Posts in the category "Museums":

The National Air & Space Museum and the National Museum of American History have joined forces to create a new permanent exhibition at the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. called Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There.

Wiley Post’s Winnie Mae circled the globe two times, shattering previous records.
Photo: Eric Long, Smithsonian

The new exhibit explores how revolutions in timekeeping allowed people to find their way and includes sections about navigation at sea, in the air and in space,

Great on-line resources include a Timeline of Innovation, which notes that a new and more accurate definition of a second – the basic unit of time – was adopted in 1967.

“The new second was based on the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of radiation in an isotope of cesium. Previously, the second had been defined as 1/86,400th of the mean solar day. The change was momentous. Atomic clocks had demonstrated that the unvarying vibrations of atoms were more accurate timekeepers than the irregular daily rotation of the Earth.”

A new second. courtesy National Air & Space Museum

Categories: aviation, Museum Monday, Museums
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The SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport is currently displaying eighteen United Airlines flight attendant uniforms, some of them dating back to the 1930s.

United Airlines stewardess uniform – with cape. 1930-1932. Courtesy SFO Museum

The exhibit is part of a donation of fifty-five flight attendant uniforms given to the SFO Museum by the United Airlines Historical Foundation and which represent the full history of the airline’s company-issued cabin crew attire.

Look for the exhibit – United we Stand: Female Flight Attendant Uniforms of United Airlines – through September 15, 2013 at the San Francisco International Airport Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum in the International Terminal, Departure Level, near the entrant to Boarding Area ‘A.”

United Airlines uniforms 1968-1970 – courtesy SFO Museum

There’s no admission to enter the museum, which is open 10 am to 4:30 pm, Sunday through Friday.

Here’s a link to more images from the exhibition.

Categories: Museum Monday, Museums
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There were plenty of aviation-related pranks pulled earlier this week for April Fools’ Day, but by far the best one was this press release sent out by Seattle’s Museum of Flight announcing a three day exhibit featuring Wonder Woman’s invisible plane.

Wonder Woman’s invisible airplane makes a low pass over Edwards Air Force Base, California, circa 1946. Courtesy: The Museum of Flight

The description of the plane was intriguing:

“Developed using still-mysterious Amazon stealth technology decades before other aerospace companies envisioned such a future, the unique aircraft features a robot-controlled pilot, a locascope, and an electronic mist beam. Wonder Woman was able to control the plane telepathically and via devices in her tiara.”

I laughed it off as a great joke and a really well-written fake press release and tweeted the news with a “tee-hee” note attached.

But it turns out the museum really did have a temporary exhibit all about Wonder Woman’s invisible airplane, complete with a docent tour, exhibit panels, photos, a 360-degree cockpit tour and a webpage filled with additional information.

For those who missed it, here are some photos showing the plane on exhibit and the informational panels.

Thanks, Museum of Flight, for showing the plane and sharing these images.

A photo of the exhibit at Seattle’s Museum of Flight featuring Wonder Woman’s Invisible plane.

Categories: Aviation history, Fun Stuff, History, Museums
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Whether you’re a veteran of multiple trans-Atlantic crossings or have yet to set sail on your first weekend party cruise to the Bahamas, there’s plenty to learn about the history of cruise ships and the culture of cruising. Don’t worry if you’re prone to sea-sickness; only one of these cool cruise-themed museum exhibits is not on dry land.

Photo courtesy Miami Children’s Museum

Miami Children’s Museum Cruise Ship Exhibit

“Nobody expects to see a giant cruise ship on the second floor of a museum,” says Woody Graber of Miami Children’s Museum. But once they get over the surprise, kids are welcome to board the two-story, interactive Carnival Cruise Ship exhibit and try their hands at doing everything from reading maps and charting a course for a giant ship to doing the limbo and getting dressed up in sequined outfits to sing and dance in an onboard show.

Photo courtesy: Titanic Museum Attraction

Titanic fever continues

We’re near the end of a year-long centennial tribute to the April 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic, yet the fascination with the doomed ship and its passengers is unabated. An Australian billionaire recently announced plans to build Titanic II, a full-scale recreation of the original cruise ship. And attendance remains strong at the Branson, MO and Pigeon Forge, TN branches of the Titanic Museum Attraction.Co-owner Mary Kellogg says that’s due in part to the addition of new Titanic artifacts, a gallery dedicated to the children who were on the ship and themed events such as a Titanic book fair and monthly Titanic Princess Tea Parties.

