Since I flew out with JetBlue from IAD at 4pm, the Air and Space Museum was a perfect thing to do. It’s $15 to park and free to enter. I had heard that this location was better than the one just off the National Mall, and I certainly agree. The museum is an indoor hanger which includes a Boeing 707, SR-71 Blackbird, Space Shuttle, and many more very cool aircraft. Off to the far corner of the building there’s a flight tower, which features a tour guide from Dulles International Airport who explains the monitors and how they work. Watching how organized the flight tower really is was very cool, the operator was able to explain all the information in front of us within minutes.
The main attraction I was wanting to see is the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. For those of you not familiar, the SR71 was a spy plane that is faster than any other plane ever made (and I think still is). Here‘s a really neat site I found that has lots of information on the plane.
My favorite part of the museum after visiting was the flight simulator. Whitney and I did the interactive flight simulator, where I was the gunner and she was the pilot. The simulators allow you to do a full 360 degree turn while flying, or it will even hang you upside down for extended periods of time. All in all the highlight of the trip.
