Trip to Seattle to see Boeing and Museum of flight?

[W7PSK]

Ok, I was just worried our vaunted USPS had scooded the pooch again .

[W7PSK]

So how did the whole trip turn out ?

[T-Bone]

Thanks for asking. I have been meaning to update this thread for some time, but our summers up here in central Canada are short and busy. Anyway I will apologize now, this will be a long read. It’s sort of a trip report, and for others thinking about a similar trip. I should mention I am not a pilot, and have nothing to do with the aviation industry. I just love airplanes and cars.

I will start off by saying I had an amazing and wonderful trip, by myself in July. Unfortunately my wife could not get the time off from work to come along. I love vacations with her, but really on this trip I had a busy agenda, it was great to not have anybody to be concerned about, and nobody to slow me down (or speed me up in some cases, LOL).

I flew Air Canada to Vancouver so I could then fly in a Jazz Dehav Dash-8 to Seattle, as I have never been on one. I just loved that flight!!! The plane was so noisy and lots of vibrations and rattles, reminded me of my old muscle cars. LOL. With a flight level of 10,000 feet the scenery was fantastic, and we flew into Sea-Tac over downtown Seattle and by the stadiums etc. I have only been to Seattle once when I was a kid. I must say what a beautiful region.

Upon arrival at Sea-Tac around 2pm I was off to Enterprise to get my reserved G6. Once there I saw a 2010 Camaro sitting out front with a big sign on it saying “spoil yourself”. After thinking about it for a nano second I decided why not, and upgraded after haggling on the price with the enterprise guy for a minute. Note to self, the prices for upgrading are negotiable. Then it was off to check into my hotel in Tuckwilla just off of the #405 for easy access.

After check-in I was off to Kenmore Air at Lake Union for my scenic Float Plane flight. Maybe I got lucky on this trip but all my travels by car (and I logged a few in 5 days) went well and I was very impressed with traffic flow. This was late afternoon driving through downtown Seattle and although it was busy with white knuckles, I got to Lake Union in what seemed like no time. As I was way early for my flight I grabbed a bite to eat at Starbucks just down the street and watched float planes come and go at Kenmore Air. Loved the sound of those old radials on the Beavers, it’s music to my ears.

Anyway as my flight time approached I was getting concerned there were no other passengers showing up. Surely they were not going to take a plane up with just 1 customer (and lose a few hundred dollars I assume?). Well what can I say, talk about a first class outfit. Kenmore Air said they knew I booked months ago and came a long way to get here and no way were they cancelling on me. Best of all we got to go up in a Beaver (turbo I think) which I just loved. I got to sit in the front right seat so I had a spectacular view. The female pilot was super, and answered my numerous dumb questions.

Day two started out early with a great continental breaky at my hotel. Then off to Everett for my Boeing tour. I took the #405 up through Bellevue knowing I would come back on the #5 through Seattle. I got to KPAE from Tukwilla in about an hour (and I did stay out of the car pool lane). As I had a couple hours to kill before my factory tour I went to the Museum of Flight’s restoration centre. What a great place, and friendly people there. I chatted with two old guys there at some length, again they answered all my questions and I learned a lot. Two highlights for me here were Boeing’s first 727, and an awesome BOAC Comet currently being restored. To me the 727 is the best looking airliner ever. They look like they are doing 500 mph just standing still. Plus I have never seen a Comet before and it was cool to see one up close and actually go inside it. As I restore muscle cars as a hobby I can appreciate seeing this aircraft restoration centre very much.

Ok now off to the Future of flight for my Boeing tour. As I drive around Paine Field I had to stop and look at all the brand new airplanes sitting around. I could not help but start counting, $200, $400, $600 million, you get the idea, and by the time I was done I’m sure I was at $5 billion in brand new airplanes in one area. I could sum up the Factory tour in one word, amazing!!! But that doesn’t do it justice. I knew this building was big, but you have no idea until you are beside and inside it. To see all the rigging, equipment, staff, and airplanes being assembled was great, plus the tour guide was really good. The Future of Flight exhibit was interesting as well. I had no idea how big a Trent 1000 is until you stand beside one. To my pleasant surprise they had good info on the competition's aircraft as well, so it wasn’t just a Boeing in your face kind of place. Another nice surprise was the plane spotting from the roof where you can listen to ATC on the loudspeakers and watch planes come and go. I did that for a couple hours too. While I was there I could also see the Presidents 747 (Air Force 2?) on the ramp getting some maintenance done. Boeing also has quite a nice gift shop so I picked up a couple cool shirts, and some scale airplane models for my die cast collection of cars and planes here at home. As the place is closing it’s time head back and pick up some grub on the way back. A quick call to PF Chang’s in downtown Seattle and I’m on the #5 south in rush hour traffic to pick up my order. Smooth sailing once again, and my GPS took me right there, just need to find a parking spot. Also popped into the Hard Rock and picked up a nice shirt for the wife. After eating at the Hotel I zipped over to Boeing Field for some plane spotting. Found a great parking lot just down from the tower and noticed several others with the same idea as me.

