Airplane: Lots of parts flying in close formation.

Since I came in a day early, I had to figure out what I was going to do. executive was still in bed recovering, so she graciously offered to let me use her car as I played the tourist bit. After reading a few stories and seeing some satellite pictures, I decided to check out the Pima Air and Space Museum near the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. I've loved learning about history, especially anything WWII related, so a chance to see so many planes in a single location was quite a treat. I signed up for the bus tour that would take us to the AFB where we could see planes actively being dismantled as well as a large selection of planes set along the bus route. The tour operator was a wealth of knowledge and was able to drew upon his many years experience in the Air force to provide a very informative as well as entertaining narration.

After the bus tour I jumped on the museum tram for another tour of the aircraft that they have on hand along with a narration of the history of many of them, including the actual Air Force One plane used by President Kennedy and Johnson. The highlight for me was actually getting a chance to get an ipclose look at a B-17 bomber, pretty much my favorite aircraft of all time. Several of the hatches were open and I even got a chance to check out the ball turret up close and spent nearly an hour and a half just walking around this particular craft.

The rest of the museum was just as interesting and I spent much of the rest of the day walking around around all the hundreds of craft that they have around including WWII planes, B-52s, B-29 (same kind of craft as the Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb). MIGs, and all kinds of other specialty craft. There was even a small section for the space museum that have some interperative sections, including a display that house a small moon rock that was brought back on one of the Apollo missions.

I wanted to try to hit the Desert Museum after hearing so much about it, however after spending most of the day here I did not want to feel rushed and decided to just stay and enjoy the air museum. After finishing up I found a gas station that had a vacuum and cleaned out Executive's car and filled up the tank in token appreciation for the generosity for helping me out to such the degree that she did. When I got back she was feeling much better, so we decided to go out, grab a bit to eat, and then watch the University of Arizona ice hockey game. It had been quite a while since I'd seen the sport, so I really enjoyed watching and hanging out with her and another hasher that decided to show up. After getting home we played with the dogs for a while before I got packed up for the morning for when Executive would drop me off at the airport. I wanted to stay and check out more stuff, but I was finally ready to spend a night in a bed and get back to work.

Overall it was a great vacation. I'll have to see what else is going on, but I hope to attend again next year, though with that so close to my planned trip to Australia, I might have to do some penny pinching so I can make sure I'm able to do what I want over there. It was so nice to be able to hang out with my friends as well as meet so many great new people. as I've said before, I really enjoy the camaraderie among hashers and how they help each other out.

Special thanks to Executive Spread, Bonesucker, 3IY, Repeat Offender, GBAR, P. Colada, TNT, Wombie, Studmuffin, Harlot, Late Nite Drive Thru, Hose Handler, and so many others that made it a great trip.

Here are some of the pics I took at the Pime Air and Space Museum: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=vnlbugz.cfs49j2n&x=0&y=uqf3jc