More Lights in the Night (December 1, 2017)

 Nice House on Grace Street in the Fan. I like coming by this house the past few years and it is always a fun place to see. Of note is the "Christmas Tree " in the front lower left, which is always pretty neat. You see a lot of those kind of trees outside this time of year, that one is one of the best I have seen so far. 

This is a very cool house. The guy who does it dresses like Santa Claus and was out on this very busy night. Always fun to go by and to see him and to check out the amazing lights he has in his yard. Have to give him a whole lot of credit, as he is an older guy and this sort of project takes a lot of work and love. Needless to say though, he puts both into this amazing house and display. 

The Jefferson Hotel (November 30, 2017)

Went by The Jefferson Hotel on the last day of the month after work to see the Christmas displays there. Always remarkable in that place and this year was no exception. They made this airplane out of gingerbread and candy. I love aviation and sometimes wonder if they did not know I was coming. At any case a remarkable and wonderful piece of work. Fun to see this site and enjoyed looking it over a great deal. 

 This is the tree in the hotel, always a grand sight and just a beautiful piece of work. The hotel is Richmond's only 5 star hotel, so let us just say I have never spent a night in it.
However, I have spent many fine hours visiting it and enjoying its fine restaurants and checking out Christmas sites such as this.
The hotel has a long history and it is something special  to visit if you are in the Richmond area, especially during the holidays.

Finally made a stop at Oregon Hill where I saw this amazing house. It is a yearly favorite and this year was no exception. Very bight and beautiful and always enjoy visitng this.

The Trip Back to Richmond (November 25, 2017)

 On the way back from Virginia Beach made some stops in Hampton, VA. Here is Fort Monroe which is a very old and impressive fort which dates before the Civil War. During the Civil War Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned here. Spent a lot of time chained to his bed looking at an American Flag on display. It was also a site of additional fortifications during WW1 and WW2. Very neat place to visit. 

A favorite place of mine in Hampton is the Air Park, which has a number of very interesting planes and rockets. Some are very rare such as the Kestrel (forerunner of the Harrier) and a test rocket (the last remaining) for the Mercury Spacecraft program. Both the fort and the Air Park (which is a few short miles away) are free to visit and very interesting to check out. The Hampton area has a lot of things to see and visit and is well worth a trip. I have been a few times 

Got home just before dark but this house was a stop before I got to my front door. Many places light up here in Richmond, Virginia on Thanksgiving night and they certainly go all out when they do. Fun to see them and there will be many more to see in the days to come on this page!

Thanksgiving Virginia Beach (November 23-25, 2017)

Wonderful Thanksgiving at Virginia Beach. It was a nice day to travel though sure the day before would not have been...with everyone going to and from their various destinations. It was sunny during the whole trip; of course it was just warm during the last day. Did enjoy taking the night beach drive along the Boardwalk (which is now concrete) to see the Christmas light displays. Very nice and enjoyed it a great deal. 

Was fun to see people on the beach. Here are some people feeding sea gulls. Get some sort of chips or cheetos, throw them in the air and presto...instant friends.
Was great to eat there. Yeah they had turkey dinners on Thanksgiving but we enjoyed the fish. Richmond has some great food but not not a lot of great fish. Was told to get that, go to Virginia Beach. They got that right. We had a lot of dinners at Murphy's Irish Pub. It was one of the few places open due to the holiday, and fresh off the boat fish. It was outstanding! 

View from the room. We stayed at the Oceanfront Inn, and I highly recommend it. This is the 25th, Debbie and I got up to see the sunrise (did that both mornings we woke up there) and it was beautiful.
I like going during the off season. Lots of things to see and do, virtually everything is open (except as noted on Thanksgiving) and the crowds are so much less as are hotel room prices. It was a wonderful few days in a special place.

NASA Langley Open House (October 21, 2017)

Up early and down the road for a very rare visit to the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. It was the first open house in a long time, this one to celebrate the center which has been in operation since 1917 (that is a 100 years in case you didnt do the math). For much of that it was as NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. Became NASA in the 1950's but this Aeronautics is still the first "A" in NASA. 

