Ze Planes!

Got up before dawn this morning so I could get in my run this morning before heading off on a drive that would take us a couple of hours.  I was out of the house a good half hour before dawn.  I took a battery-powered LED with me.  It seemed to be bright enough without the light, but I was glad to have the light with me just in case.  I did 5 miles this morning at a good easy pace, 13:15.  I want to have a 13:30 or so pace for my half so I think I am on par with what I want to do.  I didn't push myself at all and I have felt pretty good today.  My knee occasionally aches after long runs, but today it feels just fine.

After my run and shower we started our drive to the National Air Force Museum.  There are lots of planes!  I know that seems obvious considering it is the Air Force museum, but I didn't expect so many!  There were 3 large hangers full of planes, plus 6 or 7 of the large cargo/transport planes outside.  We had a good time strolling around the museum, reading some of the information that interested us and taking pictures of the planes.  My husband knows a lot about the military and planes (we joke that he has never grown out of his G.I. Joe phase) so we kind of had our own personal tour guide to ask questions of.

I had two favorite parts of the museum (and they have a theme).  First was getting to see the HEXAGON project satellites.  These were photo reconnaissance satellites that we launched in the 70's and 80's.  I read a book about these and other photo reconnaissance projects that the US undertook.  I really liked the book and was excited to get to see one in person.  My other favorite was getting to see an SR-71 Blackbird.  These were spy planes that flew at extremely high altitudes to take pictures.

The SR-71 Blackbird!  One of the two planes I can recognize and name.

I loved learning about the camera systems on these planes and getting to see them in person.  I really enjoy photography, although that isn't always evident from the pictures I post here.  I try not to stress about the pictures I take for the blog and while I try to make them look decent, I don't excessively worry about them.

After seeing most of the museum, we skipped the space part since we are from Texas and we have all been to this little place called NASA, we headed home.  Our drive home was impeded by rain, lots of rain.  It was raining so hard that there were times it was very difficult to see.  So our progress was much slower coming back than it was going.

The pouring rain!

After we got back, we got dinner ready and ate.  I made pulled pork in the crock pot and my father-in-law made his famous baked beans.  We added a salad and dinner was delicious!  After dinner we played a few games of Sequence and one game of Ticket to Ride India.  I didn't win any of the games, but that is more standard with my husband's family.  With my family, I win games a deal more often than I do with my husband's family.  They are all just rather good at games.

After dinner, we planned on going to a local ice cream store, but when we got there the line was out the door!  We didn't feel like waiting that long, so we headed over to Baskin Robbins.  I tried a new, at least to me, flavor OREO 'N Chocolate.  It was very good!  After that we dropped my in-laws back at their hotel and we went home to rest and relax before bed.

I didn't think to take a picture of my ice cream before I ate it, so you'll have to just enjoy the stock photo.

Speaking of relaxing, I was rather sad last night because I used the last bag of my favorite before bed tea.  It was given to me by a friend so I've never bought it before and I don't know if I can find it (although I think she told me before that she got it on Amazon so that gives me hope).  I've really enjoyed it and I have a temporary substitute, but it isn't the same.

Sniff!  The last of my yummy tea. Sniff!