We used the app to find a life-size replica of the Wright Brothers' plane in Daytona Beach on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where it was rumored that one or more of the 9/11 hijackers learned to fly [that rumor has since been debunked by federal investigators].
The plane is made from stainless steel, and includes Orville and Wilbur statues...I love the lattice work they used for the wings...
For lunch we went south a little to Port Orange and stopped at Racing's North Turn, a restaurant built a the site of the first Nascar race, which took place partly on the beach and partly on the road. They served gator bites, which we had to try, and had tons of racing memorabilia to stare at.
After lunch we went outside to enjoy the sunshine - too much sunshine since we left our sunglasses back at the car for some reason...
...and then we came back home to swim for a bit.
After some pool time we went shopping, including a trip to an office supply store to get school stuff for a supply drive at work, and finished the night at Outback. I was craving their cobb salad with steak...
Next up: St. Augustine's Spanish Quarter!
My son graduated from ERAU. The rumor about a 9/11 hijacker learning to fly there is UNTRUE. Those terrorists learned to fly at a private aviation company further South in Florida; one of those places that teaches nothing but how to fly. ERAU is a 4 year university with a great deal more to teach does not offer flight only classes to those not enrolled for the full curriculum.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment - I said rumored, but I realize I should have done more research before posting the rumor here. I will edit the post now that I have seen this:
ReplyDeleteEbbs expanded the university into several affiliate programs and was president during the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon. Following the attacks, federal investigators thought that the school might have trained at least one of the aircraft hijackers, but after a short investigation it was found that ERAU had no involvement in the flight training of the terrorists. A former student who had the same name as one of the hijackers was found to have no connections to Al-Qaeda.