March 2006
Out & About: Boats, Planes, Cars and Trains
Places to Explore Things That Go
BOATS
Water surrounds us in the Puget Sound, so it is no surprise that shipping and fishing have played an important role in the region.
Learn about marine jobs and the men and women performing them at the Working Waterfront Maritime Museum on Tacoma’s Thea Foss Waterway. The museum is located on the docks, in an original warehouse where wheat was transferred from boats. The current exhibits focus on how cargo ships were built, how they were loaded and unloaded, what products were shipped, and the lives of the people who worked with them.
In one area, visitors can watch craftsmen and women building sailboats and other small vessels. On a recent visit, the builders were working on a canoe, but stopped to answer questions and explain their craft to the young people as they went along.
Learn more about Thea Foss, for whom Tacoma’s waterway
is named. (In the early 1900s, she and her husband bought and serviced
boats in the Tacoma area; today their company operates tugboats in the
Puget Sound.) Children will enjoy the interactive, hands-on exhibits and
the opportunity to climb on an old fishing vessel. Spend an hour or two
here to give children a sense of the history of the working life on the
water and waterfront.
Location: 705 Dock St., Thea Foss Waterway, Tacoma; 253-272-2750;
www.wwfrontmuseum.org.
Admission: $3 adults, $2 children 3-12, $2 seniors (older than 55). Open
Monday through Friday, 9 a.m .- 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, noon - 5
p.m. Directions: Take Interstate 5 to exit No. 133 (City Center/Tacoma
Dome), merge onto Interstate 705 and follow signs for Schuster Parkway;
after exiting, turn right at light (4th Street Bridge); after crossing,
Bridge Road becomes Dock Street. Museum is the second building on left.
Parking is at north end of building.
The Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center on Seattle’s waterfront offers an exciting opportunity for the whole family to look into the present and future of our relationship with Puget Sound. Opened in 1998 with continually updated and renovated exhibits, this museum helps children to learn about shipping, commercial fishing and water recreation with a fun, hands-on approach.
Operate a crane to load and unload a container ship while
learning about the large shipping industry in Seattle. Track large vessels
with binoculars and listen in on the Coast Guard’s vessel traffic
communications system. Try to “steer” a container ship entering
Elliott Bay by following radioed directions. Watch out for that other
ship!
Step into a full-size kayak and virtually explore the Puget Sound while
learning about the sea creatures you will encounter and their struggles
to survive in our waters. Climb aboard a model of a fishing vessel and
experience the life of a commercial fisher. The commercial fishing exhibit
also offers an opportunity to try on clothing, including a survival suit.
Give yourself a couple of hours for this visit. There are places to eat
in the nearby area afterwards.
Location: 2205 Alaskan Way, Pier 66, Seattle; 206-374-4000; www.ody.org. Admission: $7 adults; $5 seniors and students 5-18 years; $2 children 2-4 years, free for children younger than 2. Open Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Saturday, 11a.m. - 5 p.m.; closed Sunday and Monday. Directions: Take I-5 to Safeco Field exit; turn right onto Fourth Avenue S., then right onto Royal Brougham Street. Go several blocks to Alaskan Way and turn right. Drive north until you come to Pier 66, the Bell Street Pier. Parking is available in a garage across the street from the museum.
The thunder of hydroplanes on Lake Washington signals SeaFair weekend to thousands of fans. You’ve seen them on TV, and maybe in person walking around the pits during the race weekend. Tucked away in an industrial park in Kent, discover the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum. Get an up-close view of a variety of race boats ranging from historic full-size unlimited hydroplane boats to the sleeker, slighter, smaller modern ultralight versions.
Take a photo as you sit in the driver’s seat of 1968 Miss Bud and imagine piloting it on the water. Check out the exhibits showing how engines, designs and building materials have changed over 70 years of hydroplanes – engine in front or engine in back; wide or narrow; wood or fiberglass – the changes are all represented and explained. Read about many of the great drivers and see some of their trophies, along with programs and other souvenirs from earlier racing days.
On many weekend days, there are engineers in the workroom repairing older boats. Learn about the engineering and design of the boats, as they love to chat about their passion. Give yourself an hour or more to enjoy this little-known gem and spark your enthusiasm for all the hard work behind the hydroplanes skimming the water during SeaFair.
