This morning I went for a ride to downtown and back with my son and fellow Kesser-ite Joseph:
After that, I went for another ride to explore the trail system I used to bike and roller skate behind my Grandparent’s house. I also circled Washington Square to see what had changed:
It was a great day for riding!
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:
Days 42-45 were spent preparing for and enjoying Sukkos and Shabbos with the Kesser community in Portland. I went for a ride this morning:
I rode by my Grandparent’s old condo complex:
A lot has changed in the 12 years since we’ve moved away, like an actual roundabout where before the only thing to watch out for was tractor traffic:
Early morning farmlands:
I think the town had 70,000 people when we moved away:
I rode by my childhood home:
…and past my elementary school:
Once I returned to Portland, we drove to Hillsboro for an afternoon session at my childhood rink, Skate World:
At the rink we met Jason and Carrie, high school friends of mine, and had a great time chatting.
After the skate session was over, we drove to Jackson Bottom for a hike in the wetlands. For some reason, there was a chicken there:
All in all, another great day!
Today the plan was to see Silver Falls State Park. I rode my bike down while Trish and the kids drove:
It was a beautiful ride through the farmlands of the Willamette Valley:
We hiked a couple short trails that took us to two of the waterfalls in the park:
South Falls has a 240ish foot drop:
It was neat to walk in behind the waterfall:
We visited Upper North Fall as well, which was quite a bit shorter:
I rode back to Portland with Trish and the kids. What a beautiful way to spend a day!
We left the RV in Portland and drove north to Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The visitor center was well done. Visibility was down to a mile of so thanks to fog, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see the mountain, but the kids did receive their Junior Ranger badges:
We then headed North to Chehalis where Trish had arranged for us to meet up with Liz and Jason. We decided to go bowling, and we were assigned a pair of lanes in their own private space:
The kids gave it their best:
Afterwards we flew Jason’s quadricopter and R/C plane a bit. He’s a very gifted pilot!
Tomorrow we head south from Portland towards Salem.
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