Visit to the Strategic Air Command Museum

Late last month, my husband, another couple, and I went to the Strategic Air Command Museum in Ashland, Nebraska, outside of Omaha. The four of us stayed at Lied Lodge in Nebraska City, where my husband and I have stayed before.

Lied Lodge and Conference Center is an oasis of peace in the middle of corn and soybean fields. (Not that corn and soybean fields are particularly frenetic.) Part of Arbor Day Farms, the lodge has huge solid tree trunks used as supports all through the common areas and rooms. The excellent dining room looks out on a state park, and the lobby has several lovely sitting areas, any of which is a wonderful place to read or chat.

But the main purpose of our trip was not to enjoy the amenities of Lied Lodge, much as I might have enjoyed that.

I was traveling with three airplane buffs. I’ve known for a long time that one of my husband’s strengths (or weaknesses) is his love-affair of airplanes. He has taken me to many military museums in our almost forty-one years of marriage. However, I was surprised to learn that our friends—both husband AND wife—relish airplanes also.

In preparation for our trip, the four of us spent two evenings earlier in the year watching movies. Strategic Air Command (1955), with Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson was one film. Bombers B-52 (1957), with Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Natalie Wood as his daughter was the other.  Neither was a particularly good movie. Both were 1950s flicks that were basically advertisements for the Air Force. I must admit I got little out of them, either as entertainment or as education.

My husband and I had been to the SAC Museum in Ashland before. At least twice. And we’ve been to other military museums from Seattle to California to New York, some involving ships, some artillery, and some aircraft. I knew what to expect—a lot of airplanes in a big warehouse-like building.

So I came prepared. I loaded my ereader with a couple of good books. I smiled as I paid our admission, knowing that I was supporting a worthy cause, but would be able to enjoy myself in solitude for a couple of hours. Once we entered the museum, I found a good bench with a view of much of the exhibit floor and opened a book.

Don’t get me wrong—I wandered around enough to see some of the exhibits. The airplane displays mostly left me unmoved. I have trouble telling one plane from another, mostly because I don’t care that much. I did look at a cargo plane and compared it to the C-130 that I rode in once when I took part in an Air Force “goodwill” day for family and friends of reservists. A woman who worked in my department had an Air Force reservist husband, and I was invited to ride in the C-130 on a short hop out of St. Joseph, Missouri. I managed to keep my lunch down, which I thought was a major accomplishment.

One exhibit at the SAC Museum that did impress me was a depiction of the World Trade Center Twin Towers made from neckties, one tie for each casualty of that disaster. The piece was created by artist Gregory Laakso. Tomorrow is the seventeenth anniversary of September 11—an event that everyone alive on that date and old enough to form memories will remember for their lifetimes.

But mostly, I read. I moved from bench to bench within the exhibit space, trying to keep the rest of my group in sight. I lost them for a while, but my husband retrieved me in time to grab a hot dog at the museum’s small snack bar.

My husband and I didn’t buy any souvenirs at the SAC Museum, but the next day before we left Nebraska City, we stopped at Arbor Day Farm and bought some jellies. We have been enjoying the gooseberry jam. I’m not particularly fond of gooseberries, but the major ingredient in this jar is sugar.

In jams as in museums, it’s important to know how to sweeten the pot. It’s possible for everyone to enjoy an experience if their interests are accommodated. In my case, an opportunity to read will satisfy me, when the subject of the museum does not.

Which museum is your favorite? Which museums don’t you enjoy?