Flight museum offers a ride to the past

by Chris Owen on

Galveston features a number of attractive features for travelers. In the Texas island town over the weekend for the US debut of Carnival Cruise Lines new Carnival Magic, Gadling got to sample a few of them. One that stands out as a must-do for aviation buffs is the Lone Star Flight Museum. This rare collection of restored war aircraft ranks as one of the finest and most rare in the world. Uniquely, many of the museum’s historic aircraft still fly today and were flying while we were there.

Tours of the museum that can take as little as a hour ($10 per person) for the “just curious” or far longer (and far $more) for “this is my dream come true” aviation fanatics. That later group might enjoy a ride in one of these “warbirds” and for them, the price may be well worth every penny.

The B-17 Flying Fortress ($425 per person with group rates) was flying while we were there and was an Army Air Corps heavy-duty bomber in World War II. The four-engine aircraft flew strategic bombing missions over Europe armed with .50 caliber machine guns and five thousand pounds of bombs. 13,000 B-17’s were produced over the course of the war, of which only 13 still are airworthy today. The aircraft flew around Galveston Island while we were there, offering a birds-eye view and perspective not possible driving in from Houston. The Flight Museum’s B-17 is painted in the colors of ‘Thunderbird’, an aircraft with the 303rd bomb group which flew 116 missions during World War II.

Another prize of the collection, the B-25 Mitchell was a versatile medium-duty bomber which flew in both the Pacific and European Theaters during World War II. The Flight Museum’s B-25 was the official aircraft of the Doolittle Raiders. It honors the 80 brave men who flew 16 land-based B-25s off the USS Hornet in the first raid against the Japanese on their own soil. A ride on this one runs $375 per person with group rates.

Probably one of the best parts of a visit to the museum is the walking tour led by aviators who have flown these aircraft and offer a unique perspective on their contribution to the wars they were used in.

“The logistics of even being able to fly these aircraft in a European war are staggering” said Larry Gregory who heads the museum. “Some of these burn 200 gallons of fuel an hour, would fly four hour missions, and thousands of them could be in the air at any one time, all very far from the United States. Getting them there, keeping them repaired and loaded with fuel and ammunition was an immense job, a tribute to American ingenuity and one of the main reasons the US prevailed.”

The internationally recognized Lone Star Flight Museum contains an award winning flying collection of over 40 historically significant aircraft that also includes a P-47 Thunderbolt, F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat, Spitfire and Hurricane.

Photo: Chris Owen

10 days, 10 states: Finding America’s oldest in Santa Fe, New Mexico

by Kyle Ellison on

“We’ll pack up all our junk and fly so far away, devote ourselves to projects that sell. We’ll open up a restaurant in Santa Fe, forget this cold, Bohemian Hell” -Rent-

This may sound alarming, but I have actually met people–American people–who are unaware that New Mexico is one of the 50 US states. As shocking as that seems, it is, I suppose, slightly understandable, but inexcusable nonetheless. After all, there is no state called New Canada, though that barely qualifies as an excuse.

To be fair, however, it hasn’t always been this way. As the 47th star on the US flag, New Mexico didn’t become a US state until 1912. As of this writing, that’s still under 100 years. Although New Mexico’s history as a member of the United States may be relatively young, it’s capital city, Santa Fe, is the oldest European city in the western US.

And this, is exactly why I am here.

From a historical perspective, there are few American cities more intriguing than Santa Fe. Originally given the name of “La Villa Real de la Santa Fé de San Francisco de Asís”, (“The Royal Town of the Holy Faith of St. Francis of Assisi”), Santa Fe was established in 1607 as a remote territory of Spain. Only St. Augustine (1565) in Florida is older, with Jamestown, Virginia (1607) being established by the English at roughly the same time.

It’s endlessly fascinating to me that a mere few hundred years ago, this altitudinous town at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains was actually part of Spain, especially seeing as modern day America was a concept that wouldn’t be realized for at least another 150 years.

Ok, so Santa Fe is old. I knew that while driving here from Durango, Colorado. I didn’t realize, however, that when it comes to being old, Santa Fe is a wonderland of superlatives. It’s the oldest capital city in the United States (as well as the highest at 7,000 ft.). The oldest house in America is in Santa Fe. The oldest church in America, San Miguel chapel, is in Santa Fe. The Palace of Governors, the oldest public building in America, is also, as you might have guessed, here in Santa Fe.

%Gallery-139205%Standing in front of the St. Francis Cathedral Basilica in Santa Fe’s historic downtown district, I am immediately transported to my days spent as a wide-eyed university student in Salamanca, Spain. Although the modern day cathedral was not built until the 19th century, the town’s church has resided on this very plot of land since the day of the city’s first founding.

