Lancaster and Palmdale
The next stop on our journey southward was Lancaster, CA where we detoured off the freeway long enough to find the Musical Road, a section of roadway that was grooved to play the William Tell Overture when driven at 50 mph. This ad stunt was done by Honda to promote their Honda Civic in 2008. After the commercial was filmed, the roadway was left for the community to enjoy. However, the surrounding residents soon complained of the noise and erratic behavior of those driving the section of roadway. Consquently the city paved over the grooves, but luckily for us, it was "re-created" on a remote section of Avenue G between 30th and 40 West. Find it and drive it! It's worth the detour.
Palmdale is the home of Blackbird Park where stealth spy planes are now on exhibit. The office/gift shop is manned by knowledgeable volunteers who love to tell you all about these birds. Because of limited funding, the park is only open Friday through Sunday. The picture below is of the SR-71A, at the time the fastest plane on earth, affectionately known as Blackbird. It had a maximum speed of 2,112 miles per hour and could fly 3250 miles without refueling. All of the SR-71s were retired by 1995. Who know what replaced them... 
Below is the A-12, a prototype for both the SR-71 and YF-12 Blackbirds. The YF-12 was originally developed for the USAF as a long-range interceptor. The Air Force dropped the project when it was realized that it would not make a good interceptor, but the CIA picked it up when they realized it would be an awesome spy plane. This is only one of two places in the world where you can see both planes side by side.
And here is the famous F-117 Stealth attack aircraft, with a shape and special skin to minimize radar reflections. It is pretty cool being able to see these once top secret planes so close-up. Once a year, pilots who flew these aircraft host a special event where the planes are opened up and you can actually sit in the cockpit in addition to hearing real war stories.
This is a close up of the outside of one of the engines used in the SR-71 -- it doesn't look that complicated.
Palmdale is the home of Blackbird Park where stealth spy planes are now on exhibit. The office/gift shop is manned by knowledgeable volunteers who love to tell you all about these birds. Because of limited funding, the park is only open Friday through Sunday. The picture below is of the SR-71A, at the time the fastest plane on earth, affectionately known as Blackbird. It had a maximum speed of 2,112 miles per hour and could fly 3250 miles without refueling. All of the SR-71s were retired by 1995. Who know what replaced them... 
Below is the A-12, a prototype for both the SR-71 and YF-12 Blackbirds. The YF-12 was originally developed for the USAF as a long-range interceptor. The Air Force dropped the project when it was realized that it would not make a good interceptor, but the CIA picked it up when they realized it would be an awesome spy plane. This is only one of two places in the world where you can see both planes side by side.
And here is the famous F-117 Stealth attack aircraft, with a shape and special skin to minimize radar reflections. It is pretty cool being able to see these once top secret planes so close-up. Once a year, pilots who flew these aircraft host a special event where the planes are opened up and you can actually sit in the cockpit in addition to hearing real war stories.
This is a close up of the outside of one of the engines used in the SR-71 -- it doesn't look that complicated.
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