500 Adrenaline Adventures (Frommer's) - Lois Friedland [264]
If you want to fly a jet with a pal, choose the two-person F-18 Super Hornet Experience. After a fast training session, the “pilot” takes off from an aircraft carrier using a throttle to control the speed and a joy stick to control whether the plane goes up, down, or does 360° barrel roles. (Empty change from your pockets before taking this ride!) The second person on the flight is the gunner, who releases virtual radar-guided and heat-seeking missiles at approaching targets.
If you’d rather be a passenger, choose the Space Walk or Wings. On the Space Walk you’ll be sitting in an astronaut’s chair inside a shuttle during the launch. You’ll get the sensation of floating gravity-free as you fly through space until you reach the Space Station. Once there, you’ll get a personal tour of the inside of the station, then suit up for an outside stroll. Watching Wings, you’ll sit in the pilot’s seat for a fast-paced tour of the history of aviation by flying various planes ranging from the Sopwith Camel of World War I, to early bi-planes all the way through to the F-5 Tiger jet.
If after the flight and space-flight simulators you’re still in need of more excitement, there are roller coaster rides, like the Cosmic Coaster, which takes you on a white-knuckle journey through the cosmos. Be prepared to rock and roll, and even scream as you “fly” through a futuristic image of space.
Entry to the museum is free, but there is a charge (under $10) for the simulator rides, which are located in the West Wing Gallery 103. After paying, you enter a queue for the ride you’ve chosen. Most of the rides take about 5 to 6 minutes.
You can also take these simulator rides at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum satellite at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. This companion facility near Washington Dulles International Airport houses the space shuttle Enterprise, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, and other large planes. At this facility, you can also see the Space Walk in 3D (using 3D glasses), which increases the sense of being out in space. —LF
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, National Mall Building, Independence Ave. at Sixth St. SW ( 202/633-1000; www.nasm.si.edu/museum). Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, 14390 Air and Space Museum Pkwy., Chantilly, VA (www.nasm.si.edu/UdvarHazy).
When to Go: Year-round. Closed Christmas Day.
Ronald Reagan Washington National (5 miles/8km). Dulles International (26 miles/42km). Baltimore-Washington International (30 miles/48km).
$$ Embassy Suites Hotel Downtown, 1250 22nd St. NW ( 800/EMBASSY [362-2779] or 202/857-3388; www.embassysuitesdcmetro.com). $$$ Hilton Washington, 1919 Connecticut Ave. NW ( 800/HILTONS [445-8667] or 202/483-3000; www.washinton.hilton.com).
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Gilley’s Dallas
Riding El Toro
Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.
Rockin’ and rollin’ takes on new meaning as you desperately try to hang on to the mechanical bull that is jerking forward and backward, and side to side. It looked like fun when you and your friends dared each other to try it, but now that you’re being shaken around you’re not so sure. Whoa! You fly off on to the blow-up mat designed to cushion your fall. Tip from one rider: Never try it as a twosome.
Bull riders traditionally train on mechanical bulls, but riding these critters in bars became a craze after the 1980 movie hit Urban Cowboy. The original Gilley’s was a honky-tonk bar opened by country singer Michael Gilley and Sherwood Cryer in Pasadena, Texas, in 1971. People flocked to Gilley’s to ride the mechanical bull and hang around this Texas-size western bar, with its tin ceiling, just like characters did in this movie’s tale of young love.
The original bar closed in the 1980s, but in 2003 Gilley’s Dallas opened just south of downtown. Today,