Boeing Museum of Flight

To some, six hours on a bus with 30 middle schoolers may be a hefty trade-off for a free trip but I see it as just one of my many job perks.

Plus, the day started off with this: 

When I attended the Senior trip to MOHAI, there were so few students that I ended up having rather loosly-guided romping grounds - most of the seniors could handle themselves and had their own priorities on which exhibits interested them most. But for our trip to the Museum of Flight, not only were we on the same time crunch as before but we were double the students and probably triple the territory.

And so, with a tight agenda of 20 minutes per designated "area" (by area I mean like, 2 floor's worth each) I was sent along with my own little bundle of kiddos.

Our bus was late on arrival so 20 minutes turned into a hurried 10 or so in some places. Most of the stops were just visual eye candy. I would have loved to have been able to brush up on my WWI and II history but we had just enough time to ogle the giant planes with intimidated macho paint-jobs and hope to glean a fact or two from any artifacts or photos that caught our eyes.

Better know your symbols well in combat!

Dragons, Shark heads, Obnoxious Macho Slogans...the beauty pageants of war

My favorite part probably came next when we went outside to the Air Park and got to walk through Air Force One - The first Jet-fueled Airplane used by Presidents - and the SST Concorde which set a 2-hr and 52-minute speed record for crossing the Atlantic. Seeing all the snazzy accoutrements that endowed  Air Force One was pretty neat but I mostly liked the opportunity for fresh air as we walked across the boardwalk and around the park. 

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Some of the kids had never been on a plane before. They are being sorely
misguided by this unnaturally spacious interior. 

We headed back inside where we got to step inside a to-scale model of a Space Shuttle which would have been used to launch Telescopes and Cargo into space. The Shuttle is equipped with a 50-foot "arm" that places contents out into space which was pretty trippy to visualize. 

a 1/2 Scale Model of the Hubble Space Telescope hanging
from the ceiling. 

During our lunch break, I went back to a penny press machine we'd passed earlier to get my go-to souvenir. I made an extra one for one of my kids that had eagerly wanted to stop while we were transitioning to another room. I had just about let her but the strictest of our chaperones had just then caught up to us. When I imparted my tradition to her later, she was thrilled and decided she would pick up a collection of her own. I will never let the penny press tradition die! 

The last two hours of the day were "work hours". The kids were brought into an auditorium and handed a "mission" by "commanders" Tony, Sandra and Diane. Our group of kids were to be saddled with the task of colonizing the moon, the first moon landing since we left in 1972. The prospect of our fate being in their hands seemed dire as they were quizzed on some moon basics:

How big is the Moon? (1/4 the size of earth. Rather, approximately the size of Africa, 2,000 miles.)

What is the gravity ratio? (About 1/6 of Earth's)

What are the Black spots? (Lunar Lowlands or "Black Moreas", Latin for "Sea" comprised of Basaltic Lava)

What are the white spots? (Older, Lunar Highlands) 

And the Doosy that no one got: How many times does the moon rotate on its axis in one earth rotation? (Y'all know this, right?) 

After we realized we were doomed, we split into two groups. It was emphasized to us adults that we were "tourists" and to leave the kids to their own devices as we observed the mission. One group went into the control room while another was "launched into space" in a cramped shuttle. Mary and I started "on the ground". Each kid or pair had a screen tailored to their taskforce: Navigation, Communications, Data, Research, Medical etc. Each station had a binder that explained the basic functions and then followed a script which prompted responsibilities at various times. At first, everyone was pretty unfocused  but when a warning light came on telling them that their crew was losing oxygen, the teams became more focused, delivering supplies to them with about a minute left. About an hour in, the groups switched. There was certainly more to do in the "spacecraft" but the tight space made me a little stir crazy and my fuel was running on fumes. y'all can have your space travel. I'll keep my wide open spaces, thanks.

But at least we weren't in this Russian Space Shuttle. 

On the way home, when I wasn't drifting into a doze, I getting to know the highly talkative E and R seated across from me, encouraging E about her singing voice (although the song choices were all "Top 40") and sampling R's playlist of classics. Eventually, I tuned out to observe unaware drivers outside as they passed below my window, making up classifications as I pondered this weird clock-work activity that we spend far too much of our lives involved in: the Commute.

You have the Nail-Biters, Nose-pickers and Eyelash Tweekers. These are the most mentally restless and anxious bunch, manifesting their non-stop mind-gear in unconscious habitual actions.

There are the Ready-For-Impact folk who drive with arms locked out in front of them, as though bracing for some inevitable collision.

The Cruisers are the laid-back type, the ones that enjoy the commute or even just go out for a joy ride. I saw one guy in particular who was puffing a fatty cigar like Johnny Depp's Fear and Loathing...

The Mobile Lifers are easy to spot. The pop bottles, cigarette boxes, fast food containers decorate the dashboard. There is usually a trinket or two - a personal mantra for their "home" - interspersed with the clutter. Mobile lifers are different from travelers and cruisers. They never appear as though it was their first choice to have a life spent so heavily on the road.

The Zone Outs are easy also. Maybe the most common. We all do it at some point.

It gets really awkward when there are multiple people. Seldom do I see enthusiastic driver-passenger engagement. Often, the passenger is dosing. I was pleased to see a couple of older vehicle occupants having animated conversation but it is a rarity.

In the three hours home, I saw 3 smiling people, 3 singers and 1 driver who was acutely observant (and actually sensed that I was looking at him through the tinted windows, likely having similar ponderings about the nature of people. He wasn't from the city.

Hooray for SPACE!