The weekend of August 7, 8 9, there was the Anacortes Arts and musical festival. They close main street and there were over 200 vendors selling all kinds of items. Some were a little over priced in my thought... oh well, it was fun to walk along the street, sample the food and listen to the music!
On Wednesday, August 13th we headed out for lunch at the Oyster House along the water. Below us were the oyster beds. It was a little foggy but the
food was wonderful and the wine even better!
Even though there was some f the view was beautiful.On Thursday, August 14th, we headed down to Mukilteo, Washington to the Boeing "Future of Flight" Aviation Center The Boeing tour takes you trough its giant facility where you see how today's jets are assembled. When you enter the building you enter the biggest building on earth. Guinness World Records lists the Boeing Everett factory as the largest building in the world by volume at 472 million cubic feet. We were told that all of Disney World would fit inside the building and still have room for a 12 acre parking lot. The Everett factory is like a small indoor city, requiring it own fire department, security force, fully equipped medical clinic, electrical substations, and water treatment plant.
About 30,000 people work at the Everett site, keeping things moving around the clock on three shifts. You can imagine the traffic problems when shift change occurs, which is why they stagger shift hours during the day.
The factory is so big that when it was first built it created its own weather. Clouds actually formed near the ceiling. The weather cleared when an air-circulation system was installed.
There are 1 million light bulbs in the factory.
There are twenty-six overhead cranes that cruise along a 39-mile network of ceiling tracks throughout the factory, lifting and moving airplane components and sections.
There are 2.33 miles of pedestrian tunnels running below the factory.
There are 1,300 bicycles in the factory to help employees get around along with golf carts and other vehicles.
The mural on the six factory doors is the largest digital graphic in the world, according to Guinness World Records.
The rail spur running uphill to the factory from Great Northern Railway's tracks below is the steepest active standard-gauge railroad in the United States.
The bottom photo is of the Dream Lifter, a Boeing 474 that has been modified to accommodate parts of other airliners to be built. Moving parts around the world can be a real problem. There are hinges near the tail the open up the back end to slide the parts in and out of the aircraft.
We were able to see the flight line working on the new 787 Dream liner and also the new 747-8 freighter that is 20 feet longer than the old 747-400 aircraft! We also saw the 737 line. The 737 one of the world's most popular aircraft. The assembly line move along at about one inch an hour.
What a great way to spend a cool rainy day!!!!
On Saturday we are off to Levenworth up in the mountains.... more on that later.
That is all for now,
Candy and Johnny
