April 26, 2023 - Castle Air Museum

 

Title: April 26, 2023 - Castle Air Museum
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's :

Hike Info:

Type:Tourist

Description:

John and Cathey have scheduled an event with the Central Valley Hiking Group on the same day we are scheduled to visit Ryan, our nephew. Both are to the north of Fresno and it turns out the schedules work out. So we are good to go on both counts.

We gather at 8:15 and leave the parking lot in Fresno by 8:30. The trek down 99 is uneventful and unusually quick. We get to Castle a little before the 10am opening time. This gives us time to group up and get instructions. We pay our entry fee in the gift shop and then continue through to the museum grounds. We met up with our guide, Rusty. Turns out he is from Turlock and has taught classes at our alma mater, Stanislaus State.

Rusty is a new docent, his second time out in the wild with a group. But he is also an enthusiast, so the knowledge he does not have from experience around the planes, he has through interest. Our group has a ringer also. Mike has flown many of these planes or has been around them. So what Rusty does not know, Mike does.

We start with the World War II bombers and work our way through chronology. One thing I see is that early planes look tiny when you see the planes from the 1980’s. They are behemoths. While fighter jets look sleeker than their earlier models.

I am not an aircraft hobbyist, or even someone who can recognize most planes. But hearing about these planes and their histories is interesting. So I listen attentively.

The other thing which goes through my brain is the thoughts which I am having as I write up our time at Arlington Cemetery. How do I reconcile this fascination with warplanes and the thoughts about the futility of war? I cannot, at least immediately. Maybe it is similar to admiring the bravery of those who fought and died while thinking of how long will this go on?

 

It is 11:40 and we need to leave. We briefly go into the building museum before exiting the grounds. We go up Santa Fe Road to Denair. We made it to Ryan’s house a little after 12:30. We spent about an hour with him. Sherri does most of the interacting with him. I rest because I will be driving back.

Ryan has an appointment after we leave so we leave a little before 2. On the way back we stop in Livingston at a place called La Morenita. Pretty good place. It is our kind of place, a smaller, home run place. After eating, we head back to Fresno, getting back a bit before 5. I am tired, but feeling good about our time. We have our family Zoom time and then to bed.