Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum

Think “West Coast wine,” and you likely conjure Napa Valley, the northern California region that has long stood as the nation’s epicenter of domestic production. But a few hundred miles to the north, Oregon has a thriving -- and still-growing -- industry that boasts some 220 wineries.

The heart and soul of Oregon’s wine country is McMinnville (pronounced MICK-min-vil). Located about an hour’s drive south of Portland, it dates to the middle of the 19th century, when founder William T. Newby claimed the land and named it in honor of his hometown, McMinnville, Tenn. Today, it is a bustling hamlet of almost 35,000.

Those headed there from Portland on State Route 18 encounter a most unexpected attraction, considering there is no real aviation history connected to the town or area: Three-and-a-half-miles from the McMinnville tourism district sits the striking campus of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum (www.evergreenmuseum.org). You certainly can’t miss the complex: It’s the one with a Boeing 747 jumbo jet perched on the roof of the building that houses a water park.

The Aviation Museum opened in 2001. It was expressly created as a home for the “Spruce Goose,” the gargantuan wooden cargo plane built (and flown but once) by aviation legend Howard Hughes in 1947. In 2007, an IMAX theater debuted; the following year, the Space Museum opened.

If you’re in the Portland area, a trip to the museum is merited, if only because of the Spruce Goose, which is so large they actually erected the building around the plane. It is truly something to experience the mind-blowing, monumental scope of the mammoth craft up-close. However, a visit to the flight deck will add $50 per person to the cost of museum admission.

But the “Goose” is hardly the only reason to visit. The hangar-like exhibition spaces are filled with vintage aircraft. While some of the pieces are replicas, there are dozens of authentic items on display, from World War I and II fighters (the emphasis is on military aircraft) to a Cold War-era Titan II ICBM that once was fitted with nuclear bombs.

The above-mentioned Wings & Waves Waterpark is an indoor, all-season educational/recreation center featuring 10 waterslides (for both little kids and older, bolder folks; one is built into a rooftop 747), a wave pool, and an interactive museum dedicated to information about the power of water.

After spending an hour or two at the Evergreen Museum, it’s time to head into McMinnville proper, whose main drag, 3rd Street, is lined with shops and boutiques, as well as bars, restaurants, and funky, historic hotels. All of which led Sunset magazine to proclaim the lively strip “The West’s Best Main Street” earlier this year.