Showing posts with label Attractions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attractions. Show all posts

Friday, December 9, 2022

Ice, at Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN

This is a short post about our experience at the Ice exhibit at Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. Year after year, Opryland hotel offers a great Christmas experience. They have lots of activities and they decorate nicely. Every few years we visit the Ice exhibit and spend the evening walking around inside the hotel. One of our fist experiences at Ice was the Peanuts themed exhibit in 2017. We saw large ice sculptures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and the rest of gang. 

This year (2022) was themed after the classic movie, Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. The monstrous sized abominable snowman stood roughly 18 ft. tall and was probably the most impressive sculpture in my opinion. Another of my favorite sculptures depicted Santa in his sleigh, being drawn by his reindeer with Rudolf at the helm. In all, it takes about 30-45 minutes or so to walk through the exhibit at a leisurely pace. That includes taking time to go down the ice slides a couple times.

The best tip that anyone could give for this activity is, "don't forget your gloves". The entire exhibit is made of ice so the temperature is well below the freezing point. When you enter, you will receive a thick coat to wear, but they do not have pockets. At first I was surprised by the missing pockets but then I wondered how many sets of keys and cell phones would be left behind if the coats did have pockets. 

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Miles Through Time, Car Museum and Antique Store

If you are searching for info and reviews about Miles Through Time, there is a good chance that you are interested in the auto museum. The museum has a wide variety of old cars: model-T Fords, hotrods, military vehicles, racecars, and motorcycles. There's also a large collection of vintage peddle cars and model cars if your in to vintage toys.

At the beginning of the tour, many of the cars are set in a scene to represent the era of the car. You will walk past the general store, the barber shop, and even the jail as you take in an impressive collection Model-T Fords. With each step you feel as if you are literally taking a stroll through time. I really liked this idea and I hope that the owners continue to expand on it.

No matter if this is a trip down memory lane or a glimpse into the past, plan to spend at least an hour. It took us a bit more than an hour, but it is a self guided tour so we chose to take our time. As far as admission, I forget the exact price, but the experience was well worth the price. Final note, be sure to check out the car that started the museum, Pop's 1959 pink Cadillac, it truly is impressive. 

The Antique Shop

In addition to the car museum, Miles Through Time also has an impressive collection of antiques to browse. The atmosphere was great. When I walked in through the huge green doors, I felt like I was walking into a huge "man cave". That said, there was a wide variety of antiques for everyone to enjoy. As we were browsing, my wife did make the comment, "I think you're enjoying this shop a little more than I am". I think she could tell by my giddy expressions as I admired all the cool stuff. As we paid and headed to the car, we both carried a bag of goodies. My wife actually purchased more than I did, which is no surprise.

Tip: If you decide to shop the antique store first, remember that you can leave your items at the checkout while in the museum. It is also worth noting that the lady at the register was very nice and friendly.  


Thursday, January 13, 2022

Huntsville Space and Rocket Center Review, Father and Son Trip

My son and I found ourselves in an unfortunate situation over the Christmas holidays; my wife had to work and we were both free. We usually take a family trip after Christmas so staying home after the holidays would simply be wrong. We have a rule around our house that we do not fret over the things we cannot change, we work through them. After discussing the plan with my wife, my son and I decided to pack our bags and take a short father-son road trip. After searching other nearby destinations, we decided on visiting the Space and Rocket Center located in Huntsville, AL. I had been to the Space center on an elementary-school field trip many years ago, knowing my son as well as I do, I knew he'd enjoy it too. 

The Interactive exhibit - We booked our trip online and also purchased tickets for two shows in the planetarium, I'll tell more about the planetarium later. We arrived an hour and a half prior to the first show which allowed us plenty of time to explore the interactive exhibit. This area has dozens of interactive and educational games for kids and adults. It is here that you test how fast you can punch a punching bag or see how long you can hang from a pull-up bar. My favorite game involved rapidly beating a bongo, the object being to play as fast as humanly possible until time runs out. Each game shows the top scores for the day and also the world record. The world record for the bongos is 558 beats, I posted a score of 494 beats. I believe it's safe to say that with some practice I could challenge the world record. 


Good to know: Each of the games begin by scanning a thumb print. Your scores for each game are recorded and they can all be accessed at the "check your score" kiosk by simply scanning your thumbprint. That's hi-tech!  

The Intuitive Planetarium - After an hour or so in the Interactive exhibit it was time to wind down in the Intuitive Planetarium over an interactive video and some snacks. We headed over to the planetarium a few minutes early to try and  avoid the line at the concession stand, it worked. They have plenty of snacks to choose from at the concession stand and they even sell beer and wine if that's what your in to. Since I was with my son, I decided to forego having a beer and chose to share a Coke, peanut M&M's, and a bag of popcorn. 

