Another Day Another Museum

But we really couldn't miss this one.
The previous day was excellent but no Air and Space Museum is complete without an SR-71 and a Space Shuttle.
Also some of the most elegant planes ever built are on display here.  The huge hangar is a ways out of town next to Dulles Airport, so it was a quick trip on the freeways to get there.
It being the local national holiday, the crowds weren't too large in the morning, but did increase during the day.

The hangar is quite large

These are the two we came to see - especially the front one.

And this is not just ANY SR-71 either.  Since the fleet was mothballed due to the exorbitant running costs there are SR-71s on display all over the country.  But this is the one that set the fastest ever airplane speed of around 3,500kph on it's final flight to here.
Cost to run?  They told us it took three KC135 tankers to refuel it in flight for every two hours flying time.
Mind boggling.

But it is fantastic to see.

Yep, THE Enola Gay of Atomic bomb fame.

Balloon gondola from the first successful Atlantic crossing.  Note the folding deck chairs.

The beautiful Concorde takes up a bit of room

As does this Super Connie, arguably the most elegant plane ever.

Then, practically in its own hangar, the Space Shuttle Discovery.  Veteran of 39 missions.

That's me standing under the tail - dwarfed

 Our local coffee shop, BackStreet Espresso likes to get shots of their coffee cup all around the world so we've supplied a couple.

All in all a nice pleasant 4th of July in Washington.
Later that evening there was lots of banging, crashing and pretty lights in the sky.  I think they were celebrating something.