THE Trip - Day 16 (Dennis' Day)

Dennis is an engineer by education and training; but, he is also an engineer at heart.  His working life for over 40 years was in the aerospace world dealing with satellites.   Even though he is an electrical engineer, he is fascinated by “how does it work”.   So today was his day with mechanical items for air and water!!

We visited the Boeing plant south of Everett, WA and took the tour of the facility to see three of their planes in production – the newest 747 model 800, the 777, and the absolute newest plane - the DreamLiner 787.  For 90 minutes, we were part of a guided tour that watched the actual planes being constructed from the observation balcony.   These are HUGE planes being built in a HUGE building.  Very impressive….  Afterwards, we walked the gallery to learn more about what we had observed.

Portion of new 787 constructed in one piece of composite material beside an original 737 with rivets everywhere!

Specially built plane used exclusively to carry the manufactured sections.

GE Engine used in the 787.

Later on our drive into Seattle, we stopped at the Hiram Chittenden Locks that operate in the canal between Puget Sound with access to the ocean and Lake Washington.  For another 90 minutes, we had the good fortune to see the locks in action moving water traffic of all sizes from pleasure boats to major working vessels in both directions. 
 

The drawbridge had to accommodate the larger vessels by opening and closing as needed. 

Beside the locks, a fish ladder is located to help the salmon make their journey.  There is an underwater observation window that showed the salmon swimming to their final spawning waters. 

While I might not be as curious about the “how” side of things….I am always amazed at the creativity of what can be accomplished.