Sullenberger Aviation Museum – Charlotte, NC

The Sullenberger Aviation Museum at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) houses the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane. That’s the Airbus A30 involved in the January 15, 2009, incident in which US Airways Flight 1549 struck a flock of geese, resulting in engine failure.

Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger managed to land the plane safely in New York’s Hudson River. And all 155 people aboard (150 passengers, three flight attendants and two pilots) miraculously survived.

The entire recovered Airbus A30 that flew as US Airways Flight 1549 — including the fuselage, wings and tail — is the centerpiece of the recently revamped and much-expanded Sullenberger Aviation Museum. We recently visited to see the plane, the accompanying exhibits and to learn about the museum’s tour dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson Experience.”

That two-hour, add-on guided tour digs deeper into the incident and its aftermath. And it offers participants a chance to learn about and touch some of the objects involved in the recovery and artifacts retrieved from the water.

Read more about our visit in the story we wrote about the Miracle on the Hudson Plane for The Points Guy site.

Petersen Rock Garden & Museum – Bend, Oregon

The 4-acre Petersen Rock Garden, in Central Oregon, near Redmond, is one of those charming, decades-old roadside attractions that was in danger of fading away.

Starting in 1935, Danish immigrant Rasmus Petersen began using regional-sourced stones of all sorts to build intricate miniature castles, churches, bridges, and monuments on his land.

Petersen’s family cared for the garden after his death in 1952, but funds and interest faded and the garden closed in 2016.

In 2022 new owners reopened the site. They are now working with community volunteers to repair and revitalize all the charming rock structures and to care for the 40+ peacocks that roam the grounds.

If you’re out that way, be sure to stop by.

High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon

(Courtesy High Desert Museum)

The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon sprawls across 135 acres of Ponderosa pine forest and includes multiple indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces, trails, animal habitats, art shows and historic structures such as a 1904 ranch and a sawmill.

During our recent visit, we loved walking the trails, seeing the art and western artifacts, and visiting with the otters, the birds of prey, the porcupine, the skunk and the bobcat.

And we expanded our regional geologic knowledge in a fun exhibit about volcanoes that features an interactive game that transforms the floor into flowing lava.

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The Stuck at the Airport team is exploring all the scheduled routes SeaPort Airlines flies in Oregon and Washington, beginning with a quick trip from Seattle’s King County International Airport (BFI) to the Business Aviation terminal right next to Portland International Airport (PDX).

For this quick trip we saved significant time by taking advantage of the short travel time between the Stuck at the Airport headquarters just north of downtown Seattle to King County International Airport (BFI), which is just four miles south of downtown.

And because there’s no TSA screening rigamarole at BFI Airport, we only needed to show up 20 minutes before our 45-minute flight to Portland.

Once in Portland, we grabbed an Uber and headed downtown to take advantage of free first Thursday at the recently expanded and lovingly transformed Portland Art Museum.

(4th Floor To Mildness by Pipilotti Rist)

Afterwards, we headed back to PDX to check out some of the newest amenities located both before and after security, including the beautiful new all-gender restrooms and a fun ribbon-cutting event for Straightaway Cocktail’s new airport bar.

Next stop: we’ll be boarding SeaPort Airlines’ flight from PDX to Redmond, Oregon to explore the High Desert area of Central Oregon. Fingers crossed the smoke from wildfires in the area doesn’t get in the way.

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The Stuck at the Airport headquarters is located in Seattle, a city we’ve lived in and loved for decades.

We don’t claim to know everything about the city as it grows and changes, but we know a lot.

And we’re happy to share our favorite spots in a variety of ways.

The latest comes in the form of an Essential Guide to Seattle for Travel + Leisure, where we highlight cool hotels, art galleries and museums that are filled with classic, contemporary and offbeat treasures as well as restaurants doing marvelous things with the freshest local seafood.

Take a look.

111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss

If you already know a bit about Seattle and want to dig a little deeper, take a look at our guide book, 111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss (3rd edition). We’ve got a long list of notes for a hoped-for 4th edition.

