The Alberta Aviation Museum is located at what used to be the Edmonton City Center airport (I know it as the Edmonton Municipal Airport). I still remember it as an airport, so seeing that a bunch of houses had popped up near what was one of the runways was an interesting sight.
Alberta Aviation Museum
I happened to see it on the map, and decided to go check it out on my trip to Edmonton at the end of July. Two airplanes and a missile outside makes the museum pretty easy to find. The museum is in a giant hangar, and there’s lots to see.
One of the neat things about all the planes on exhibit is that they all have some element of Canadian history, and in many cases Alberta and Edmonton history as well. While some of the planes are models or reconstructions, most are actual aircraft. One particularly nice example is a Cranwell CLA.4 built by Alf Want in his basement. He ended up having to cut a hole in his basement wall to get the plane out (something that might sound familiar to NCIS fans).
During my trip back to Edmonton last week, I was looking around in Google Maps to see what I wanted to do and came across Fort Edmonton Park. It’s a place I hadn’t visited since elementary school, probably around 3rd or 4th grade which puts it at close to 50 years ago.
Needless to say, the park has changed a lot. It’s definitely a lot bigger than I remember.
You can walk around, ride the steam locomotive, hop on the electric trolley car, or do all three to get around the park. There’s lots to see and do as you wander the park going back through Edmonton’s history.
Inside the park past the train station, there’s the Midway and Exposition area with games, a ferris wheel, and other rides for the kids to enjoy.
Keep wandering through the park, checking out the various historic buildings. Most are original and transplanted to the park, some are replicas.
1920 StSt Paul telephone exchange building1905 StSanderson & Looby blacksmith shop1905 StFirkins House (L) and Rutherford House (R) on 1905 St1905 StTent City
Interact with the park staff dressed in period outfits.
Tent CityBlacksmith at work
Eventually you’ll reach Fort Edmonton, the fur trading outpost that eventually became Edmonton.
Walking up to the 1846 Fort1846 Fort EdmontonRowand HouseFort Edmonton courtyard
Inside the fort, you can get a glimpse of what it was like to live in the fort. People seem to have been a lot shorter back then, and there are a few places where tall people might have to duck down a bit.
Food prep area in Rowand HouseA bedroom in Rowand HouseFort Edmonton courtyard
It was fun revisiting a place I hadn’t been in a very long time. There are a few other places that I’ll have to revisit on my next trip.
Another Southeast Linuxfest is wrapped up and I had a great time again. Saw a bunch of new faces at SELF this year, which was nice. Attendance seemed about the same as last year. As usual, the hallway track was pretty active.
New sponsors this year were AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux. I’ll have to try them out on some of the older hardware I’ve got that Fedora doesn’t like to install on now.
Back this year was System76, showing off some of their hardware and one of their Launch keyboards, which looked really nice. Might have to get myself one. I’d love to get one of the Thelio systems.
In addition to the great talks this year, the grand opening of the new Charlotte Microcenter happened to coincide with SELF and there was much buzz. The new Microcenter isn’t very far away away and fairly easy to get to. Very nice store, very big. I somehow managed to get out of the store having only purchased a 5 port ethernet switch and an Arduino Mega clone board.
As usual, we had the W4L special event station running at SELF making FT8 contacts throughout the weekend. The amateur radio test session went pretty well too despite the room being a little on the frigid side, with 12 out of 16 people getting upgrades or new licenses.
And of course, it wouldn’t be SELF without Fred. Joining him this year was Larry the Cat.
Another one is at Space Center Houston, which I got to visit a few years ago. There I learned that there were only three left in the world. Since this was the second Saturn V I’d seen, I thought to myself “Well, now I have to see all of them.”
The third, and final Saturn V I got to see is in the Saturn V Hall at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. Outside the Davidson Center where the Saturn V is located is an equally impressive but slightly smaller mockup of the Saturn V. Makes the building easy to find if you’re exploring the Space and Rocket Center.
After going inside the building and up the stairs, you’re greeted with the massive business end of the Saturn V rocket once you turn the corner to enter the exhibit hall.
The flamy end of the Saturn V rocket
In addition to the Saturn V overhead, there are lots of displays and exhibits telling the history of rocket development and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
Pointy end of the Saturn V rocket
The Saturn V never ceases to amaze me. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of seeing one.
