I've been On A Concorde!

Another beautiful day in the life of "An Italian Across America"...

Our first stop of the day has been the "Hiram M. Chittenden Locks", known as "Ballard Locks" because of the neighborhood where they are, on the north-west side of the city,

We enjoyed another sunny day, with the only difference that today the temperature seemed to be cooperating a little bit more with us, and we didn't therefore have the hot sweaty days we had gotten accustomed to this past week in Utah and Oregon.

The Ballard Locks ended up being a good starting point for the day, as I learned more about why locks are put up in place, and how humans can at the same time do something good for the environment when they artificially block a stream of water.

Mr. Chittenden for example built the fish ladder that visitors can see on one side of the lock where salmon constantly try to climb and swim on the opposite direction of the water stream.

To be honest with you, we haven't seen that many fish on the ladder, but they do have an underground facility where one can see the fish swimming on a section of the ladder, and there we saw plenty of fish.

After that we moved on to our next (and last, because of the time it takes to see it) attraction of the day, the Seattle Museum Of Flight at Boeing Field, south of the city on I-5.

Highlights of the visit are certainly:

City of Everett, the first flight-worthy Boeing 747 airliner. Its registration number is N7470, and it was named after the city of Everett, Washington. Its first flight was on February 9, 1969:

The first presidential jet, VC-137B SAM 970, which served in the presidential fleet from 1959 to 1996, in a few words, the first Air Force One:

British Airways Concorde number 214, registration G-BOAG, the only Concorde west of the Appalachians, and I also heard only one of the four who are not in Europe:

And this is me before getting "on board" the Concord #214:

On Board view of the Concorde #214:

The Gossamer Albatross II human-powered aircraft (I wonder what happens if you get tired! LOL):

One of five Aerocars, automobiles with detachable wings and propeller (That looked kind of weird, I would be curious to see it fly!):

One other section of the Museum is the the Personal Courage Wing with World War I and World War II aircraft from several countries including Germany, Russia, and Japan, and what is even MORE important for visitors to see is "The Red Barn", a registered historic site. In the early 1900s it was Boeing's original manufacturing plant.

Through photographs, film, oral histories, and restoration of work stations the exhibits in the Red Barn illustrate how wooden aircraft structure with fabric overlays were manufactured in the early years of aviation and provides a history of aviation development through 1958. This is really one of those places that, if you're into aircraft and aviation history, you can't really miss.

A picture of the founder, William Boeing:

Again, it was quite an experience for me to be there, I'm glad we did it, but then, I would have probably paid the $14 admission charge, only to get on board the British Airways Concorde, what a thrill to see the inside, the cockpit, and how tiny the aircraft really is in the inside, only two rows consisting of two seats on each side.

Dinner was again magnificent. Chris took us to one of his favourite Thai Restaurant here in Redmond, "The Silver Spoon" and I probably had the best Chicken Panang experience of my life.

If on top of that you add the fact that virtually anywhere here in the state no matter what kind of food you decide to eat, you're always able to sip on a "Hefeweizen", well, that really makes it a win/win situation.

Have a good night fellows, I know I will!

Nico