 Still doing some amazing flight research. A lot of history for the past 100 years have been made in these buildings. Much of the developments in aviation and certainly many in spaceflight have come out of the minds that work in these buildings and do the research there. I got there early and stayed for some four hours exploring the buildings and meeting some of the people who are making the world of flight so amazing and changing the world we live in. 

 One of the coolest things I saw was this. You are inside what is known as the "14-by 22 foot subsonic tunnel. It is a wind tunnel used to test models and larger models of fixed wing and helicopters (and other V/STOL) aircraft. They can be set up in a number of ways such as seen here, or on a tether.
Got to see a number of models, as well as the amazing control room where the tests are conducted.

 This is the outside of the Subsonic tunnel. There were a number of amazing things and buildings and can't forget again to mention the people who make it all happen. It was a very fun and exciting day and want to thank everyone at NASA for making this remarkable event happen. I just hope they do it again real soon...would love to go back again! 

Dayton Trip - Part 2 (October 7-14, 2017)

Went to the Navy Bean and Seaplane Festival in Rising Sun, Indiana where Debbie and I watched planes such as this and enjoyed the festival which was held October 13-14 (we were there the 14th). Bands, food and a rides (amusement park and probably plane rides) were available. It was a lot of fun.

 After a great visit to Indiana for a few days, had to get back to the airport to head back to Richmond. Took this photo right after takeoff and that below is Dayton, Ohio. It was a wonderful time and a very interesting city to enjoy. I have more and more fun there the more times I go to it.

Flight back to Richmond had a stop in Atlanta where I changed planes (from an MD-88 to a Boeing 757). I have to say the 757 is a wonderful airplane to fly in. Between Atlanta and Richmond is Charlotte, NC and this is a view of that city below. It was also once where I lived (well in nearby Concord, NC) for 14 years but explored Charlotte a lot of times. Wonderful place. Never know what the future holds and what will happen in the days and years to come. Sure enjoy the ride though!

Dayton Trip - Part 1 ( October 7-14, 2007)

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Early in the morning got on board a Boeing 757-200 and headed for Atlanta. It was right about dawn when we took off, and on the way there got this photo of Richmond from the plane. I always get the window seat cause I love to fly and love the view. Love this city too and this was cool to see. Nice flight...the 757 was a fantastic plane and the best part was to and from Atlanta rode it both times. From Atlanta to Dayton flew on an MD-88. Nice way to travel.   

 We saw some new sights in Dayton. Just outside the city was the graves of the Wright Brothers at the very beautiful and historic Woodlawn Cemetery. Here the brothers are at rest flanking their sister. Dayton sure celebrates their famous inventors with a lot of the sites they lived in and created the first airplane (and the ones that followed) which Debbie and I also saw some of both on this trip and a previous trip to the area. I love aviation and this was a real treat for me exploring the city.   

 The city is very interesting and is seen here at left also taken from the cemetery. Smaller I think then Richmond, this was my first time in a long time to actually explore it (last visit we just saw some sights on the outskirts..the flying field, the Air Force Museum, and the Carillon Park with the Wright Flyer III). Got out a bit and saw some new sights in the city. 

Debbie is at left in the pink shirt, this is Warped Wing Brewing in Dayton, Ohio. I have had a couple of their beers at the airport in Dayton, but wanted to try some of them here.
Richmond is a big craft beer town and was cool to have a couple here in this building. I am sure it was an old factory which has been converted to making beer by Warped Wing. The two I had were pretty tasty and it was a nice place to hang out for a little bit. 

We also made a stop at the Wright Cycle Shop and a return visit to the Carillon Bell Tower before making a tour of the Dayton Art Institute. It was a nice art museum with some very interesting items. Much smaller than the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts but a good diverse collection of works and enjoyed looking at them. There is a lot to see and do in Dayton. We scratched the surface of things to do there, both aviation wise but also otherwise. Don't have to love aircraft to have a great time there. It was a very fun day and finding Ohio to be a very, very interesting and fun place. The day before I took a ride on a friends motorcycle there and that was a lot. Wrote about that on my "Racing with the Wind" Page. I will have more on the vacation trip with Debbie on my next post.