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By Theodore
Fischer, Sidewalk
Remember when
air travel was an adventure and airports were fun places to
hang out? To some extent, the Baltimore–Washington
International Airport, a low-fare bastion of
Southwest Airlines and family-friendly carriers, still
is. Let's not oversell this. BWI isn't about to put Six
Flags America out of business, but unlike a couple of
all-work-and-no-play Washington airports we can think of, BWI
appeals to travelers and sightseers with a number of features
– all of them free and all of them on this side of
the security check.
Remember
observation decks? They were standard airport equipment during
the earlier days of flying, and BWI still has one. The Observation
Gallery (left), a glass-elevator ride above the arrivals
level behind the Delta check-in area, has a couple of rows
of cushy armchairs tiered behind huge, clean picture windows
through which you can watch takeoffs, landings and suitcases
spilling out of baggage carts. In the center of the gallery,
air-traffic-control radio speakers squawk out messages between
the tower and the aircraft in flight and other urgent insider
communications. The gallery's minimuseum contains displays on
aviation history, a mock cockpit where kids can work the
controls for a (video) takeoff and disjointed parts –
landing gear, engine, nose section, cutaway fuselage and other
items – from various Boeing jets.
Satisfy your kids' newly sparked interest in aviation at the Smithsonian
Museum Shop, a trimmed-down version of the stores at the National
Air and Space Museum. Sustain the visit with sandwiches,
pastries, beer, wine and liquor from the self-service Flight
Deck Cafe. One level below the gallery, an indoor
children's play area is filled with colorful climb-on planes
and other airport vehicles. If the weather permits, go to the
lower level and cross the roadway to ramble through a
sculpture garden full of flowers and flying metal geese.
BWI's shops that offer last-second airport gifts appeal to
kids, too. The toys and dolls – including plenty of current
and retired Beanies – at Just Plane Kids rise above
souvenir level, and everything at the Museum Shop is
entertaining and enriching. A Game Room behind the
USAirways check-in area has half a dozen video games and
pinball machines. And while nobody goes to airports for the
food, hungry children will appreciate the familiar franchised
presence of Pizza Hut, Roy Rogers, Taco Bell and a
24-hour Burger King.
Afterward, take them for a ride on the Light Rail,
sleek new European-style trolleys that glide from BWI's
futuristic International Pier all the way to downtown
Baltimore and points north. On the 20-minute ride to Inner
Harbor, the overgrown electric train silently threads its way
through Patapsco Valley State Park and takes the back
entrance into the heart of the city. Just before reaching Camden
Yards, the tracks spectacularly cross the Patapsco River
under the embankments of highway overpasses where real Baltimoreans
fish for their supper. Light Rail also exposes the family to
Euro-style payment procedures. Passengers buy tickets at
machines located at every station but never present them to
anyone – except maybe cops who hop on to make spot checks
and bust would-be fare beaters (with fines up to $500).
But you'll have to drive to other attractions on the perimeter
of BWI. Off Dorsey Road on the south border of BWI territory
(Aviation Boulevard forms the other three sides), a large
number of cars park at Thomas A. Dixon Jr. Aircraft
Observation Area to observe the planes taking off from or
landing on (depending on wind conditions) BWI's
northwest-southeast runway. The plane spotters sit in or near
their cars, listening to music, sipping and snacking,
mesmerized by the procession of jets and prop planes that are
almost close enough to touch as they zoom past. Children who
aren't into this scene can play in a nice little playground
with slides and a climbing apparatus. There's a portable
toilet and, on weekends, a truck selling ice cream and snow
cones.
In fact, many (if not most) of cars in the lot are there
because it's a point of access to the BWI Trail, a
lightly traveled 11-mile bike path that encircles the airport.
The hilly 10-foot-wide asphalt trail wends through forests,
passes Anne Arundel County's historic Hammond House and
crosses a horse farm in the Andover Recreation Area. If that's
not enough of a workout for you, seek out a short path that
connects the BWI Trail to the northern terminus of the
gentle-enough-for-families, 13-mile Baltimore &
Annapolis Trail, which runs along an abandoned railroad
right of way from the Cromwell Station/Glen Burnie Light Rail
stop to the outskirts of Maryland's capital.
Drive
a bit farther on Dorsey Road to the Glen Burnie Family Golf
Center, where along with a bilevel driving range and nine
batting cages there's a trim and perhaps overly tasteful
18-hole miniature golf course built beside a pond on the side
of the hill. The BWI Golf Center around the bend on
Aviation Boulevard better maintains miniature golf's tradition
of tackiness.
North of the BWI employees' parking lots, the Historical
Electronics Museum isn't every kid's glass of lemonade,
but it will fascinate the ones interested in radio, radar and
other electronics systems. The biggest treasure is the camera
system used during the Apollo 11 moon landing, but even when
the museum is closed (as it is on Sundays and holidays), there
are radar antenna systems to examine outside on the lawn.
Now who says you can't have fun at airports anymore?
Directions: From the Beltway, take the
Baltimore–Washington Parkway (Route 295) or Interstate 95 to
I-195 and head east to the BWI terminal (parking is $2 per
half-hour; the first half-hour is free) or to Aviation
Boulevard (Route 170) and north to the satellite parking ($1
per hour, with a free shuttle to the terminal).
Details
• Baltimore–Washington
International Airport, Interstate 195 and Aviation
Boulevard (Route 170), (800) 435-9294
• BWI Observation Gallery, (410) 859-7033.
Open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Free.
• Smithsonian Museum Shop, (410) 859-8429
• Just Plane Kids, (410) 993-1600
• The Museum Company, (410) 691-0269
• MTA
Light Rail, (800) 543-9809. One-way fare, $1.35; Day
Pass (unlimited travel on light rail, buses or subway), $3.
• Thomas A. Dixon Jr. Aircraft Observation Area, Dorsey
Road east of W.B.& A. Road
• BWI Trail and Baltimore & Annapolis Trail
information, (410) 222-6244
• Glen Burnie Family Golf Center, 1501 Dorsey
Rd., Glen Burnie, (410) 761-1295
• BWI Golf Center, 6930 Aviation Blvd., Glen
Burnie, (410) 766-1225
• Historical
Electronics Museum, 1745 W. Nursery Rd., Linthicum,
(410) 765-0240. Open weekdays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturdays 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. Free.
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