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| - The International Women's Air and Space Museum is a must stop in Cleveland for anyone. Entry is free as is the parking directly in front of the entrance to Burke Airport where this museum is located. While it's not anything spectacular, it's fantastic to see a museum completely dedicated to the women of aviation and space.
The IWASM has a number of unique artifacts including the dress of Katherine Wright (Orville and Wilbur's sister), the Pretty Purple Puddy Tat airplane, a console from Mission Control during the Apollo era of NASA, a great display about the women of NASA's Mercury program, as well as many other smaller but fantastic historical items. It's well worth a trip through here, especially if you couple it with a trip to the USS Cod, a floating submarine museum right next door.
Burke Airport is a small private airport on the south shore of Lake Erie. While visiting the museum, a travelling exhibition with a Ford Tri-Motor airplane was visiting for the weekend. The group was offering rides in the plane for $75. If only I had the money to burn, I would have gone in an instant. Instead, the group let myself and my friends take a tour of the plane (both inside and out) and then we watched it take off with people who did have the money to burn. What a great experience.
While the heart is in the right place with the museum, I would like to see more love put into it. There is so much that could be done here, especially with all the room that is available here. The exhibits could definitely use some updating. It feels that even Cleveland locals don't really know about this place, and that's sad.
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