Sullenberger Aviation Museum – Charlotte, NC
The Sullenberger Aviation Museum at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) houses the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane. That’s the Airbus A30 involved in the January 15, 2009, incident in which US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of geese, resulting in engine failure.
Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to land the plane safely in New York’s Hudson River. And all 155 people aboard (150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots) miraculously survived.
The entire recovered Airbus A30 that flew as US Airways Flight 1549 — including the fuselage, wings and tail — is the centerpiece of the recently revamped and much-expanded Sullenberger Aviation Museum. We recently visited to see the plane, the accompanying exhibits and to learn about the museum’s tour dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson Experience.”
That two-hour, add-on guided tour digs deeper into the incident and its aftermath. And it offers participants a chance to learn about and touch some of the objects involved in the recovery and artifacts retrieved from the water.
Read more about our visit in the story we wrote about the Miracle on the Hudson Plane for The Points Guy site.
Petersen Rock Garden & Museum – Bend, Oregon
The 4-acre Petersen Rock Garden, in Central Oregon, near Redmond, is one of those charming, decades-old roadside attractions that was in danger of fading away.
Starting in 1935, Danish immigrant Rasmus Petersen began using regional-sourced stones of all sorts to build intricate miniature castles, churches, bridges, and monuments on his land.
Petersen’s family cared for the garden after his death in 1952, but funds and interest faded and the garden closed in 2016.
In 2022 new owners reopened the site. They are now working with community volunteers to repair and revitalize all the charming rock structures and to care for the 40+ peacocks that roam the grounds.
If you’re out that way, be sure to stop by.
High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon
(Courtesy High Desert Museum)
The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon sprawls across 135 acres of Ponderosa pine forest and includes multiple indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces, trails, animal habitats, art shows and historic structures such as a 1904 ranch and a sawmill.
During our recent visit, we loved walking the trails, seeing the art and western artifacts, and visiting with the otters, the birds of prey, the porcupine, the skunk and the bobcat.
And we expanded our regional geologic knowledge in a fun exhibit about volcanoes that features an interactive game that transforms the floor into flowing lava.
