Exploring Mac-Town
Airplanes, spaceships, wine, and beer
Day of adventure!
I'm going to apologize upfront because I fear today's entry will be long. Eddie and I did a lot today and it was fantastic. We started out at the
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville - home of
Howard Hughes'
Spruce Goose (the largest floating airplane). This plane is HUGE! I really can't say anything else about it because nothing I can say will do it justice. Eddie was fascinated with the artifacts & models in the museum's aviation building - especially with the WWII displays. After I saw a model of one of da Vinci's flying machines and the Spruce Goose, I had seen all I wanted in there so I sat down and read for a bit while Eddie continued to explore. They did have some fun interactive stations that we checked out. One of the coolest things was before leaving this building, we stopped at the
Evergreen Vineyards tasting shop. They have a Spruce Goose wine label and a Rosie the Riveter rosé. Eddie and I were both surprised to learn that
Laurent Montalieu, winemaker for and part-owner of my
Soléna, makes their wines. Small world. These were very enjoyable and very affordable Willamette Valley wines. Eddie and I stocked up on a few for Christmas gifts.
Our museum journey continued at the Space building. We were distracted for a few minutes by the planet display on the walkway between the two buildings. It's a neat display along the path showing the relative size of each planet and distances from the sun so that was cool to see. We learned some of the planets have dozens of moons. Crazy! Inside we found an awesome display from NASA's
Mercury Program that included a spacesuit (surprisingly tiny) and a shuttle cap that was never launched. One of the more fascinating displays for us was an interactive exhibit to watch magnetic fields in action. This cylindrical contraption had a few ounces of oil mixed with iron particles to make it magnetic sitting in a clear bowl in the middle. Then at the top and bottom of this bowl were two magnets that you could control. You could move them closer and away from the bowl to see how the magnets affected the iron in the oil. We played around with it for a few minutes because it was fascinating to watch the oil form into funny spike shapes (like Bart Simpson's hair) and then to keep pushing the magnets to make the oil form into a different shape. I'm really sorry for describing that in detail because I'm sure that was way too nerdy for most people. Just know that Eddie and I thought it was really cool.
We were both pretty hungry after spending these few hours at the museum so we decided to check out
Golden Valley Brewery. But when Eddie saw a sign for
The Eyrie Vineyards, we made a quick detour. This winery has so much history for the Willamette Valley because it was founded by wine pioneer,
David Lett. We both really enjoyed their selections of wine and Eddie bought a few really nice bottles of pinot for us to enjoy in about a decade or so. But I digress. Lunch / dinner at the brewery was great! I was delighted to learn that my hamburger was made with beef from their very own Angus Springs Ranch. Their menu claims that as few as twelve restaurants in our country source their beef from their own ranches. And oh was it a tasty burger and cooked perfectly medium rare though slightly under-seasoned for my tastes. Unfortunately the fries weren't so great. But the beer was fine and the deals were fantastic - just $4.50 for the burger and $3 pints at the bar Sunday - Thursday. You can't beat that - especially when those prices are for premium items.
We made two stops on the way home to buy ornaments and a stand to set up our first Christmas / Solstice /
Festivus tree. Eddie managed to score a free tree for us from his work. Both of us agree that California gets stuck with Oregon's unwanted trees. This tree is one of the fullest I have ever seen and has no major flaws in it. Even though this one was free, the trees up here are super cheap - just $25 for a regular 6' Douglas Fir. We managed to cram 300 lights, a bunch of silver ornaments, and a pretty star topper on our humble 5' tree. Maybe we should name it. This this is just cool! I was really happy to be able to do this with Eddie because even though Eddie and I have lived together for several years, this is our first Christmas without roommates so it kind of feels like our first Christmas together.
Now it is finally time for me to wind down. Let me start by saying that I did not really enjoy today's holiday short story about a man meeting his girlfriend's family for the first time. Do people really have traumatic experiences from meeting their potential future in-laws? Maybe Eddie and I are just lucky to have good families so this was never an issue for us. But I guess it's a common theme in holiday movies for a reason, no? So on to my media mention. Eddie and I listened to "Imagine" on our way home but it
wasn't until I checked Facebook and saw two friends post about John Lennon that I realized today marks the 30th anniversary of
his murder. Obviously I was not alive when it happened, but I still think it's a terrible tragedy to have lost such a talented songwriter. Who knows how many more people he might have inspired if he had been allowed to live? So in the spirit of the holiday season, my mention has to be a shout out to John (and Yoko) for "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)."
