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Arlington WA fly-in info?

flyboy1963

Well Known Member
A call to any and all Nor-westers who might have been, or are going to the flyin July 10-12. I haven't been since 1982 or so.:eek:

I know it's late to book things, but can anyone give a pirep on how on-site camping is if I just have a pickup & canopy? ( are there showers & decent washrooms?
Any good motels within 30 minutes or so?
things to see and/or not miss when at the show, or in the area?

thanks!!!
 
Hi Perry,

I've camped for the last 6-8 years or so, just a truck and canopy. The last couple years there have been lots of room left over. Can't imagine not getting a spot. Showers are OK, better than they were. Lots of porta potties. Food is....ok There's a great traditional mexican restaurant offsite not far.

Bevan
 
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Deb and I plan on attending Arlington this year for the first time. :cool: We've never been to the Seattle area and we're also looking for things to do. We have a room booked at the TownePlace Suites in Everett for three nights. Most likely we will fly out to the San Juan islands and make a trip into Seattle. I think the Space Needle is a must see...
From the website it looks like plenty of camping is available and you can register on-line.

http://www.arlingtonflyin.org/

I'm planning to do a border crossing into Canada before going to the Fly-In. We'll probably spend a night in Kelowna, BC then head back to the USA.
Any assistance on crossing the border from experienced fellow Canadians would be helpful. :confused:

Something else I would like to see is this: http://www.b-reactor.org/ The B Reactor has been declared a National Historic Landmark. This was where the Plutonium for the Manhattan Project was created. Pretty interesting stuff if you do some reading. The Trinity and Nagasaki bombs were produced with plutonium from this reactor. :eek:

They actually have a tour schedule, but it is hard to locate and it appears there is a waiting list. :(

Regards,
 
Any good motels within 30 minutes or so?

I don't know about good, but there is a motel and a Buzz Inn (steakhouse) right across the street (172nd). There is a Medallion Hotel up by the freeway, a mile or 2, and a few others in the vicinity. For NICE there is the resort at the Tulalip Casino, plus some real good restaurants at the Casino (so I've heard) about 5 miles away.
 
If you are planning on coming into Canada don't forget to buy a US Customs decal. It is required to get back into the USA not Canada. Cost is around $27.
 
Don't worry about camping reservations ahead of arrival. Attendance has dropped off so much that there will be loads of space. This seems to be true at too many (most) fly-ins.

Everett is a 15-20 minute drive from AWO. Not certain that rental cars are available at the fly-in, so make certain that you have a ground transportation plan. Maybe that plan will be to fly in to a field with rentals, and then one of you fly to AWO while the other person drives up.

The Seattle area has an interesting dilemna: the question is not what you can do; it's WHAT will you do from an overwhelming list of options? Slice and dice between urban vs. rural, and within rural choose between maritime vs. mountains.

Urban:
  • Pike Place Market
  • Space Needle (Yuk -- you want to pay to ride an elevator?)
  • Museum of Flight at BFI
  • Boeing tour at PAE
  • Awesome seafood at a waterfront restaurant (www.yelp.com to choose one, www.opentable.com to make reservations at many of them)

Maritime:
  • Ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island as a foot passenger. Have dinner over there (Yelp again) Time it so that you come back to Seattle after dark -- but be careful not to get trapped by missing the last ferry/. The Seattle skyline is awesome at night.
  • Center for Wooden Boats -- on Sundays they give free rides in sailboats and also a steam launch named Puffin (cool). OK, maybe this one should be under urban

Mountains:
  • A hike in the mountains. www.wta.org to choose one. Everything from 90 seconds to 100 miles.
  • Drive to either Mt. Rainier or Mt. Baker
  • Drive up Highway 20. If overnight, all the way to Winthrop and stay at the Sun Mountain Lodge (www.SunMountainLodge.com)

Flying:
  • Side trip to Canada. Clear at Abbottsford and then on to Chilliwack for Pie. Trust me on this one. Clear back thru BLI. (Customs: "What was your purpose for visiting Canada?" You: "Pie")
  • Continue on from Chilliwack to land at Hope. A 737 once landed on this grass strip during flight testing
  • Trip to Darrington (spectacular, short field with a mountain on base that may freak out flatlanders)
  • Trip to the San Juans (FHR or ORS, Roche Harbor if you don't mind a landing fee)
  • Lunch at 0S9 (Jefferson County) or PWT (Bremerton)
  • Fly around the Olympic Peninsula. You'll want to come back in a car

Just Nearby:
  • Downtown Arlington has several good small-town restaurants
  • Smokey Point, SSW of the field, has restaurants, a Costco, and a Safeway. As mentioned by someone else, there is also a motel or two. Close by is still not close enough to walk, though.
  • An exit or so south on I-5 is a large factory outlet mall that is always 'jammin. There is a casino and Cabellas there too.
 