Location: 5917 S. 196th St., Kent; 206-764-9453; www.thunderboats.org. Admission: $5 adults, $3 children (6-18 years). Open Tuesday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Directions: Take I-5 south to exit 152 (Orillia Road). Turn left onto 188th Street, and then turn right onto Orillia Road. After a half-mile, turn left onto S. 200th Street. After another half-mile, road turns into S. 196th Street. The museum is on the right (south) side of the street. Parking is free.
PLANES
The Seattle area, the birthplace of Boeing, now has two world-class museums focused on the world of flight.
The newest addition is the Future of Flight Museum in Mukilteo, opened in December 2005, at Paine Field next to the Boeing Plant. This museum focuses on commercial flight, allowing visitors to design their own aircraft while learning what goes into the design. Move through different zones to find out about engines, new materials, navigation systems and wing design. Learn how passenger areas are designed and the newest ideas in passenger comfort. Each section of the museum features written and visual information about that area of the plane to help you decide what to add to your design. After you have designed your aircraft on the computers at each zone, pick up a copy of your plan at the gift shop on your way out.
In addition, you can step up close to a real engine and take your photo beside it or sit in a mock-up of the new 787 seats and watch a video. Get the feel of piloting a jet in the XJ5 Flight Simulator. For an additional charge, you can sit in the pilot’s seat with the latest technology to guide you as you whiz along at (virtual) supersonic speeds.
The one-hour Boeing plant tour now starts and ends at the museum. Before heading out on the tour, check out the brief film of a Boeing 777 being assembled. The guided tour takes visitors though one of the largest factories in the world, where actual Boeing 747, 767 and 777 aircraft are assembled. You can see the different stages of the manufacturing process. No cameras or personal objects (like purses, cell phones or backpacks) are allowed on the tour, so check them in a locker at the museum before leaving. After you return, head to the observation deck overlooking Paine Field to watch planes landing and taking off. You might just see a recently completed Boeing jet take off on a maiden test flight! Plan to spend two or more hours, including the Boeing tour.
Location: 8415 Paine Field Blvd., Mukilteo; 1-800-464-1476; www.futureofflight.org. Admission with Boeing tour: $15 adults, $8 children (6-15 years); gallery only is $9 adults, $4 children. Open daily, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., with Boeing tours on the hour from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.; Directions: Take I-5 to State Highway 526 West (exit 189), go about four miles past the Boeing plant on your right. At the stoplight where 84th Street S.W. and Paine Field Boulevard intersect, turn left into the entry drive. Parking is free.
To learn more of the history of aviation, from the Wright Brothers to astronaut space flights, visit the Museum of Flight in south Seattle.
The Red Barn, the wooden factory building that served as
Boeing’s first facility, chronicles Bill Boeing’s early years
of plane manufacturing. The first engineers are highlighted with photos
and artifacts from more than 80 years ago. Interpreters dressed in period
costume circulate to discuss the work of those early years.
The newer steel and glass Great Gallery follows the history of manned
flight with originals or replicas of aircraft, from Wilbur and Orville
Wright’s motorized glider through early passenger planes to fighter
jets. Children will enjoy sitting in the cockpit of a real SR-71 Blackbird.
Sit in a theater designed from the cockpit and cabin of a Boeing 737 passenger
plane to watch a short video on the history of commercial flight. Follow
that by walking around the space flight area, where you can see both an
American Apollo module and Soviet Sputnik capsule, as well as other space
artifacts.
Twenty-eight fighter craft from World War I and II are highlighted in the new Personal Courage Wing. This two-floor exhibit, which also includes a section on women pilots and the Tuskegee Airmen, deserves an hour or more in which to walk around. There are videos to watch about the two wars and the impact of planes on both. Check out the Red Baron’s plane from WWI. Children will be fascinated with the model of bunkers from the First War, and can imagine what it was like to live and fight in them.
Don’t miss the full-size reproduction of a control tower, where you can watch planes taking off and landing at Boeing Field while listening to control tower communication with the pilots. Hands on exhibits in the tower explain the busy workings of an air flight controller.
Simulators throughout the main gallery allow visitors to experience flight in a fighter jet or try space docking. There is an extra charge to use them.
Outside find two gems of the collection – the only Concorde on exhibit on the West Coast and a former Air Force One aircraft. A walk through the Concorde is surprising, as the aisle is so narrow. Touch history as you walk through the first Air Force One used by Presidents in the late 1950s and 1960s.
Allow at least a couple of hours to enjoy the breadth this museum offers. There is a small cafeteria with sandwiches and snacks if a break is needed.