Day 3 was a full day devoted to the Museum of Flight. What a cool place, I was really blown away. They had such amazing aircraft, and aircraft parts like cut away engines etc, and so much information on everything. Once again I chatted with several very informative volunteers, and obviously took my time looking things over. There was so much more to see here than I was expecting. I now knew one day here was not enough, plus the line up to walk through the Concorde, and Air Force 1 707, were long and I didn’t want to waste time in line. After they closed it was back to the hotel for my Chinese leftovers and then a quick zip over to the 737 factory in Renton not far away. As I suspected not much to see here except a few 737’s sitting around fresh out of the paint shop, and some float plane activity on the lake, so I head back to KBFI for some spotting there. It’s also a great place to watch arriving aircraft into Sea-Tac.

Day 4 was a nice drive just south of Tacoma to see the Lemay Auto collection. Wow! This guy had around 3500 cars at one time. Now the collection is down to around 2000 as he has passed on and they are downsizing. I only saw a portion of that, but was still cool to see, and they were housed in several buildings at an old military school, which in itself had lots of character. I know I am sounding like a broken record but once again I had the most friendly volunteers at this place too. And my tour guide here was a retired Boeing guy so we had some very interesting conversations.

In the afternoon it was off to downtown Seattle again for my underground tour of old Seattle. The tour itself was not spectacular, but I still enjoyed it. The history lesson and funny tour guide I had, were worth the price of admission alone. Also while downtown I walked by and stopped at one of the docks beside the Firehall to reflect a little. It was about 25 years ago and I was 12 standing in that exact same spot. It all came back to me like it was yesterday. My uncle took my cousin and I on that trip, and he also happened to be a fireman (at home here). Anyway that’s all we needed to get the VIP tour of this hall and their fireboat. Growing up about as far away from the ocean as you possibly can in North America I thought the fireboat was the coolest thing. The guys even gave us a hose, and turned the water on so I could shoot it at the Seagals hanging around. Probably wouldn’t get away with that today. Anyway it obviously left quite an impression as it all came back so clear. My uncle is no longer with us, but I know he was looking down and smiling on the great time we had.

Day 5 was my last day there and I’m sure glad I booked a 6 pm flight (in case I needed the extra time). Well I sure did, and I headed back to the Museum of Flight for my unfinished business. Forunately W7PSK, you had sent me 2 passes, so I put the second one to good use. I did the outside exhibits first this time before the line ups began. I thought the Concorde was so cool I went through a second time. In about 1987 I saw an Air France Concorde land at our small airport. I even skipped high school the next day to see it take off. I told my teacher the truth as to why I skipped school, and he said in 30 years teaching it was the best excuse he ever heard, and wished he could have joined me, LOL.

BTW some of the highlights for me at the Museum of flight were the SR-71 Blackbird (I know my number is slightly wrong, but you know what I’m talking about), the Concorde which I walked around and under for quite some time re-creating in my mind the tragic events of the Air France crash. Also walking around and under my all time favorite plane 747 (man they are huge), the Alaska Airlines DC-3 hanging from the roof inside, and seeing those beautifully restored WWII fighters like the P-51, Spitfire, Messerschmitt, Zero, and some of the early birds that I can’t believe people were crazy enough to risk their lives in. Before I knew it another 2/3 a day was gone and I had to return the car and catch my CRJ to Calgary and the connector home. I arrived home at midnight and could not sleep as I was thinking about all the cool things I saw, wonderful people I had talked too, and stories I was told. Only wish I could remember them all.

Overall it was an amazing trip that flew by before I knew it. I left out many details, but have rambled on far too long already. The Seattle area is like airplane heaven, countless other things to do if you have the time. In fact I enjoyed it so much that if things work out I am hoping to go back again next summer with my wife this time, for a week. The GTO Nationals are in Portland, which we will attend for a couple days. Then a couple days in Seattle, and a couple more for sight seeing in the area. I am very fortunate my wife loves cars and planes too, so I will likely have the chance to hit the Boeing Factory and Museum of Flight once again, just not for quite as long. But I’m cool with that.