Photo courtesy Mariner’s Museum, Newport News, VA

Abandon Ship exhibition

Opened in May 2012 and still bobbing along, Abandon Ship: Stories of Survival at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, VA details the aftermath of a variety of marine catastrophes. A canvas-covered cork life vest from the Titanic is on display, along with the modern-day life vest worn by one of two Virginia Beach residents who survived the grounding of the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the coast of Italy in January 2012.  For the exhibit, the local couple shared their chilling evacuation stories and photos snapped during the ship’s evacuation.

Photo courtesy Alaska State Museums and Historical Library Collections

Alaska shipboard cruise exhibit

Throughout the summer, a photo and text-rich exhibit about the history of cruising in Alaska is installed onboard each of the Princess Cruise line vessels that visits the Land of the Midnight Sun. Created by the Alaska State Museum, Then & Now: 100 Years of Cruising Alaska’s Waters gives modern-day visitors an idea of what early steamship “excursionists” experienced and what they might have seen when they sailed these same waters. “It offers nice contrasts and, in some cases, similarities,” said Robert Banghart, chief curator of the Alaska State Museums.

Photo courtesy Rotterdam Maritime Museum

Rotterdam celebrates castles on the sea

A major new interactive exhibition titled Castle on the Sea – a holiday on a cruise ship opens at the Rotterdam Maritime Museum on April 6^th. Visitors will be invited to relax in deck chairs by the “pool,” take a twirl around a ship’s dance floor and sing along with the karaoke version of The Love Boat before taking a seat at the captain’s table for an imaginary multi-course dinner. For historical context, the exhibition includes photographs and artifacts found in the museum’s collection, including intricately detailed models of early cruise ships and passages taken from travel diaries of early cruise passengers.

My story, 5 Cool Cruise Ship Exhibits ,first appeared on AOL TRAVEL.

Categories: Exhibits, Museums
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It’s always a bit strange for me to spend time in Portland, Oregon.

It’s the first city I lived in when I moved out west and it’s the city now portrayed in a fun and fractured way in the IFC show Portlandia and in Portlandia: A Guide for Visitors, a book that claims to describe “all that this magical, dreamy city has to offer.”

This visit I was a guest of Travel Portland - and most definitely a tourist.

I stayed one night in the Hotel deLuxe, which offers a Pilgrimage to Portlandia package, and two nights at the Heathman Hotel, which won my heart by sending someone to my room within five minutes of my arrival with a copy of my Oregon Curiosities book for me to sign so it could be added to the on-site library filled with books by authors – many of them really, really famous – who have stayed at the hotel.

Most of the weekend was spent racing around the city – on foot and on public transportation – visiting hot spots such as Powell’s Books, the Peculiarium and the Lan Su Chinese Garden, and trying to find all the venues offering the free treats that come with the Portland Passport visitors receive when they book a room through the Travel Portland site before March 31st.

The somewhat Porlandia-ish list of treats includes a doughnut from Voodoo Doughnut (where the far-out offerings include a doughnut covered in Fruit Loops and one covered in bubble gum dust and decorated with a wrapped piece of gum), a tour of Widmer Brothers Brewing (free anyway, but passport holders get a free full-sized souvenir glass), a scoop of ice cream at Salt & Straw (sorbet at 10:30 in the morning? Why not?) and five other items, some of which were inspired by the ‘what-to-do-in-Portland-in-the-winter‘ tips gathered from Portland insiders.

The most puzzling place on the passport is the 10-piece meatball plate: a reward for visitors who make the trek out to IKEA.

“Pacific Northwesterners love IKEA, especially when it’s tax-free,” is the way Courtney Ries, consumer marketing manager for Travel Portland explained it. “And since we can’t give everyone a bookshelf or a new kitchen, we thought it would be something fun for the people that make IKEA a must-visit place when they come to town – or for those that have a special hankering for meatballs.”

Fair enough. But IKEA is just one stop on the MAX light rail line before my favorite place in the city – Portland International Airport – and there are plenty of fun and unique shops and restaurants there – along with art and entertainment. And, while I arrived in town on the train, it might be fun for visitors coming to town by plane to get their last passport stamp – and tasty treat – as they head home.

Categories: Hotels, Museums, Restaurants
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