Happy Halloween!

 

Wordless Wednesday: so many shells!

 

Wordless Wednesday: this is *real* Austin

 

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