I do enjoy seeing ghost murals and find that the alley side of an old building is often the best places for spotting them.
This one is in Bedford, PA just a few doors down from Rebellion Books, a bookshop that took a lot of my money in exchange for a wonderful book shopping experience.
Bedford is a neat little town filled with history, fun shops, and charm. I have nothing but fond memories of this place and only regret we didn’t have more time.
I am plotting a return someday because we only hit the highlights like this historic tavern and the big coffee pot. I want to see more of what’s hiding along the side streets and alleyways. After all, it’s usually off the beaten path where we find the real magic happens.
Meet the Enola Gay. She was named for Enola Gay Tibbets, the mother of the man who famously piloted this Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bomber during World War II.
On August 6, 1945, Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr. and his 11- man crew dropped a highly enriched uranium, explosion-type, “gun-fired,” atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan from this plane. This was the first use of a nuclear weapon in war.
Three days later, another plane dropped an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, Japan.
On August 14, 1945, the Japanese accepted Allied terms for unconditional surrender.
The war was finally over.
I have heard this story so many times in history class, in documentaries, books, and thoughts from my dad the history buff. But I never dreamed I would get to see the Enola Gay in person.
It is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a part of the National Air and Space Museum outside Washington DC. When my Pittsburgh pal and I adventured over to DC a few years ago, we stopped here on our way into the city. It was a good place to see some neat things and stretch our legs after a day in the car.
And, boy, do they have some neat things to see including the Space Shuttle Discovery and some truly unusual aircraft I had never seen before. Yet, nothing else reduced me to a pile of fan girl excitement followed by absolute grief over the power and magnitude of this piece of machinery.
It has been restored so it looks pretty good for its age. And it’s bigger than I imagined so that was kind of cool. You can get a pretty close view of this plane and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would say if airplanes could talk.
Smithsonian museums are world class so never pass up the opportunity to look around one. You never know what famous relic or little told story you might find!
Remember when I told you about the National Museum of the American Coverlet and how it’s in an old school in Bedford? Well, they have done a fantastic job of preserving that old school and some of its unique features.
The front hallway features a folk art mural of the town as well as this mural of the Big Bad Wolf spying on the pigs. Isn’t it fun?
Here’s a bigger picture view of the history mural and the pigs.
These odd and random things we run into out in the world are more or less what I live for. The coverlets in this museum are amazing but I found myself sometimes distracted by features of this old building. How fortunate were to get a peak inside!
