Wordless Wednesday: Colorado skies

 

A Stopover Worth the Time

You've probably had this experience on your travels: you're on a road trip you've taken the same way many times, and there's this intriguing site somewhere along the way that you've always thought about stopping and checking out. Nope, not this time, you say, I'm in too much of a hurry to get where I'm going.

Well, it might just be worth your time to stop...if the site is as wonderful as the National WASP WWII Museum, just outside of Sweetwater, TX. (They were smart to add "WWII," so you wouldn't make the mistake of expecting an insectarium! WASP=Women's Airforce Service Pilots) I finally insisted that we make the time to look in here on our way home from Colorado last month, and we're very glad we did!

The museum is squeaky clean (even the restrooms!), full of fascinating and well-presented information, and loaded with really cool artifacts. The photo above shows the interior of Hangar #1 very well, where you can find most of the textual information about this amazing site. Yes, they have 2 Hangars! The second one is sort of like the Air & Space Annex, where they have a bunch of planes:

The planes aren't just impressive to look at, you can actually—sort of—test them out!

They have replicas of some of the training craft that you can climb into...which, of course, we did:

But you might have the same question I did before visiting this informative and historical site: Why here, in Sweetwater, of all places? This question gets answered almost right away when you start reading the informational panels in Hangar #1. 

cute statue outside
the hangars

Before WWII even started for us, some forward-thinking folks in the government thought it might be a good idea to expand some of the nation's airports, since if we were to get involved in the conflict, we might need to have places to train a bunch of new pilots. Sweetwater's Avenger Field was one of the small airports that was made bigger for this purpose. The facilities were actually used to train RAF pilots from Great Britain for a while, before becoming a WASP training facility.

The women who trained here were already pilots—the program was highly selective. And when they graduated, they went on to do all kinds of jobs for the Army Air Force (as it was then called) such as flying planes from factories to airfields, towing targets for anti-aircraft practice (!), and transporting personnel to different bases. They even assisted in training male pilots who would eventually fly in combat. The women didn't see combat, but 38 of them died either in training incidents or while performing their post-graduate duties: it was not a cushy job.

However, for many of the women who trained here and went on to serve their country, it was the experience of a lifetime. There are several testimonials on display at the museum, as well as some artifacts like this trainee's trunk (which had a very interesting history; click to enlarge so you can read its story):

Many former WASPs have been feted at the museum since its opening, and some have even asked that their ashes be spread on the runway. It was a life highlight for many of them.

So...if you're ever on IH 20 just outside of Sweetwater, and you can afford to stop for a couple of hours, you won't regret a visit to this museum!

New tricks under the sun...for an old dog

Here I am, at 76 (!) and experiencing stuff that I'd refused to do before! Two new things fall into this category just this year—I must not be dead yet.

The adventures I'm referring to are two which I'd previously considered 1) too expensive and 2) too cheesy. But I'm not too big to admit I was wrong!

First up, on our trip to the UK a few months ago, was the London Eye (see my blog post about that day's adventures here). When I was there in 2008, we shunned this souped-up ferris wheel, but now, with grandchildren, we thought it would be worth a go.

And was it ever fun! The great views of London—changing so slowly as you rotate—were just spectacular. Of course, we were fortunate this day as most of our days on that vacation, to have fabulous weather. So the Eye is expensive, but well worth it, I now believe.

Next up was an attraction somewhat closer to home. On a road trip to Colorado with daughter and granddaughters, we spent two nights in Santa Fe to allow a visit to the original Meow Wolf—again, a place I had just thought was not for me.

Was I ever wrong again! It was a blast! All those oddly interconnected rooms, the super-clever art embedded everywhere, the corridors leading to unexpected glorious weirdness—it was so much fun!

This was my favorite room: all the walls are covered in found objects of trash. You can't really see the best examples here (I should have taken more pictures!). But there were old toothbrushes, old cassette tapes, about a billion bottle caps, and so much more.

How long it took the incredibly creative artists to do all this, I can't even imagine! Another example of the amazing Meow Wolf art is at the top of this post.

And here is a shot of a room the kiddos particularly enjoyed...