Mercury training module and Mercury capsule with the Saturn V first stage in the backgroundBetween the first and second stages of the Saturn VBetween the second and third stages of the Saturn VApollo capsule
The US Space and Rocket Center is a great place to visit. There’s lots to see and do there. The Rocket Park (like Kennedy’s Rocket Garden) was having a lot of work being done, but it’s still a fun area to wander around. Check out the Saturn IB and a mockup of part of Skylab (made from pieces that were used for training in the Neutral Bouyancy Simulator) on display in the Rocket Park. Walk around the Shuttle Park where you’ll find a mockup of a Space Shuttle with the external tank and boosters when we were there. Highly recommend going to the US Space and Rocket Center if you’re in the area (or even if you aren’t).
Saturn IB in the Rocket ParkSkylab on display in the Rocket ParkShuttle Park
Oh, and bring a banana to leave for Miss Baker and Big George.
Next quest: See all the Space Shuttles. on display I’ve already seen the Shuttle Atlantis at KSC. Three more to go.
Got to spend two and a half days wandering around parts of Disney World over the weekend.
Drove down to the Orlando area Saturday, stopping at IKEA in Jacksonville on the way to check out cabinets that we’re planning on putting in the laundry room at some point. Of all the IKEAs we’ve been to, the one in Jacksonville is a bit of an oddball, since it’s only a single level.
Stopped at Skycraft Parts & Surplus in Orlando to browse. Really wish there was a store like that here in Charleston. I’d probably end up spending a lot of time there.
After checking in to the hotel and getting unpacked, we headed off to Disney Springs to pick up my Epcot ticket and trade in Connie’s old 4-day Park Hopper pass with one day left from back when they didn’t expire for a new ticket. Spent most of the evening wandering around Disney Springs and had a good time.
The next day (Sunday) we went to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. We had tickets for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue later in the afternoon so they let us in to park early. We spent our time before the show resort hopping to check out and wander around some of the nearby resorts. Took a boat to the Wilderness Lodge, and then to the Contemporary Resort. From there we hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian Resort where we had lunch, and then the Grand Floridian Resort (very fancy place). Finally, we got back on the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom where we walked around the entrance a bit (didn’t go in) and then caught the boat back to Fort Wilderness to meet up with friends.
The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue show is an entertaining hour and a half or so of music, song, and dance accompanied by an all-you-can-eat dinner of fried chicken buckets, pails of ribs, bowls of baked beans, corn, and mashed potatoes, and topped off with strawberry shortcake.
Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue at Disney’s Fort Wilderness ResortHoop-Dee-Doo Musical RevueHoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue menuBucket of fried chickenPail o’ ribsCowboy beans and corn
We all quite enjoyed the show and the food.
The next day, Monday, was Epcot Day! Epcot is our favourite Disney park.
Spaceship Earth at Epcot
Epcot Day started off bright and early with us arriving at the parking lot gate at 7:30 AM, right when the parking lot opens. The parking lot Cast Member asked us how we were doing, and Connie responded with an enthusiastic “We’re awesome! We’re at Epcot!” I guess Connie’s enthusiasm was contagious, because she waved us on by and we didn’t have to pay the $25 for parking.
After parking close enough that we could walk to the entrance, we waited for the security lines to open, then hopped on the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center and back. The ride offers a nice view of parts of Disney World and on the way back makes a loop through Epcot’s Future World.
About 10 or 15 minutes before the rope drops, the gathered crowd is entertained by the JAMMitors, a percussion trio playing on trash can lids and pails. Then, at 9AM the rope drops and the crowd rushes into the park.
Any way you do things, spending the day at Epcot is tiring. We took it easy, weren’t rushing anywhere, took breaks, enjoyed rides, and were still exhausted by the end of the day.
Roasted Irish Sausage with Colcannon Potatoes and Onion GravyShort Rib Tostada: Corn Tortilla topped with Short Ribs, Black Beans, Salsa Verde and Spring OnionCoconut Rice Pudding served with Mango CoulisÂ
Pro tip: If you’re buying stuff at Epcot, you can have them delivered to Package Pickup (located at The Gift Stop by the park entrance) and pick up your goods on the way out. That way you don’t need to lug things around while you’re exploring the park. The cut-off time for getting purchases sent to Package Pickup is 6PM but if you’re going to do it, have your last purchase sent to Package Pickup well before that. If you’re staying at one of the Disney resorts, you can have your purchases sent to your resort which makes things even easier.
Wrapping up the evening was the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth show. Last month there was an announcement that the IllumiNations show was going to be retired in 2019 and replaced with something else. It was important enough to Connie that we see the show together that we cancelled the cruise we had planned for May 2019 to make the trip to Epcot instead. The show was a fantastic spectacle of music, fireworks, lasers, video, water, and fire. Really big fire. It’s a pretty awesome show and definitely worth waiting around for.
