FUTURE OF FLIGHT AVIATION & BOEING TOUR

Friday, June 22 – We loaded the car on the Kingston Ferry this morning in route to Everett, WA, and the Boeing Factory Tour.

The round-trip fare is $40, not cheap, but that beats driving all the way around Puget Sound. The Ferry ride over to Everett was very smooth.

One of several seating areas.

We hardly knew we were moving. The Washington Ferry fleet is one of the largest fleets in the world with 25 vessels, serving 9 routes and 20 terminals. Jumbo class ferries can carry in excess of 200 vehicles and 2,000 foot passengers.

The Future of Flight Aviation Center (Boeing Factory plant) was a short drive from the ferry terminal.

We saved a little on the tour by purchasing tickets on line. We've been looking forward to this Boeing Tour. As a matter of fact, it's on Paul's “Bucket List.” Today was an ideal day for an indoor tour....it's raining.

Before we get started, just a note to say there were no cell phones, cameras, backpacks or really anything permitted on the tour. All factory photos will be courtesy of the Internet.

The Everett facility was built when Boeing began building the Boeing 747. A huge airplane required a huge facility. The complex is the largest building in the world by volume. It has an enclosed space of 472 million cubic feet and covers 98.3 acres. It currently houses the assembly of the Boeing 747, 767, 777, and the newest aircraft the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

777

Imagine this assemble line with the Boeing 747 (The largest passenger plane in the world.) passing 4-stories below the observation floor. Wings, 13-story tail sections, fuselage, landing gear, engines, and all the interior wiring and pieces and parts coming together in a completed airplane. A pretty amazing scene.

787 assembly line.
 

The 787 Dreamliner is the newest aircraft. They have so many orders for this plane that they are five years BEHIND in manufacturing. Not bad for a plane selling for over $225 million dollars. By the way, the Boeing 747 sells for in excess of $425 million.

787…Dreamliner

Following the tour, we walked through the Future of Flight Museum on the grounds of Boeing. It is a historical view of the Boeing Company and an education center with cockpit modules, 747 tail fin, mock-ups of the new Dreamliner interior, and smaller private planes hanging from the ceiling.

Wing specs.

Look how small Paul looks compared to this tail section.

787 Fuselage…composite one piece barrel (COPB2). This is a very interesting new material. If you read closely, you will see that it REDUCES the number of parts - 40,000-50,000 parts are eliminated just in fasteners.

Your pilot for this flight will be Paul. Co-pilot Marsha.

It was surprising the number of finished airliners parked outside the factory and around the air strip waiting to be delivered to the purchaser. They are painted to the airline specifications and are being test flown or waiting for final delivery.

Planes ready to be picked up.

The blasting area where they test the engines.

We really enjoyed this industrial tour. (Hope Marsha enjoyed it as much as Paul did.) Not sure it's worth the $18/person charge, but Starbucks Coffee shouldn't cost over $4 either. That's tomorrow's adventure....Seattle and the original Starbucks.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!

BREMERTON, WASHINGTON

Thursday, June 21 – We headed to Bremerton, WA, today. Bremerton is a Naval town across Puget Sound from Seattle.

We are staying at the Bremerton Elks Lodge. We were told its worth the stop here just to see the view of the Olympic Mountains out the Lodge dining room windows. Boy, what a spectacular view! Priceless!

It has a park like setting.

The side yard is huge. The mountains are right across the river.

The Elks Lodge campground has 30 amp electric and water hook-ups. There is no dump station, but one is available at the fairgrounds about five miles down the road. The sites and streets are gravel. There are shade trees so satellite connectivity could be an issue in a few of the sites. They have restrooms and a beautiful lodge. There seems to be numerous activities going on at the lodge.

Site 10. Yes that is Bella getting into the photo.

No one can fit in the site at the end so we have double the room.

Looking right

Looking left…no where to go.

 
On our way here, we drove a ways up WA-101 – the Hood Canal. What a beautiful drive! The Olympic Mountains, the Hood River, quaint little towns, and beautiful forests.

We even saw our FIRST Eagle. It was really high up so we zoomed in as much as possible…cool.

The road is very windy and narrow, so it's slow going. Speeds in the motor home were between 20 – 35 mph. There are very few places to pull over to let motorists pass, so we had cars backing-up behind us. This would be a fabulous drive in the car!

After we settled into our campsite, we drove to check out the ferry terminals for future sightseeing adventures and then into Bremerton to see the Navy Shipyards.

