Tuesday, August 17

AIR FORCE ONE........we saw it ... up close and personal!!

As we wound up our vacation, we traveled south to Portland from Seattle, and made our way to Boeing Field in hopes of possibly getting a glimpse of Air Force One as President Obama was scheduled to be in Seattle making appearances at fund-raising events. We had very little details (gee, can you imagine why?!) but knew that he should have landed about 10:30, and was going to be in Seattle for a few hours. Garmina assisted us in getting to Boeing Field at the King County Airport. No big black cars or SUVs were visible, only a few police officers cars -- didn't seem to "out of the ordinary" to those of us from the Big City.

We were able to park, walk in to the terminal (this airport is about half the size of Hobby Airport) and stand about 60 feet from AIR FORCE ONE! There was a layer of glass between us, but we had a basically unobstructed view of that beautiful bird! All of the hooplah associated with the 28-vehicle motorcade we missed, but who cares about that anyway? We were tickled just to see the plane! We talked with several folks who were there and told us about the big gray bird that landed about the same time, had it's back end open up and Mr. Obama's limosine backed out of it....okay so that might have been cool to see as well....We gawked a while, took more pictures, then departed.

While in Seattle, we had purchased the CityPass and used it to see several of the attractions but still had coupons left.....one for the zoo, and one for the Museum of Flight and since the museum was very close to Boeing Field, we decided to visit. Boy were we glad we did! Not only did we see the current Air Force One, we saw the ORIGINAL one as well! We watched a short film on The Concorde, then toured the museum and saw a lunar rover and an Apollo capsule), then we got to see the big birds! The original Air Force One is open for inspection (please don't do anything other than breathe in this relic....) and we also saw the first Boeing 747 to fly. We climbed up into the first Concorde - man that thing is small inside!! After doing our part to improve the economy in the area, we headed back south to Portland.

This area of the country is known for the gray skies and cooler temps. We have proof that the sun does shine here (and yes, it did get HOT!) and that it does not rain every day! The cooler temps returned today and we experienced a 20 degree drop by just traveling 10 miles. We have had a blast and experienced lots of things.....way more than I could have put in this blog, but suffice it to say that I would recommend you visit the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

New photos have been uploaded.....enjoy them - and we will be home on Wednesday night!
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