Thanks a bunch for the info Mike. It's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. We're going to give some of these a try for sure. My plan right now is to come through Canada (clear at Castlegar) after visiting a sister in Post Falls, ID (probably Tue). I had planned to stop at Chilliwack to file before coming back into the US anyhow, didn't know about the pie sounds Great! :)

So many things to check out now, looks like we do not have enough time. I'll be scoping all this out for the next few days. Again thanks for the input. :cool:

Scott


Don't worry about camping reservations ahead of arrival. Attendance has dropped off so much that there will be loads of space. This seems to be true at too many (most) fly-ins.

Everett is a 15-20 minute drive from AWO. Not certain that rental cars are available at the fly-in, so make certain that you have a ground transportation plan. Maybe that plan will be to fly in to a field with rentals, and then one of you fly to AWO while the other person drives up.

The Seattle area has an interesting dilemna: the question is not what you can do; it's WHAT will you do from an overwhelming list of options? Slice and dice between urban vs. rural, and within rural choose between maritime vs. mountains.

Urban:
  • Pike Place Market
  • Space Needle (Yuk -- you want to pay to ride an elevator?)
  • Museum of Flight at BFI
  • Boeing tour at PAE
  • Awesome seafood at a waterfront restaurant (www.yelp.com to choose one, www.opentable.com to make reservations at many of them)
Maritime:
  • Ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island as a foot passenger. Have dinner over there (Yelp again) Time it so that you come back to Seattle after dark -- but be careful not to get trapped by missing the last ferry/. The Seattle skyline is awesome at night.
  • Center for Wooden Boats -- on Sundays they give free rides in sailboats and also a steam launch named Puffin (cool). OK, maybe this one should be under urban
Mountains:
  • A hike in the mountains. www.wta.org to choose one. Everything from 90 seconds to 100 miles.
  • Drive to either Mt. Rainier or Mt. Baker
  • Drive up Highway 20. If overnight, all the way to Winthrop and stay at the Sun Mountain Lodge (www.SunMountainLodge.com)
Flying:
  • Side trip to Canada. Clear at Abbottsford and then on to Chilliwack for Pie. Trust me on this one. Clear back thru BLI. (Customs: "What was your purpose for visiting Canada?" You: "Pie")
  • Continue on from Chilliwack to land at Hope. A 737 once landed on this grass strip during flight testing
  • Trip to Darrington (spectacular, short field with a mountain on base that may freak out flatlanders)
  • Trip to the San Juans (FHR or ORS, Roche Harbor if you don't mind a landing fee)
  • Lunch at 0S9 (Jefferson County) or PWT (Bremerton)
  • Fly around the Olympic Peninsula. You'll want to come back in a car
Just Nearby:
  • Downtown Arlington has several good small-town restaurants
  • Smokey Point, SSW of the field, has restaurants, a Costco, and a Safeway. As mentioned by someone else, there is also a motel or two. Close by is still not close enough to walk, though.
  • An exit or so south on I-5 is a large factory outlet mall that is always 'jammin. There is a casino and Cabellas there too.
 
I'll be there.

I don't have much to add about restaurants or hotels, or about the camping at the fly-in. (I live far enough away to not be super familiar with the Arlington area, but close enough that I'll just return home at the end of the day and not need to camp or get a room at Arlington).

But I should add that Paine Field, just a short hop to the south, has some neat attractions. Paul Allen owns a collection of about fifteen airworthy WW2 fighters (plus a MiG-29, a B-25, a couple of biplanes... all airworthy) and his hangar is open to the public. His lawyer is another rich airplane collector who also has an assortment of biplanes and WW2 fighters (including a P-51B with a Malcolm hood, and an F7F and an F8F), and his hangar too is open to the public. The Museum of Flight is at KBFI, but their restoration facility is at KPAE, and it includes the last DH Comet in the Americas, Kelly Johnson's JetStar, a Vought Cutlass, and more. And like Mike said, there is the Future of Flight mini-museum, where you can get on a tour of Boeing's widebody factory.

Flying around here is great if the weather is clear. Of course, it's amazing to fly around Mt Baker or Mt Rainier. The North Cascades, just east of Arlington, are really cool and jagged (and many are right by nice flat valleys with roads, i.e. pretty safe flying in case of engine trouble). The San Juan islands are beautiful, and the water around their shores is surprisingly clear. My absolute favorite thing to do in an airplane is to fly around Mt St Helens, but that's an hour south or so, might be a little out of the way. (See here and scroll down to the second bunch of pictures).
 
And one more thing.

Flying over Ballard, not far to the south of Arlington, you can get a pretty amazing shot of downtown Seattle.

IMO, the best spot is here (red circle):

2vcxs49.jpg


The SeaTac Bravo starts at 3000 feet. So you can go up to about 2700 feet and snap a shot like this:




(Click for larger version)
 
I am planning on taking Cooper Air to Arlington for it's first show. I/We should be there on the 11th if anyone wants to stop and say Hi.
 
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