We hopped across the Columbia into Washington for a visit to Fort Vancouver NHS.  The fort was the base for Britain’s Hudson Bay Company in the region.  We first visited the recreated fort’s gardens:

The fort was built as a trading post for beaver pelts, so our son tried on the sample beaver fur hat.  I asked him to give me the same expression as that in the photograph of the fort’s manager, John McLoughlin:

Here’s the original:

 

The volunteers at the fort’s blacksmith shop were excellent:

Inside the main house:

I noticed a large (3” long”) praying mantis on the back of one of the volunteers.  We removed it from her and put it on the flowers:

Here’s our son’s head for scale, it’s under he flower he’s looking at, facing the left edge of the photograph:

We visited the fort’s other buildings, including the bakery and doctor’s office:

McLoughlin’s house:

We visited the jail:

Another junior ranger badge for our kids.  Our daughter is promising to guard the national parks and not litter, etc.:

After leaving Fort Vancouver, we visited a museum built by the local water utility.  Most displays dealt with conservation, like this display that demonstrated how much energy is required to illuminate a light bulb:

This giant mobile depicting the life cycle of a Salmon is made of landfill trash:

Returning to Portland, we visited Ground Kontrol, an arcade that has only classic games from the 80s and 90s.  Ground Kontrol has the best bathroom ever.  I love the Pac-Man floor tiling and the sink with the glowing trim that cycles through the color spectrum:

Teaching our son important life skills:

My cousin Jason met us there and the two of us played Dig Dug for half an hour on one quarter each:

Our son plays the original Star Wars vector game: