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Before and during the NMRA convention in Seattle in 2004 we had the opportunity to enjoy some of what the area has to offer. Scroll down to see more, or click on a button to the right to go to another area.

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MUSEUM OF FLIGHT

The Museum of Flight at Boeing Field is a MUST SEE! We only spent an afternoon there - should have been a full day! Virtually everything in the museum is flyable! It also includes the relocated warehouse where Boeing Aircraft started. Newly opened in June of 2004 is a wing dedicated to World War II.

The AeroCar was a unique idea of the 1960 - a car which can be converted to an airplane. The wings and tail can be towed behind the car with the change over being a 15 minute operation.

While the idea was never financially viable, the vehicle was innovative!

Air Force One - the words bring up images of the massive 747 of recent years. On display (you can tour through it) is the 707 based unit of the Kennedy era. The current paint scheme was modified by Jimmy Carter from Jackie Kennedy's original design.

It is humbling to read who has traveled in this historic plane.

One of the passenger and mail aircraft from the 1920s resides, fully restored in the main display area.

Looking at the luxury of air travel then, reminds us how things have changed. More reliable and safer transportation is good, but not as swank as it was!

As a counterpoint to the luxury of the tri-motor above, is the speed and efficiency of the Concorde.

This 2000 mile per hour passenger aircraft was the most POSH way to travel.

It is amazingly cramped and not very luxurious!

The first ever 737 is on display near the Concorde and Air Force One.

While this series of airplanes exceeds all expectations as to longevity and quantities built, it is nice to see the original!

This plane had a career with NASA after Boeing was through with it.

The history of aviation tends to forget that the foundation of the commercial aviation industry was float planes hauling mail.

The Bee Gee racer has a long and colorful history. Some of its exploits were for the Disney film THE ROCKETEER.

These planes long dominated the Reno Air Races.

Ryan Aircraft in San Diego built this mail plane a few years before the Sprit of St. Louis. Charles Lindbergh used this model as the basis for his plane.

Dominating the main floor is the SR71 Blackbird spy plane. This titanium beauty say lots of work during the Cold War. Top speed was Mach 3.2 at about 80,000 feet, where it burned 4.4 gallons of fuel a second.

This SR71 also has a drone on top. The drone was sent into the hottest enemy territory to photograph and send back data before being destroyed. A very expensive operation!

There is a cockpit from an SR71 off to the side where you can sit and think about spending 14 hours in there for an operation.

The engine shows evidence of the extreme heat of continuous afterburner operation. It grows a half a foot due to expansion during operation.

PIONEER SQUARE & UNDERGROUND

Seattle grew up around the area known as Pioneer Square. From the founding in the 1850s to the fire in the 1880s the history is colorful. Check out the underground tour for more than, perhaps, you wanted to know, but a fun and entertaining hour and a half.

The Victorian architecture in the Pioneer Square area is both historic and beautiful.

The street to the left of the building on the left is know as SKID ROW and spawned the term to identify seedy areas of towns. Find out why here.

In the 1960s, these buildings could be bought for $15,000 or so - about the price then of a suburban tract home.

This attractive Victorian is the Pioneer Square Building which lends its name to the neighborhood. The high rise buildings of current Seattle cannot duplicate this grandeur and style.

After the fire in the 1880s, the town was rebuilt with brick. The existing sewage disposal issues led to the idea of raising the level of the town from the original mud flat level to the current level (about 10 feet higher). The new buildings were built with the idea that the first floor would eventually be underground and the second floor would be the main entrance. The ornate doorways seen here were originally on the second floor and opened onto thin air for years until the streets were raised.

In the 1970s, a Seattle resident (Bill Spiedel) decided to open up this fascinating bit of history to locals and tourists. Three blocks of the "old city" are visited during the 1-1/2 hour tour. The photo on the left was taken down an alley after we came out from the first block of underground.

This iron and glass bus shelter is the focal point of the plaza on the seaward side of the Pioneer Square building. The plaza was created to adjust the alignment of First Street. The two founders of Seattle couldn't agree whether the streets should follow the shore or the compass. The resulting jog created traffic problems here at the intersection of First Street and "Skid Row."

One of our first "sky scrapers," the Smith Tower was one of the tallest buildings in the USA when finished about 1910. This magnificent structure was the brainchild of the head of the Smith Typewriter Company (later merged with Corona).

This photo of Smith Tower is framed by the doorway of Pioneer Square Building and a tree. They can bee seen in the lower left of the vertical photo above

When the streets were raised, the original first floor entrances and sidewalks continued as an arcade. The new sidewalks included skylights to illuminate the old sidewalks below. Here is an example of a glass skylight which is about 120 years old.

A steam powered saw mill was located in Seattle early in its history. This economic entity contributed to the economic success of Seattle over its rivals, including Tacoma, Tumwater and Olympia.

This building was built on the sawmill site after the fire (about 1890). This is the corner of First Street and Skid row. The bus shelter shown above is below the tree on the right of this photo.

The underground tour begins in what was a hardware store. The visitors get to view the remains of the stenciled wall decoration and the damaged pipes, etc.

The main entrance was to the right side of the photo on the right.

Our guide explains how the retaining wall behind him was built and the hill above moved down to fill in the streets to raise the level. He is standing on the first floor sidewalk. Notice the brick arch work above his head which supports the current sidewalk. Later the steel I beams were added to reinforce this construction in this earthquake prone area.