Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

If you are fascinated with the history of flight, The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum is a must-see. Home to eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes' Flying Boat HK-1, the Spruce Goose, this museum offers a fascinating glimpse into what makes flying wonderful.

View Hughes' massive WWII aircraft that is actually made of birch, only flew once, and surpassed all aviation feats of the past. You need to see it to appreciate the scale and complexity of Hughes' greatest accomplishment.

You can also see a Titan II Missile inside a silo and experience a launch simulation in the control room. If you are looking for something faster, take a look at the SR-71 Blackbird. It's one of the world's fastest aircrafts, with speeds topping 2,000 miles per hour!

This museum also has excellent exhibits on space flight including early and earth bound rockets, boosters, and manned and unmanned spacecraft. You can view replicas of a lunar module, a lunar rover, and a Gemini spacecraft.

Military aircraft, helicopters, films, and the Aviation Hall of Honor - this museum's got it all. Its located 3.5 miles southeast of McMinnville, Oregon, on Highway 18 across from the McMinnville Municipal Airport. It is about an hour from Portland and 40 minutes from Salem. They also operate a waterpark in-season.