Midwest Tour, Part II

Our Midwest Tour resumes on Wednesday with Emily in Lexington for work and me in Ohio visiting family. Karen and I decided to take the kids to the Air Force Museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. My brother dropped off his three boys for the trip, so my parents decided to come along to help manage the 5 little ones. We met up with my Uncle John, who is very knowledgeable about aviation. He provided a nice perspective and plenty of tidbits of information beyond the standard placards throughout the museum.

Me and the kids outside the museum

The museum is very well laid out and you could easily spend a day or two here. They have 5 huge hangars: early flight and WWI aircraft, WWII, Cold War era, Modern flight and Space, and Presidential aircraft and research aircraft. Best of all, it's free....so if you are ever in the Dayton area, it is worth a visit. Here are some of my favorite items:

early wind tunnel used by the Wright Brothers

torpedo with detachable wings

half helicopter/half airplane: the top rotors provide lift while the front propeller provides propulsion

center turbine flying saucer design that was abandoned for instability....this probably accounts for many of those loony UFO sightings

The highlight of the visit was a bit of history which was shaped by my Grandpa Maxson. During WWII, my Mom's dad worked in a machine shop that produced the Top Secret Norden M-9 Bombsight. For the time, it was extremely advanced and considered one of the most closely guarded secrets. It featured an analog computer which used aircraft speed, wind speed, and altitude to calculate an accurate bomb trajectory. It also included several gyroscopes that served as image stabilization, a valuable feature in a shaky WWII era aircraft.

the kids posing by the Norden bombsight exhibit

zooming in on the bombsight, you can see the Maxson insignia on the serial plate

Fat Man - the type of atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki - the sad reminder of how technology, if not harnessed responsibly, can be extremely destructive

On Thursday, I met up with my old H.S. friend, Matthew Roberts for lunch at the Tearoom. Afterwards, the kids and I donned our swimwear and headed down to visit our good friend, Amy Bilich, to relax in her pool.

Thomas and Anna acting goofy as usual :)

Anna getting ready for a swim in Amy's pool

Thursday evening, I headed to Columbus in preparation for Paul Kersey's wedding. We met up with everyone for some fun times. On Thursday night, we went to Dave and Busters for dinner and games. On Friday night, we had the rehearsal followed by dinner and karaoke.

The soon to be newlyweds, Paul and Leeanna Kersey doing some karoke

Greg and Paul hanging out at the hotel pool

Saturday was the wedding and we all had a great time. It was fun getting to see lots of old friends.

Leeanna getting ready for her big day

Paul and Leeanna's ceremony, with Voge officiating

On Sunday, we headed back down to Cincinnati for our flight home. Fortunately, our flight was within an hour of Karen's trip back to Lebanon, so we got to meet up with them and Mom and Dad for lunch and a final farewell.

Anna loved the kangaroo outside of Outback :)

Our final goodbyes....the kids kept us laughing up until the teary end....we're gonna miss seeing them. Just like on our trip to Beirut, I got so used to being with them for a week that it was sad to see them go. Hopefully, we will get them out to Portland someday.