Washington D.C. Day 8: Air and Space Museum Annex and Flying Home

Thursday was my day to fly back to California. Before my afternoon flight, my parents and I decided to explore the Air and Space Museum Annex (officially: the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center), conveniently close to Dulles Airport.

The size of the center is astounding. There are very many planes inside! They're all full-size, real vehicles. Plus there's space stuff too: satellites, rockets, etc., including the space shuttle. Yes, it fits in there without a problem. And there are air-related items (engines, airplane machine guns, etc.) and air-related memorabilia: aerial photographs, food cans used by Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, medals, and even antique dinner plates with a painting of a hot air balloon.

The center does a great job in the design and arrangement of all these displays.

I took pictures. I'm sorry the pictures don't have detailed commentary--we were short on time so I didn't take many notes. We did, however, manage to see almost all of the complex. The only thing I know I missed that I would like to have seen is the air traffic controller simulation/model.

Getting to my flight was easy. There was no line to check-in and security was pretty fast. The only delay was that I had to take a shuttle to my gate/terminal. I didn't have to do this when I landed the week before.

My seat had a surprisingly large amount of legroom, no discernible reason why.

I transferred in Salt Lake City before completing my journey home to San Francisco. In Salt Lake City, I wandered the terminals hunting for food. En route, I saw art; for details see the pictures. After seeing many restaurants I wasn't in the mood for, I was happy when I spotted a Quiznos on a map. But this Quiznos only sold regular sandwiches, not small ones, and I didn't want a regular sandwich because I was still somewhat full from lunch in Dulles. Instead, I grabbed a nostalgic pepperoni slice from Sbarro. I say nostalgic because I often got a slice from Sbarro when my mom brought me to the mall when I was a kid. Sadly, this slice wasn't as good as the memory of my halcyon days of mall wandering.

Update: My parents tell me that what I used to eat in the mall was from a place called Luciano Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. If only I knew at the time, I wouldn't have stopped by Sbarro!