PIMA Air & Space Museum

John loves airplanes especially WWII planes so we had to visit PIMA Air & Space Museum. With your Museum Admission included is a walking tour with a docent or you can go it alone. We opted to take the walking tour which turned out to be a mistake for us. The docent was an ex-pilot and knew his planes but he went on and on and on. After two hours and only 3 hangars, my brain was fried. I told John that I would happily wait outside to enjoy the afternoon and to go ahead and enjoy. While I waited, I decided to walk through the small Presidential airplane that transported President's Kennedy and Johnson. It was rather interesting but compared to current pictures of Air Force One, it was very spartan. Then again, it was probably pretty high class for the 1960's. John shortly joined me as he also had enough. Besides, he was hungry. I mentioned that we could return after lunch because our hand was stamped but he said he wasn't interested. He was a little disappointed with what he saw. When we return to Tucson next year, we will return to PIMA but this time, we'll take the tram tour , the 309th AMARG Tour (plane boneyard), and use our own feet.

Here is a shot of the Visitor Center and Hangar #1 and the Spirit of Freedom Hangar.

In the background is an exact replica of the Wright brothers plane. We got a fairly detailed description of how the plane was made and flown as well as the events at Kittyhawk. The white plane at the top is the type of plane that John Denver flew on his ill fated flight over Monterey Bay, CA.

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Martin Seaplane
SR-71 Blackbird
B-18
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Planes, planes everywhere!
General Eisenhower's plane - Lockheed Constellation.
WACO trainer
B-25
Hawker Hurricane
One of the Presidential Aircraft on display. This is not the one I walked through.

After PIMA, we found a place for lunch that was close to the airbase. We were pleasantly surprised as we had a very good lunch and cheap lunch. Then we were off to Camping World trying to look for string to re-string one of our day/night shades that broke and a light bulb for our outside light. We were partially successful as we got a replacement bulb. We then stopped at another RV store but they didn't have any either as they usually send their clients shades out for restringing. We stopped at Home Depot and picked up some string that we hope will do the trick. Right now, we have to wait for a "good day" before we tackle what looks like a frustrating job.

After dinner, Don and Sue came over and we played a couple of games of Wizard. We sure had a good time playing the game as well as socializing with them. Don and Sue are lots of fun to be around. Laughter and an occasional moan abounded around the table all evening. Being card game challenged (never played card games as a kid), the game isn't difficult to learn but it requires strategy and luck and sometimes one blows the other out of the water. It is a great card game.