The book has lovely photos by Courtney Kelley and is filled with our favorite spots in town, including the World Famous Giant Shoe Museum in Pike Place Market.

Last year we also put together a Seattle guide for National Geographic.

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Back in August 2001, New Orleans International Airport (MSY) officiall became Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in honor of the famous native-born musician’s 100th birthday, which is on August 4. (Not July 4 as Armstrong often claimed).

To honor its namesake, today – August 4 – MSY Airport is hosting an airport-wide birthday celebration to honor what would have been Louis Armstrong’s 125 birthday.

(“Louis Armstrong” showed up to join the second line parade in November 2019 when MSY opened a new terminal)

Today’s celebration will run from 11 am until 3 pm and feature a tribute performance by Kermit Ruffins, cake (of course!), MSY-branded giveaways and a trivia contest.

Musical performances by Girls Play Trumpets Too featuring Troy Sawyer and the MSY Brass Band will take place as well.

Help Raleigh-Durham International Airport choose a new carpet

Many airports have been replacing worn, hard to clean carpets with terrazzo and other flooring. But some airports (looking at you, PDX), retain their iconic carpet patterns in selected sections of the terminal.

Raliegh-Durham International Airport (RDU) is currently reviewing swatches of a new carpet pattern in Terminal 2 and is inviting the public to weigh in.

Artists explain their art at SEA Airport’s new C Concourse

The Stuck at The Airport art review teams loves seeing all the fresh art that arrives with new airport concourses and terminals.

Here’s a short video featuring comments from some of the artists whose work is featured in the lovely, new Concourse C expansion at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

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The Stuck at the Airport terminal review team is just back from a 2-day residency at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT).

So it’s a good time to do an update of the 5 Things We Love About listing for CLT.

Here we go.

1. THE CLT ROCKING CHAIRS

Yes, you see rocking chairs at lots of airports these days. But the airport rocking chair amenity debuted first at Charlotte Douglas International Airport back in 1997 as part of an art exhibit.

Travelers loved the rocking chairs so much that when the art exhibit was over, the rocking chairs remained.

Since then, CLT has added more rocking chairs and there are now more than 100 white rocking chairs scattered around the airport for travelers to enjoy.

2. Art at CLT

The air collection at CLT has been growing, thanks to the Terminal Lobby Expansion project and a variety of other projects.

Garden Carpet (above), by Susan Brenner, and Catawba Ways (below), by Janelle Lane Stanley serve as terrazzo welcome mats from the east and west mezzanine skybridges.

Carolina Canopy (below), by Dixie Friend Gay, welcomes travelers in the International Arrivals canopy.

Learn more about all the art at CLT here.

Celebrations of flight

Head to the CLT Concourse A Connector for a fun, visual explanation of the Wright Brothers’ powered flights.

Passengers can follow the length of the Wright Brothers’ first four powered flights along the walkway

Four plaques and markings embedded in the terrazzo floor show the the distance of the first flight – 120 feet, second flight – 175 feet, third flight – 200 feet and fourth flight – 852 feet.

Learn more about CLT’s First in Flight Journey exhibition here.

4. The airport volunteers

Community volunteers at airports can really make a difference a traveler’s journey. Especially when the airport is as busy and sprawling as CLT.

Three of the volunteers we met during our CLT journey are examples of the dedicated crew at CLT.

Michael has been volunteering to play piano in the CLT Atrium several days a week for about 10 years and Rhonda, a former Piedmont Airlines employee now volunteers in the terminal helping travelers find their way.

We also met Sue-Ann, one of the volunteers on the CLT Canine Team who regularly brings her dog, Amelia (as in Amelia Earhart) to the airport to greet passengers.

5. The Airport Overlook

CLT has had an airport observation area, or overlook, in some form or another since 1937. And its current version is a keeper.

The 600-000-foot Overlook at 5130 Airport Overlook Drive offers views of the airfield, the skyline and the CLT Terminals as well as the active construction site for the airport’s future fouth parallel runway.

Amenities on the site are impressive.

There’s plenty of paved parked, two real bathrooms, two age-specific playgrounds, two pretend runways to run on, a food truck staging area, picnic tables and signage describing aviation history and a variety of flight-related tidbits.