The first video, Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, covered the International Space Station (ISS). It was interesting because all of the footage was captured aboard the ISS. The ISS Experience was very educational and done a great job of explaining day-to-day life aboard the ISS. The fact that we watched the movie in such large format in the planetarium made it even better. Our second feature presentation was titled "Our Place in Space". A very small part of the feature is dedicated to Earth, the majority of the time is spent zipping around space to check out all of the other planets and galaxies. If I were forced to choose one video over the other, I would definitely choose this one. It is more interactive as the director communicates with the audience till the very end. Furthermore, being in the planetarium really brings this demonstration to life. I highly, highly recommend Our Place in Space, it's an awesome experience. 

Sorry, no photos or videos of the Planetarium, photography is strictly prohibited.  

Good to know:  If you are looking for something more than snacks or candy, the Mars Grill is located just around the corner from the concession stand. I asked the movie attendant if foods from Mars Grill were allowed in the planetarium and she said yes. That said, it may be a good idea to check again on your visit.

The Saturn-V Hall - In my opinion, I have saved the best for last; The Saturn-V Exhibit located in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. When we first stepped inside this exhibit, the massive Saturn-V rocket stretching the entire length of the building grabbed our attention. My son gazed up at it and I could tell he was both amazed and excited. This part of the tour really allows you to see the different stages of propulsion that the rocket goes through before exiting our earths atmosphere. Also truly amazing are the massive rocket engines on display, one of which is a ginormous F1. The F1 is literally bigger than most cars on the road. If I haven't sold you on how great the Saturn-V hall really is, be sure to check out the original Apollo-16 command module located at the opposite end of the building.

Good to know: Saturn-V hall is located away from the main building and will likely be the last exhibit you come to. Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to take it all in. You may even consider visiting the Saturn-V hall towards the beginning or middle of the tour to ensure you do not feel rushed.

As our day at the Huntsville Space and Rocket center was ending, it was clear to me that the trip had been a success. We had turned our unfortunate situation into a great adventure. The Huntsville Space and Rocket Center was educational, entertaining, and exciting, all in one place. As we made our way back through the building and towards the car my son turned to me and said, "I love this place".  Forgive me for throwing this in but it is too cool to not share. Days after we returned home, I was pulling together my thoughts for this post. I asked my son "what was your favorite part of the space center"? Without hesitation he replied, "walking around with you". Yep! A successful father and son trip in the books.

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Additional Pictures From Saturn-V Hall

This is the H-1 rocket engine. You can see the much larger F-1 in the Background

Large scale sectioned model of the Saturn-5, the rocket stages are shown in great detail. 


Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Patriot Point Maritime Museum, Full Review, Charleston, SC

The Fighting Lady is Very Impressive

Visiting Patriots Point, the nation’s oldest aircraft carrier museum was an awesome family experience. We visited on a very rainy morning in the fall but the weather cleared by lunch and we were able to enjoy the flight deck. The remaining clouds provided decent cloud cover, and as it turns out, they also provided a great backdrop for many of the photos. 

Retired warplane located on the flight
deck of the Yorktown CV-10

The USS Yorktown CV-10, The Fighting Lady as she is referred to, is a retired World War II aircraft carrier. She is not plush or pristine, but at over 70 years old she is well taken care of and still very impressive. The inside of the USS Yorktown, CV-10 it is laid out similar to a museum. There are lots of military artifacts, scaled models, and several full-size airplanes. When you step out onto the massive flight deck, which is small by todays standards, you will be in the midst of even more full-size jets and military planes. This part of the tour was especially exciting to my seven-year-old son as we inspected each retired aircraft one by one. 

The Destroyer

The USS Laffey (DD-724) is more interactive, my son enjoyed this exhibit more than the CV-10. This amazing vessel is much smaller than the CV-10. Touring this nostalgic destroyer made me realize the sacrifice that many brave men made to call this home for months on end. The USS Laffey does not feel like a museum. I have already mentioned that it is more interactive and there are far less exhibits and artifacts inside as well. My advice would be to resist the urge to go straight for the enormous aircraft carrier. Take in the military destroyer and all it has to offer before embarking on the journey of exploring the CV-10.

USS Laffey (DD-724) Retired Military destroyer

I am not a huge military buff nor do I typically enjoy touring museums. I thought this would be a fun and educational day trip for my family and as it turns out, I was correct. I highly recommend visiting this exhibit, I would suggest that you allow at least 4 hours to enjoy this tour. Keep in mind that the the CV-10 was designed for young marines, not for those with bad knees. Many of the stairways are more like ladders than steps and it may be necessary to duck as you enter certain doorways. So plan accordingly and be sure to wear your walking shoes.


Note: Due to Covid-19, the retired submarine was closed. This gives us a good reason to return and to continue or tour.

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www.patriotspoint.org