“Skunk Works” by Ben Rich is a fantastic book. Being a mechanical engineer, it made me feel I really had missed my calling. After reading it, my son and I did an aerospace tour of Southern California. The Air Force Flight Test Museum – "
Blackbird Airpark" in Palmdale is amazing. We saw a U2, an SR-71, a Lockheed A-12 Oxcart (predecessor to the SR-71), and the Lockheed D-21 drone that sat on top of the SR-71. That museum is really worth a tour!
You can see the tail-end of the U2:
Another nearby museum is the "Air Force Flight Test Museum – Century Circle" at Edwards Air Force Base.
There's a small museum at the "Mojave Air & Space Port" with some great exhibits. Burt Rutan used this as his main development base.