Location: 9404 East Marginal Way S., Seattle; 206-764-5720; www.museumofflight.org. Admission: $14 adults, $7.50 children (5-17 years). Open daily, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Directions: Take I-5 to exit 158 and go west to first light (East Marginal Way S). The museum is one-half mile on the right. Parking next to the museum is free.
CARS
Tacoma is home to the LeMay Museum, one
of the largest collections of automobiles in the country. The museum focuses
on the story of the American love of the automobile from the early Ford
Model T to the “Back to the Future” DeLorean, from working
trucks to muscle cars. During the two-hour guided tour, learn auto history
as a volunteer shares knowledge about the 400 vehicles on display.
Harold LeMay, who built a large refuse company in Tacoma, had 3,000 vehicles
at one time, the largest privately owned collection in the world, mostly
housed at his sprawling 87-acre property in Spanaway. After his death
a few years ago, some of them were sold, but about 1,200 are still part
of the collection. The present location, near Spanaway, has room to display
only about one third of the vehicles at a time. Early next year, construction
will start on a new museum next to the Tacoma Dome.
Expect to spend a little over two hours with the tour and a stop at the gift shop.
Location: 423 152nd St. E., Tacoma; 253-536-2885; www.lemaymuseum.org. Admission: $15. Open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5p.m. Directions: Take I-5 to the Puyallup/Mt. Rainier exit (No. 127); head east toward Puyallup; take the Pacific Avenue exit; at light turn right so you are heading south on Pacific Avenue; turn left on 152nd Street E./Military Road. Turn left at “Lemay Collection Tours” sign, about one-half mile from Pacific Avenue. Parking is free.
TRAINS
Head to Snoqualmie to find The Northwest Railway Museum, housed inside the restored Snoqualmie Depot. Visitors can walk around antique restored railroad cars used to carry passengers and freight, as well as diesel and steam locomotives. With more than 70 pieces, this museum has one of the most extensive railway collections in the Northwest, although not all pieces are on exhibit at one time.
To give riders a sense of riding a train in the early 1900s, the Museum runs an antique coach passenger train on spring, summer and fall weekends over five miles of track between Snoqualmie and North Bend. Buy tickets for the 65-minute train ride at the Snoqualmie Depot right off the main road. While waiting for the train, explore the museum exhibits on the history and impact of trains in the Pacific Northwest. There are artifacts from the trains as well as passenger tickets, dining china and signs used in the past.
Location: 38625 S.E. King St., Snoqualmie (facing (Highway 202/Railroad Avenue); 425-888-3030; www.trainmuseum.org. Admission: Depot museum free; trains $9 adults, $6 children (2-12 years). Depot open daily; trains run weekends from April to October with spring and fall departures from Snoqualmie at 12:01 p.m., 1:31 p.m. and 3:01 p.m.; more frequent departures in summer; School, Santa Train and Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine special tours. Directions: Take Interstate 90 east to Snoqualmie/North Bend (exit 27), turn left at stop sign and pass under freeway. Turn left on Meadowbrook Way, go one-half mile, crossing over the railroad tracks. Turn left on Railroad Avenue (Highway 202), go one-half mile to King Street. The Depot is at the intersection on the left. Street parking is available; there is also a parking lot off Fir Street, one block north of the Depot.
The White River Valley Museum in Auburn features a room dedicated to the importance of the railroad to the area. Children will enjoy climbing aboard a full size caboose and seeing how the conductors ate, slept and worked in the space. The Depot exhibit is set up to reflect the early 1920s Auburn downtown with shops that would have been around the railroad station. Check out the druggist, hat maker and market.
“Cascade Crossing: Transcontinental Railroads Enter King County” is a collection of 44 rare historic photographs of the Great Northern, Milwaukee and Northern Pacific Railroads crossing the Cascade Mountains. The exhibit runs through April 23.
Location: 918 H St. S.E., Auburn; 253-288-7433; www.wrvmuseum.org. Admission: $2 adults, $1 children, Wednesdays are free. Open Wednesday through Sunday, noon - 4 p.m. Directions: Take Interstate 405 to Highway 167 south (exit 2A), heading toward Auburn; go to Highway 18 east toward Auburn; take Auburn Way exit toward Enumclaw, heading south on Auburn Way; turn left on “F” Street S.E. Turn right on 9th Avenue, go 0.1 mile, turn right on “H” Street. Museum is behind the library in Les Gove Park. Parking is free.
Make this the year to explore this region’s museums focusing on our transportation history. Learn how trains and planes and boats have shaped the Northwest.
Janice Lovelace is a Bothell freelance writer, photographer and traveler.
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