Oh, and there’s also a real McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II military fighter jet on display too.

There’s lots more to love at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, so keep reading Stuck at the Airport for more stories from our visit.

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This week’s Airport Amenity of the Week is a tie between the new outdoor terrace at Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) and two cute bunnies that have joined the pet therapy team at Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Connecticut.

PIT’s outdoor terrace

When Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) debuted its new $1.7 billion landside terminal in November, 2025 pretty much all the promised amenities – improved parking, faster bag delivery, smoother security screening and new art – were ready to go.

The four promised outdoor terraces – two pre-security and two-post security – however, were still in progress.

This week, one of those pre-security outdoor terraces began welcoming passengers and non-ticketed visitors.

The 36,000-square foot terrace is on the south side of the terminal, by baggage claims 5-8 on the arrivals level. The space is designed with native and regional Western Pennsylvania plantings, open sightlines, accessible pathways and comfortable seating areas.

The timeline for the opening of the other three terraces is still be be determined, but we’re naming PIT’s new outdoor terrace one of our Airport Amenities of the Week.

Bradley International Airport’s bunnies

Bradley International Airport’s (BDL) animal therapy program, called Bradley Buddies, launched back in 2017.

Most of the therapy animals that visit with passengers are cute pups with names such as Jack, Jojo and Shazam.

But BDL just announced that two bunnies, Bun Jovi and Berlin, are now official members of the team.

The bunnies are so cute, we can’t help but declare a tie for Airport Amenity of the Week.

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When we’re not exploring airports, we’re checking out museums.

And this week we’re in Charlotte, N.C. to check out both museums and the art and amenities at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport (CLT).

Here are some snaps from museums we’ve visited during our residency so far.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

(Peach Mask 4 (Love) by Jiha Moon)

The Firebird, by Niki de Saint Phalle (up top) out in front of the Charlotte’s Bechtler Museum of Modern Art makes it clear this museum isn’t shy about being bold.

Inside, we toured an exhibit of more than 100 works by David McGee in an exhibit titled The Griot and the Nightengale and a variety of work by Jiha Moon and others in Collection, Reframed, the museum’s annual summer exhibition in which contemporary artists (in this case, Moon) and creative visionaries engage with the museum’s permanent collection.

Spotted at the Mint Museum

We loved pretty much everything on view at the Mint Museum Uptown.

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Charlotte Museum of History

Our favorite exhibit at the Charlotte Museum of History turned out to be this traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian Institution.

¡Pleibol! In the Barrios and the Big Leagues is a bilingual exhibition about American baseball — and the role Latino/a communities have played in the development of the game.

We love that the museum blends the touring show with the local story of the Charlotte Knights.

Sullenberger Aviation Museum

The Sullenberger Aviation Museum, on the grounds of Charlotte Douglas International Airport, documents the aviation history of North and South Carolina with updated and expanded exhibits.

The museum also houses the A320 from US Airways Flight 1549, better known as the “Miracle on the Hudson,” and offers an corresponding exhibit that includes a film, a wide array of artifacts and more.

During the add-on “Miracle on the Hudson Experience,” visitors get an informative, interactive, small-group tour of the Miracle on the Hudson section of the museum. The tour includes a hands-on session with some objects and personal effects that were recovered after the incident, such as these cans of juice and pop that flight attendants didn’t get a chance to serve to passengers.

We’ll be writing a full article on the Miracle on the Hudson Experience, so stay tuned for more on this tour and the museum.

Discovery Place Science

We tend to think of science centers as just for kids. But a sure sign that Charlotte’s Discovery Place Science museum is way more than that is that so many adults we met in town told us how much they love going to this place on their own.

During our visit we did see plenty of families enjoying the exhibits, the aquarium, the labs, the rainforest, the demonstrations and the hands on activities. But that didn’t keep us from joining in and discovering new things about the world too.

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The Stuck at the Airport review team is exploring Charlotte, N.C. this week. And we’re torn between visiting every cultural, shopping and dining spot the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority placed on our itinerary or just cozying up in our room at The Ivey’s Hotel.