In the spirit of my “10 days, 10 states, 10 great American sights” road trip, Santa Fe is also the beginning of the fabled Old Spanish Trail. As the de facto capital of the entire region, the Old Spanish Trail was a rugged trade route that originated in Santa Fe and ran across the desert to faraway Los Angeles. Due to the remote and barren nature of the route, traders would eventually spill into Santa Fe laden with merchandise and goods ready to be bartered and sold.

As my wife and I haggle with a street merchant over a pair of blue turquoise earrings, I sense the energy this Plaza must have held when merchants from Mexico City to Missouri came to hawk their wares. Although the Old Spanish Trail has been replaced by nearby Interstate 40 (which is nowhere near as exciting), Santa Fe’s legacy as a marketplace for crafts and artisans continues to live on. As the acclaimed travel writer Jan Morris famously notes, “Santa Fe is the artiest, sculpturest, weaviest and potteryest town on Earth”.

Of all the goods that have been garnered and sold in this very square, it’s immediately apparent form a leisurely amble through the Plaza that the blue turquoise has managed to thrive. There are blue turquoise necklaces. There are blue turquoise belts. There are statues of animals and boots and entire pieces of furniture that are hopelessly adorned in blue turquoise.

We buy the earrings and climb the adobe stairs to a restaurant that overlooks the Cathedral and Plaza, it’s central obelisk covered in historic New Mexican quotes. Over a dish of New Mexican cuisine–classically Mexican dishes infused with red and green chiles and honey-dipped sopapillas–I partake in a locally craft-brewed beer and watch as the setting sun illuminates the earth-stained adobe walls of the town.

Though normally not one for shopping, in discussing the freshly purchased earrings, for a moment I realize I’m pleased to be just another merchant on an ancient North American trade route; another transaction in the continuing history of one of America’s oldest towns.

Follow Kyle on the rest of his journey as he explores “10 days, 10 states, 10 great American sights”.

Python eats deer in Florida

by Elizabeth Seward on

It seems to me that no one wants to be around a 16 foot python in the wilderness, especially not if that python eats deer with one gulp, but everyone wants to see photos, watch videos, and, generally speaking, relish in the attractively discomforting news that a python swallowed a deer. So, this is what’s been happening in south Florida lately. The 139.1 pound snake weighed 215.4 with the deer in its stomach when it was contained in the Everglades. Officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission killed the snake with a shotgun as to deter it from traveling north.

Native to Southeast Asia, Burmese pythons, such as this one, are popular pets in the United States. Snake owners sometimes aren’t prepared to deal with the Burmese’s rapid growth rate, which can cause a 20 inch snake to grow to 8 feet in just a year’s time. Oftentimes these surprised pet owners let their snake out into the wild when they can no longer cope with having them at home. And so, alas, check out some of the photos of the python at Huffington Post.

Curiosity might mean space travel to Mars

by Chris Owen on

Checking in with NASA this week, the future of space travel to Mars could get a boost when a sedan-sized Reconnaissance Orbiter blasts off later this month. The new rover, named “Curiosity“, is bigger and better than earlier models. As the focus of NASA’s quest to investigate Mars for the possibility of habitable life, Curiosity might get man back into space.

“Mars Science Laboratory builds upon the improved understanding about Mars gained from current and recent missions,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This mission advances technologies and science that will move us toward missions to return samples from, and eventually send humans to, Mars.”

Speaking to reporters, Doug McCuistion, director of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, wouldn’t take the bait when asked how likely it was that Mars once had life reports CNN.

“That’s kind of a request for speculation and I really hate to do that,” he said, adding that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft the agency uses to study the planet from afar, has found evidence of “briny waters that could actually be liquidly waters on the surface.”

No mission to Mars since the 1970’s Viking landers has looked for a direct answer to the question of whether life has existed on Mars. Curiosity is not designed to answer that question directly but will look for signs of the prerequisites of life which can call for future missions.

The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft is scheduled for liftoff at 10:25 a.m. on November 25 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. We can follow the mission on Facebook and on Twitter.

Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech


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Video of the day: a goaty guide to pronouncing foreign cheeses

by Laurel Miller on

The holidays are Cheese Season. At no other time of the year are cheese and specialty food shops as thronged by dairy-seeking customers. They’re hungry for a fix or searching for a gift, recipe ingredient, or the makings of a cheese plate. Cheese is love, and one of the easiest, most elegant ways to kick off a cocktail party or conclude (or make) a memorable meal.

With that in mind, the folks at Culture: the word on cheese magazine (full disclosure: I’m a contributing editor) have produced this clever (and utterly adorable) video to aid you in pronouncing some of those delectable but tricky foreign cheeses from France, Spain, and Switzerland. Happy Hoch Ybrig, everyone!