"Under the Sea"...sort of

We didn't even get into the mystery story that's supposedly embedded in the "house" you wander through. I guess that will have to wait for my next visit. And there are Meow Wolfs in different cities...must sees for me now!

Of course there was lots of other fun to be had in Santa Fe. I particularly enjoyed these pieces of rocky public art:

And monkey grandkids couldn't resist climbing on this one:

This wasn't exactly "public" art, but I was very impressed with this carved doorway in our Airbnb. Isn't it lovely?

I guess the old saw about grandchildren keeping you young is a truism. If they can get me to spend $$ and embark on adventures I had thought were not for me—and end up thoroughly enjoying them. I am for sure one very lucky Gramma!

Wordless Wednesday: no words

 

Wordless Wednesday: is it Nessie?

Heathrow: farewell to the UK

I knew Heathrow is a ginormous airport, but I still was blown away when I looked at this Terminal 5 departure board. Yikes! Where can't you go from here?! You can get to Austin, for sure (see our flight in the red box). But apparently not Reykjavík, since the kids' Iceland Air flight left from Terminal 4. That meant we couldn't hang out with them. But since we had to check out of the hotel long before our flight, we still had plenty of time to enjoy Terminal 5's amenities. Including...

Henry was able to pound out his usual six or seven notes of Rachmaninoff; fortunately the area wasn't too crowded so only a few travelers were disturbed by this  .

All too soon we were leaving the land of bangers and mash. Hope we can come back someday!

A short Oxford [re]visit

When I was in England in 2008, I visited Oxford three times (links to my blog posts from that era, as well as lots of pictures, are available here). But it's much too wonderful a city not to come back to.

Plus, we actually found that our last days in the UK were overlapping with the first days some cousins would be here, and Oxford was the preferred meet-up spot. Although I was skeptical that these two busy families could possibly actually meet up, it happened! And we were able to spend a fine afternoon together.

Here is the group of second cousins, trying to hold up the Bridge of Sighs...

other cameras looking straight on might have gotten the effect they were after

Since our time was limited, we stayed within a small area around our carpark, but it offered plenty to see. Including All Souls College, one that Hal and I remembered as being free to tour in 2008...and it still is! When we visited then, the term was just beginning, however, while now it was exam time, so we were cautioned not to disturb the studying students. But admiring the late medieval architecture (it was built in the 1430's) just elicits oohs and aahs.

All Souls quad

All Souls chapel

Then it was time for lunch, and what better venue could we choose than the Vaults and Garden cafe, right next to St. Mary's church and the Radcliffe Camera! (There's a great photo on the church's website showing the Camera and All Souls.) 

The scones were tasty, and served up with a good dose of history, as this plaque inside explains (it was pretty crowded so I couldn't get a shot without an Oxford-don-looking gentleman in the frame):

follow the cafe link to learn about a threat to this charming eateries' existence

We opted to eat outside, and several of us wandered into the church after eating. Since Hal and I had climbed the tower in September, 2008, we skipped that, but I'm sure the views from there are still gorgeous. Here's the steeple from the cafe:

Next on our agenda was the History of Science Museum. (This is one of my favorite museum subjects! how on earth did I miss it in 2008!)

In a 17th century building that housed the original Ashmolean Museum, it was a treat in its architecture and exhibits.

stairway, window, and...sextant?

beautiful old instruments

I'm not sure I got all of the relevant bits of this exhibit in the frame, but, Lawrence of Arabia! How cool!

It wasn't quite dinnertime when we exited the museum, but it was time to start talking about it. Making dinner decisions with this large and diverse a group takes a while! 

We ended up at a nice Italian place and had yummy pizzas—almost always a hit with almost all of any party. Here are the cousins again, this time enjoying each other's photos:

Getting these kiddos together isn't easy, either. Since we all live on the same side of the Atlantic, it shouldn't be so hard, but we had to travel a few thousand miles to make this happen!

Sad to say, this was our last full day in the UK. From Oxford we drove to Heathrow, where we had reservations at a convenient airport hotel. Our trusty van was turned in without incident and all we could do was rest up for our flights the next day.