Independence is a fun little city with a college-town feel. Western Oregon University is nearby so…read morethere are always college students around. Central High School is also located here. One of the funnest things about Independence is the 4th if July celebration! The day starts out with a fun run and a big parade, then people meander down to the riverfront to enjoy the music, food and booths. Then, when it's dark, they have a fantastic fireworks display!

Today is the biggest day of the year for the city of Independence. Of course the name should give…read morethat away. We come here almost every year for the parade and all the festivities. The parade is always fun. They have a small, I think 5k run at the beginning of the parade. Some times they have a fly over by the military. The rest of the day, they have rides, booths and lots of food down by the river front. At night, they have one of the biggest firework shows. If you haven't been, you should come and check it out. It's great fun. Our family loves it.

I was staying in Newport on the coast, and I drove an hour and a half just to see the museum. It…read morewas definitely worth the time, and the price. This is an absolutely amazing museum. The complex Covers four buildings. Two of them are for the museum, one of the buildings holds a giant screen movie theater that screens, some amazing aviation related movies, and the fourth building is an indoor waterpark, complete with a retired 747 parked on the roof. The emergency exits to the 747 are entrances to the waterslides. The primary building, where the spruce goose is located, covers aircraft from a replica of the original Wright Brothers flyer, to modern military aircraft. The secondary building, is the space, museum. It has aircraft such as the SR 71 blackbird, a model of the Apollo, lunar lander, and other space related exhibits. You can easily spend hours here. Admission is reasonable, and they offer discounts for military/veterans, seniors, youth, and local residents. Annual memberships are also available. To see the Spruce goose I highly recommend the flight deck tour. It's $25 on top of the museum admission, not cheap, but without it, all you really see is the entranceway of the plane. I took the tour, it was a 45 minute tour, it goes through the entire plane, and the docent talked about the whole history of the plane, it's different components, etc..... It was originally a prototype for a massive cargo plane, but because it was not completed by the end of WWII, there were no others made. It only flew one time, and there was a really cool recording of a reporter who was actually on the plane for that flight. It's definitely worth the visit.

This place is out in the middle of nowhere but a cool place to visit. I got to see the spruce goose…read morewhich I had no idea was moved from Long Beach. The space museum is cool as well. They have a mock control center for launching a rocket with vibrations. There's also a water park with a 747 on top the building with 4 water slides coming out of it. That looked fun. They are building a hotel on the property as well. It's a pretty neat spot in the middle of nowhere.

What a unique experience it was to have a tour from the daughter of the man who constructed this…read moremuseum. It's truly amazing to think of how much love and hard work went into it. If you plan on going, give yourself a large chunk of time to just be there. There's lots to see and if you blink you just might miss something. I will be recommending this museum to other local visitors. So glad that I stopped! Hope to be back Even if you're not a rock hound I think you will still be impressed.

I was blown away. This is a must-see. I agree w/ many of the other five-star reviewers. I got to…read moremeet w/ the husband (his wife dealt w/ the next couple after us). He has obvious memory issues. I fear this won't be open for very much longer, so please see it ASAP if you can. VERY MUCH WORTH SEEING -- it is a reflection of a time gone by -- government would NEVER permit the sort of housing seen here. Astonishing to think what artistic works his father accomplished -- nowadays we can boast about Skyrim/Stardew Valley houses whereas he actually BUILT a house, painted numerous paintings, made the incredible stone Biblical "paintings" and all the other artistic endeavors.

I've always loved carousel horses. I wanted a full size one for my dream living room when I was…read moreyoung. I did collected small carousel horse ornaments for my Christmas trees. So, when I realized Albany had a carousel with a museum I had to go. The place is amazing and more than horses. There is no entrance fee. I checked out the painting studio, then the carousel, with its snack bar. I saw all those animals featured on their website go round & round and up & down in three dimensional real life. I took lot of pictures and video. I joined a tour led by a volunteer. Learning about the local lady that started it all. Saw more carousel animals in basement along with the carving shop while three artists worked on future animals to be. I purchased a token to ride the carousel ($2) and nearly walked around the whole menagerie before deciding on an animal to sit upon. After debating salmon, elephant, orca, bear, zebra etc; I wound up on a horse named Calapooia. I didn't notice any xmas ornaments in the gift but I did buy a tee-shirt of Guardian the Hippocampus and a post card of Calapooia. They had post cards for all the animals on the carousel. I also got to press a penny while I still could. I had a great time. I was a kid again, all the people were happy. It was like visiting a small Disneyland. And for those happiest smiles I gladly left a donation for their future endeavors.

