While in the McMinnville area, be sure to visit the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, which proudly displays a large number of military and civilian aircraft and spacecraft, including the famous Hughes H-4 Hercules “Spruce Goose.” The museum first began with a small collection of vintage aircraft on display in a hangar located at the headquarters and was called the Evergreen Museum. There are now two main large exhibit centers open to the public consisting of aviation, where the Spruce Goose acts to anchor the other exhibits, and space flight in another large building. The current center of the space flight exhibit building is occupied by the SR-71 ‘Blackbird,’ which originally rested under one wing of the Spruce Goose. An IMAX theater opened in 2007, and a second exhibit hall focusing on the Titan II ICBM and space technology opened in 2008. Flight simulators for landing the space shuttle, as well as for Gemini capsule docking and the Lunar Excursion Module moon landing, are available for use by visitors now. For more information, reservations and tickets, call (503) 434-4180.
www.evergreenmuseum.org
