a day trip to Dayton,Ohio

We had planned a drive up to Dayton, Ohio to visit the National Museum of the United States Air Force. We knew rain was in the forecast but that makes a good day for a museum visit...all inside.

On the drive up I was waiting to snap a photo of the Cincinnati skyline. It suddenly comes into view as you come around a curve. Of course this semi just had to change lanes right then. All I could see was his back end.

Dayton is only about an hour beyond Cincinnati...depending on traffic and road work delays of course.

We didn't even know about this museum. Lonnie happened to see something about it on the internet. We looked up more info and found out it is free admission too!  No government funding - all private donations.

 It is huge! There are 3 enormous hangars divided up in sections. The first is the early years, Wright brothers, etc.  Then on to planes used by the military...and even those used by our allies and our enemies.

 (This one was hanging upside down on the ceiling)

As the tour guide said- anything the Air Force shot or were shooting at.

 It was chock full of planes and exhibits. There were small sitting areas throughout to take a rest stop.Some had old flying related films playing on a small screen nearby.

An atomic bomb - gutted,of course.

You can walk through at your own pace or follow a tour guide (no charge). We did a little of each.

Look how enormous this place is ! Sorry, I can't tell you the names of any of the planes...I just don't retain that kind of information for some reason.

They also had an IMAX theater - it wasn't free..about $8 each. We watched a film about fighter pilots training in the Arizona desert. Interesting and exciting.

It is impossible to see very much of this museum in one day. We were pooped out when they announced it was near closing time.

Before we left I had checked tripadvisor.com to find restaurants nearby (with good reviews). We decided on Deweys Pizza. It was a good choice. 

Local microbrewed beers...several to choose from.

They had specialty pizzas on the menu or you could choose your own toppings. They were very accomodating and allowed us to order a pizza split half with Lonnie's favorite toppings and the other side with one of their specialties I wanted to try.

It was good and we had plenty left over to take home with us.

More rain on the way home but not a lot of traffic. It was a fun trip and we said we will go back again. There is so much more to see at the museum.

Website:   http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/