Located in Uptown Charlotte, near many of the museums and restaurants we plan to visit, The Ivey’s is a boutique hotel built in a landmark building that once housed J.B. Ivey & Company Department Store.

Here are (just) 5 Things We Love About The Ivey’s Hotel

1. The room

All 47 rooms are bit different. But each delivers on the promise of a mix of “Parisian-style elegance with modern luxury.”

We’re enjoying the French oak floors, the super plush bed with a full range of power plugs on BOTH night tables (thank you!) and the nice array of useful amenities in the bathroom.

2. The hotel’s decor

Vintage framed advertisements for Parisian department stores and fashion line the hallways. And we quickly noticed that there are hundreds of clocks, watches, watch parts and other timepieces throughout the guest rooms at the public areas. A sign to slow down or hurry up and seize the day?

3. The ‘get work done’ amenities

The wide desk in our room fits with the vintage Parisian decor. But the desk also has a great lighting and a marble top with an easy to access power panel offering all the plugs you could imagine.

Better yet, one drawer is filled with a very useful selection of office supplies and a stapler.

4. The public spaces

The Ivey’s Hotel invites lounging outside your room with several enticing spaces. Our favorite is this corrner of the Library. We’re also planning to do some shopping at the eclectic boutique in the lobby.

5. The nightly complimentary glass of wine at Sophia’s Lounge

Guests of the hotel are offered a complimentary glass of wine each night of their stay at Sophia’s Lounge, the hotel’s cozy, upscale cocktail bar. A nice way to get evening activities started.

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The Stuck at the Airport site visit team landed at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) Sunday afternoon in preparation for a week touring the city, the area museums and, of course the airport.

We have a long list of places to visit in and around town and two full days blocked out for touring the airport and spots nearby, including the Sullenberger Aviation Museum, the CLT Overlook area.

Would you book a hotel room with an airplane factory view?

Many of the more than 112,000 viewers of this post on Instagram would be happy to do what we did a while back and book a hotel room where the view out the window is brand new airplanes coming off the factory line.

Back in April we shared a post with details of our stay at the Hyatt Regency Lake Washington Hotel that sits next to the factory making 737 MAX airplanes in Renton, WA.

The “Hanger Hideaway” package is still on offer, though December 31, 2026. Use the code “TAKEOFF.”

We’re hoping to do a return visit this fall.

(Not an ad. Just plane fun!)

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And some airport tidbits

We spotted this post from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and the LAX Art program featuring a short clip of the dance troupe, Infinite Flow, marking the 36th anniversary of the signing into law of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Many helpful airport features available to all passengers, including pet relief areas, are there due in part to the ADA.

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And we were moo-ved by this post from IAH Airport

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The StuckatTheAirport airport review team is heading to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) for a short residency and, if we had them, we’d be filling our Amelia Earhart-branded suitcases with our gear.

(image from Purdue University Libraries, Karnes Archives and Special Collections)

According to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum, Earhart luggage was sold into the 1990s and came with an Amelia Earhart luggage key, which led some purchasers to believe they possessed her “personal” aircraft or suitcase key.

July 24 marks the birthday of aviation pioneer Amelia Mary Earhart

Atchison, Kansas-born Amelia Earhart was a record setting aviator, the second person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic and the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the United States.

Among a wide range of other accomplishments.

Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, went missing on July 2, 1937 somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the globe.

The house where Earhart was born is now the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum in Atchison, Kansas.

Atchison is also home to the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum, which offers a wide variety of Earhart-related educational exhibits and historic artifacts, as well as Muriel — the world’s last remaining Lockheed Electra 10-E — an aircraft identical to the plane Earhart flew on her final flight.

The plane is named after Amelia’s younger sister, Grace Muriel Earhart Morrissey.

Here’s a link to our report on a visit we made to the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum in 2023.

The International Women’s Air & Space Museum in Cleveland, Ohio also pays tribute to Amelia Earhart with an exhibit devoted to the aviation legend. The collection includes Earhart’s flight suit and nurse’s uniform from WWI, among other things. 

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