expensive.

I like this shot for several reasons. Look at it larger.

My dad has a soft spot for those old jeeps. He had a lot of adventure driving one when he was a kid.

I like this photo too, all three elements, the Spruce Goose Model, F-4 tail section, and actual Spruce Goose.

One thing military jets are not, is built for comfort.

I love these shots of miniatures. They look mostly real.

Eventually it was time to go over to see the IMAX 3-D movie. I Would sit through the part where they were touring star building nurseries in 3-D from Hubble images over and over if I could. It nearly brought a tear from my eye. The universe and its scale are INCREDIBLE. Makes me shake my head that in light of the fantastic discoveries we are making, so many people still have their heads so far up, they still cling to dark ancient fairy tales instead of embracing knowledge.

Then we headed over to the new space museum. It is still a work in progress and not totally full, but is coming along nicely. They are now attempting to get one of the retiring space shuttles. That would be awesome.

As far as the photography goes, this image always makes me stop for a moment.
Look at it larger. It feels relaxing.

Sorry for the blurry capsule photo. I did not have a backup.

This totally blows me away. You have all seen the giant, thick, multi-layer suits American astronauts use for space walks. The suit in the photo here is a Russian “Berkut” spacesuit. Yes, someone went OUTSIDE the spacecraft in that thin little suit. That is BALLSY.

The space museum is really coming along nicely. The rockets, missiles, satellites and capsules are great. Like I said, they are working to get one of the retiring space shuttles as the centerpiece. That would MAKE the entire museum.

That actual Saturn “Ring of Power” is a very cool addition to the museum.

Cool, I touched a moon rock. With how much it is wearing out and Obama canceling Much of NASA you may want to go see it soon.

That is a pretty sweet exhibit.

Now THAT was impressive. It is a Titan II ICBM which carried a warhead 600 times more powerful than that used on Hiroshima. That huge missile would travel at 15,000 miles per hour. I love how they displayed it in a mock silo with control room and all.

In the mock control room you could watch a few minute countdown sequence with audio and video of an actual launch.

My ICBM / Aerojet museum beat up your modern art / paint splotches museum.

I was fascinated by these attitude control thrusters. So simple, purposeful, elegant.

Once again, there is that extremely rare SR-71 electronics payload, surveillance, jamming, etc.

I always like that playground. How great would it be for a kid to have a helicopter jungle gym at home?

Again, it was so great to have my dad and brother with me at the museum. Thanks to both of them.

I am pretty sure that is an airstrip for radio controlled aircraft.

It always makes me feel somewhat sad to see all those great aircraft sitting outside rotting.

I would like to hang out with my brother more often than I do.

 

After the museum and some lunch there, we drove to Bethel, which is here:

First we went to the cemetery there, which is way out in the country on gorgeous quiet rolling hilltop. My dad was looking for names of our ancestors that are listed as being buried there. I helped him look. I walked all the rows and looked at every single grave, except for a few my brother covered. None of the names of my family members were there. Apparently many of the people no longer, or never had markers. A few were even wood, which obviously would not last long. My great great grandfather on my dad’s side is listed as being buried there.

I think this is a great photo of my brother and dad looking for evidence of ancestors together.

Heading out.

In the field behind the only remaining buildings in Bethel I saw a mother and baby goats. I stopped immediately to take a look, say hello, and take a picture. I like goats. When I got to the fence, a LOT of goats suddenly poured out from under a big tree where I had not seen them.

Look at this photo larger. How can you NOT love goats. LOOK at them. I wanted to pet them until I saw the large scary alpha male.

See, check that big guy out, herding his females around.

Then we drove back to the school/church. I prefer school, which is what it started as. Schools are places for people to think and learn. Churches are places for people to learn they don’t have to think. Anyway, check out the neat old historic SCHOOL.

I walked over to make fun of my brother for sitting in the truck texting instead of participating, but it turned out he was looking up the list of people buried in the Bethel cemetery on his iPhone.

I really love this photo of my dad and brother together. I am very glad I take these pictures. I rarely see my brother looking as relaxed as in this photo. That is what he was like many years ago before life and people screwed him over too many times.

So there you have it. As usual, this post took WAY longer to put together than I had expected. I worked on it for hours on many different days. I hope you have enjoyed looking. Thanks very much for doing so.