While some families are spending this weekend preparing for their spring getaways others are staying close to home and finalizing their plans for summer adventures. Whether you are doing one or the other the following family friendly vacation destinations are ones you might consider visiting if you are looking for an alternative (or addition) to theme parks and thrill rides.
Starting April 14th the new museum and visitor center at Gettysburg National Military Park will open its doors to the public. The facility is part of a $125 million project that helps preserve the park’s artifacts and archives.
If you visit be sure to check out the cyclorama, an 1884 oil painting designed to place guests in the middle of the climactic battle. The massive painting was created in 14 sections comprising a 360-degree canvas that depicted Pickett’s Charge, the dramatic Union Army stand against Confederate troops on July 3, 1863. It’s still in the process of being restored, but museum officials say it should be completed in the next few months.
Meanwhile, in California, Muir Woods National Monument is getting ready to throw a massive birthday bash for its gigantic residents.
The park is celebrating its 100th year and to commemorate its centennial officials are throwing a “Celebration of Trees” party on April 21st, which is John Muir’s birthday. The park was named for Muir, a prominent conservationist, at the request of William Kent, who with his wife Elizabeth donated the land for the monument.
Muir Woods National Monument is located just north of San Francisco and attracts a million visitors annually. The site is filled with redwoods that stand more than 260 feet high and some are more than 1,200 years old. The area was designated a national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt on Jan. 9, 1908.
Finally, you and your family will be in for a real treat this summer if you visit the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. That’s where a California man’s crop duster soon will be headed.
According to museum officials, some time in late summer or early fall, the 1962 Grumman G-164 Ag Cat will be suspended on cables in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum over a supersonic Concorde.
The vintage biplane is being displayed to call attention to the contributions of agricultural aircraft. It will be the Smithsonian’s first crop duster. The plane has logged nearly 13,000 flight hours and cruises at speeds of about 90 miles per hour.
Also on display at the museum are the space shuttle Enterprise and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress better known as the Enola Gay, which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
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