Oh, I loved this. My BFF lives in Salem, so I know they have a carousel since we've visited with…read morethem. But I don't even know how I found out Albany had a carousel a couple weeks ago and I'm really glad we did. It was worth the 50 minute drive from Eugene. We went on a Wednesday, because they have happy hour on Wednesdays from 3-4 p.m. (they close at 4). Rides were half off (usually $2 per ride token). Some of the concessions are half off as well which was nice! And don't sleep on the concession stand; it's got a great menu and it's reasonably priced. Since I was there with my toddler, an adult was required to ride with her to make sure she was secure (there are not restraints on the animals) and for that reason, the accompanying adult was free. My sister and I took turns on baby duty, though we did all go on at least once (so that used two tokens). And they do a free ride as the final ride, so we all had fun on that one too. This place is run by volunteer power. So thankful for them all so we can have a great time! The historic part of the carousel is that the mechanism is a Dentzel 1909 piece donated by the great-grandson of the founder of Dentzel Carousel Corporation and the National Carousel Association. The objective was to enchant people with the finest carousel in the world, and they may well have met the brief here. There is a menagerie of animals here and they are all beautiful. The outside animals are stationary, and the inner two rows are "jumpers" (they move up and down). The animals are all hand-carved. I think I heard on the video playing in the souvenir shop that the outer animals cost $10,000 and $7,500 for the jumpers, and they're worth it because of the beauty and labor expended. Downstairs there's a museum, which we didn't have an opportunity to visit this time. But I am really looking forward to checking it out. The gift shop (also volunteer-run) has some really nice items, from carousel-specific to more generic gift items. I just wish they had more for smaller children, because I wanted to buy a t-shirt for my toddler but had no luck. But there is a sticker for every one of the animals on the carousel! I bought a couple stickers for the two my daughter rode on. Each of the animals has names, too, which would have made my search easier but I managed. They have a few rooms for rent, so you can have parties or events here. You can also join as a member at one of several levels and get a variety of benefits, one of which is unlimited rides. I can imagine this would be a magical place for a birthday party. I really have to applaud the thought and care that went into creating this attraction. They have some fantastic events; their 21-and-older Derby Day event is sold out weeks in advance. They have weekly story time events, and if we're in Eugene when they happen we may drive up for it. There was a tea, and a Mother's Day event is planned (with a free ride for the moms!). They even have a weekly sensory friendly period, when the carousel runs quiet (yay for DE&I!). I really appreciate the focus on inclusivity here, from the aforementioned sensory days to weight inclusion. There's even a Tea-Rex dinosaur themed tea party coming up! They also give back to the community, such as their carving program for teens to learn the craft. It's simply wonderful. There's free street parking on the blocks around the carousel. Besides that, parking gets a little tricky so you'll want to consult their webpage to see what the parking options are. I cannot wait to visit again with my daughter for more fun rides and to explore the museum. (Review #2400, May 8, 2026.)

The gentleman who minds the grounds was kind enough to let us in to the museum building. It's…read morealways been closed when we've visited the Powerland/trolley museum. Pretty amazing array of vehicles. He showed us around and was a wealth of information about many of the vehicles on display. Got some great pictures! Very much appreciate the kindness and hospitality shown to us.

This place has an AWESOME collection of unique trucks housed here!read more

This was a pleasant surprise. Our neighbor told us about this spot as we were preparing for our…read moretrip, and I'm so glad he did. They had cockpits that my grandkids could get into and feel like they were learning how to be a pilot, full-blown planes, and the biggest hanger I've ever been in in my life. If you're in the area and you're in the military history, you will find this a very pleasant spot to stop and enjoy.

This is a must see if you are near by…read more Things you will never see again. Many aircraft used in movies like Top Gun. Jets you can sit in. amazing.

This is a cute little small town museum. Admission is free, but there are a couple of donation…read moreboxes in the building if you so desire to contribute. We were given an exhibit guide that gave some information about artifacts in display cases that were numbered. Not sure why they went the route of an exhibit guide rather than posting the relevant information next to each item. The displays, on the most part, were well curated, and the history blurbs were interesting. The upstairs had a nice little kids exploration area.

What a great place to have stumbled upon! I love museums, I love history, and I could've been here…read morelonger reading all the plaques & articles but didn't want to take up that much of our only day to play. While it is free admission, I do hope people are generous with their donations. I wish more places like this still existed. Great displays, fun artifacts, great preservation of yesteryears treasures. I loved learning a few things about how LC became the 7mile strip of a city it is today. Thanks for sharing & keeping things like this alive!