Due to my non-attendance at the day’s activities, Daniel and Nathan have willingly shared their thoughts on the day. First up, Nathan-because he had a catchy title. :-)
The boys in front of the Boeing factory
Inside the Flight Heritage Center
Just how big is 96 acres? HUGE!
On the second day of the trip, we went to this place that was filled with older computers, down the the first typewriter and apple device. We could walk through the history and development of the technology in this one museum, and it was very cool! Some of the computer we could actually mess with, type on, and things like that, which made this even cooler!!!
Then, after that we went a Boeing production facility tour. It was unfathomably huge, and was extremely interesting. The tour guide said that the facility was 96 acres big, and the relation of that is that they could put all of the Disney California resort in the facility and have 12 acres left over for parking. Insane, Right? Aside from that, we got to see lots of planes in various states of completion. It was cool!
Last thing of the day was we went to a flight history collection, which was a collection of warplanes that were all flight worthy. In fact, the info desk said that they have flight shows!!! We saw lots of cool planes, and it was a walk through history, which was very very cool!
And now Daniel shares his insights.
Day one of Seattle was really fun and right up my alley. Mom and Malia didn't come, as they didn't care or weren't large enough, respectively. One of Dad's Seattle coworkers told him about the living computer museum, where they have antique and old computers doing their original tasks. It was a fun leap through history of computing. I thought that finding out what the machines were that my grandparents worked on for a living. I also saw what the history of memory was. A huge 3-feet disc could hold about as much as a tiny thumb drive. That was really cool to see the history of computing.
We then went to the Boeing Factory tour. We were taken through their massive factory, which is so big that Disneyland California could fit inside of the factory and still have about 12 acres of parking. WE went and saw where the 747 were built. It takes a ton of manpower to build a 747. The place where we went had a perfect view of the floor. You know that green color that we all see when airplanes are under construction? That is a protective coating that is removed for painting, instead of the color of the materials it is made of. After seeing the 747 production line, we went and say the 777 and 787 hangers. Basically the same deal, but with different aircraft. One thing I thought that was interesting was the fact that all of the major parts of the 787 aren't produced in Washington. They are built else ware and then sent to the Factory for final assembly. They are taken there by a modified 747 that has a bloated fuselage that is used to carry the parts. Final assembly is the only thing that happens in Washington for the 787. The tour was 90 minutes and the only boring part was walking there.
While we were at Boeing, we heard about a flight heritage center, where there is a display of WWII and later war birds that were airworthy. I thought that it was cool to see all the airplanes that I have heard so much about and seen in flight worthy condition. Some of the planes wouldn't ever fly due to their rarity in restored condition, including a variant of German plan that one was saw there was the last surviving craft. That was cool. All of the planes that we saw had oil absorbent stuff underneath the engines, which proved that all that was needed was some gasoline and a pilot and they could fly. We then went home.
(Pardon my short sentences and lack of detail. I am sitting next to Nathan and can hear him clacking away at the keyboard and I am done sitting and typing up stuff. Gosh Darned Online Gym!!!!)
(Let me give you some insight to Daniel’s last comments. Daniel has been taking an online P.E. class this summer so that he will have enough room in his schedule to take two band classes. Contrary to what you would expect, almost the entire class has been doing online research and writing essays. There has actually been very little physical activity. In fact, outside of marching band, Daniel has spent the majority of his time sitting in front of the computer doing homework.)
The boys had a fun day. I'm looking forward to tomorrow-fewer airplanes, but an underground, forgotten city!