It's amazing to see aircraft carries right along the highway. The destroyer “Joy” was also in the harbor with tours available. Other Navy ships are anchored off shore throughout the harbor.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope y'all come back real soon. Have a great day!

MOUNT ST. HELENS…GLORIOUS!

Wednesday, June 20 – We are visiting Mount St. Helens today.

We left the campground at 7:30 a.m. The fog hadn't lifted yet.

There is a mountain out there somewhere.

As soon as the fog burned away, it was an beautiful day to visit the Mountain. Remember, we are traveling to the top of mountain, so dress accordingly (more on that later).  The area inside the 14-mile Blast Zone was left to Mother Nature to reclaim.

Hoffstadt Creek Bridge is the longest and tallest of fourteen bridges on the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway ( Hwy 504) at Mount St. Helens. It is the tallest bridge on a State Highway in
Washington State and third tallest in the Northwest at 370 ft. above the ground below. It begins the Blast Zone.

Millions of trees have been planted, outside the Blast Zone, to replace those destroyed. They are planted very close together and the entire forest is made-up of trees the same size . It made us dizzy looking at the trees – weird.

The camera is not out of focus. Crazy how the trees appear.

On Sunday May 18, 1980, (can you believe it's been 32 years), Mount St. Helens blew its top!

Our friends, Terry and Jeri of Just Wonderin', sent us a photo that Jeri's brother, Marvin, who is a pilot, took after the first big explosion. Just amazing.

The explosion blew over 1300 feet of the mountain outward and down the hillside. The area around Mount St. Helens was instantly and permanently changed.

But the Mount St. Helens' story is about re-birth. How, after total destruction, the Mountain has come back to life. We had the re-occurring thought, while on the mountain, that if mankind was wiped off the face of the earth, this is how the earth would come back.

Since 1980, plant and animal life have come back to the Mountain and surrounding valley. Flowers bloom and grassy greens have overtaken much of the gray. Scientist are amazed at the miraculous ability of nature to come back after such devastation.

Look at this cutie.

Still a bit cold up here for many flowers, but we did get a glimpse at what one type looks like.

Interesting tidbits about Mount St. Helens:

1. The eruption of Mount St. Helens caused the largest landslide in recorded history.

2. Wind speeds reached over 300 mph.

3. Landslides reached speeds of 155 mph.

4. Temperatures reached 660 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. The lateral blast removed the upper 1,306 ft. of the volcano.

6. Over 1000 commercial flights were canceled following airport closures due to ash and debris.

7. During peak summer months, more than 800 truck-loads of salvageable timber were retrieved EACH day.

8. Weyerhaeuser employees planted 18,400,000 trees by hand to reclaim the forest. It took workers 4-years to complete this project.

9. From Oct. 2004 through Jan. 2008 minor eruptions produced over 125 million cubic meters of lava. Enough to pave a 3-foot thick, 7-lane highway from Portland, OR to New York City.

You see the mountain soon after exiting I-5, that's over 50 miles away! Today, it is still covered with snow.

As you approach the mountain, you begin to see the Northside that was blown away. The remaining mountain is now sort of “U-shaped.”

We were surprised with the wind (40 mph gusts) and bundled up against the cold. It's not surprising that we saw people in short, sandals, and flip-flops.

Crazy lady…50 degrees, wind gust up to 40 mph.

We urge anyone visiting Mount St. Helens to be sure to view BOTH movies in the visitor's center. They are very enjoyable and as the movie ends the curtain rises and you have a very dramatic view of the mountain through the entire glass end of the theatre. You hear quite a few gasps from the audience.

The center of the mountain is called the dome. Growth of the new lava dome continues with each eruption.

We were told that even though the crater of Mount St. Helens is in a pause state, it still has steam escaping. With a zoom lens, we were able to see it for ourselves.

There are several hikes at the mountain, including a 19-mile all day hike to the crater. We headed out on a short hike, but with the 40 mph wind it wasn't very enjoyable so we turned around and called it a day.

It was windy and cold, but really Marsha…gloves?

From the Johnston Ridge Observatory, Mt. Adam  (another volcano) can be seen.

This adventure on Mount St. Helens made our list of “Best Experiences in 2012.” So, if you are ever in the area, be sure to take at least a half day, and drive to the Mountain. Marsha calls it the "Monster."

To see more photos, please click on Mount St. Helens.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!