While researching my post on our day in Philadelphia, I stumbled across a new “must see” travel goal: the moon trees.
When Apollo 14 went to the moon, the astronauts took tree seeds with them. Upon the return of Apollo 14 to Earth, scientists attempted to germinate the seeds, resulting in over 400 seedlings (some of which were produced from cuttings). The resulting trees were planted all over the nation and some were given to other countries, including Brazil and Japan.
NASA’s website has an article on the moon trees. The page includes a list of some trees believed to be moon trees (unfortunately no official list was kept). The list of locations is a strange one, including four trees in Alabama, for example, but the only one identified as being in Texas is at a “private residence” in Westlake. I intend to ask around to see if by some miracle there is a moon tree here in San Antonio. It would seem that out of hundreds of trees, more than that one should be in Texas.
At any rate, as Alex and I travel over the next few years, I will see how many moon trees I can see. It looks like I can fit one into our 2018 vacation. We’re planning to go to Seattle and take a side trip to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. It looks like there is a Douglas Fir at the State Capitol in Salem, which is only half an hour from McMinnville. That sounds doable to me.