The Evergreen Aviation Museum is just off Highway 18, about three miles southeast of McMinnville, Ore., and an hour southwest of Portland.
The Spruce Goose is the museum’s featured attraction, but Evergreen has much more to see. Also on display are more than three dozen vintage aircraft, including a B-17 Flying Fortress, a TBM Avenger, a P-51 Mustang, a P-38 Lightning, a P-40 Warhawk, a Douglas C-47, a Ford Tri-Motor, a Messerschmitt 109, a British Spitfire, various stunt airplanes and helicopters.
Also available are a section for children to learn about aviation, a museum store and an aviation research library.
The museum is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day and Easter Sunday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Summer hours are extended to 6 p.m., from June 1 through Labor Day. The museum’s Web site is www.sprucegoose.org. The telephone number is 503/434-4180.
The museum is in the heart of the Willamette Valley, Oregon’s main wine-growing region. Visitors to the museum should consider stopping at vineyards dotting the countryside to sample their wines. It’s also easy to combine a trip to the museum with a journey to the nearby Oregon Coast and to the lofty Cascade Range. Recreation opportunities abound in western Oregon, including hiking, golfing, sea kayaking and salmon fishing. The city of McMinnville is also well worth a visit.
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