I never did post about our Spring Break trip. We had planned on going by Crater Lake in Oregon which is beautiful, but when I checked at the last minute, it was bound in by snow. We were not interested in hiking through the snow and with the low clouds there was only a 5% chance of even seeing the lake. We ended up sticking with Portland and the Oregon coast.
There are some very good museums in Portland. At the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), we ventured onto the submarine tour. It was an attack submarine used during the cold war period (still diesel). It was interesting that we had just visited one of K-Bee's relatives on the way to Portland that used to be a captain on one of these types of submarines. He is going deaf now because of being on these subs. During the tour, the tour guide mentioned that many sailors on these types of subs were going deaf because of the diesel engines! Talk about learning from real life experience. We had also gone to the Portland Art Museum with some friends to see the Degas paintings of dancers. It has always amazed me how they can make the paintings and sketches look so much like the real thing. Artax and I were just making some whales out of clay and it is very hard to make them even sort of look like the real thing!
We also went down the coast to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It is a small but interesting aquarium. Most of it is outside like a zoo. We especially liked the lunch we had there in the cafe. I believe Artax had the penguin burger, Ladybug preferred the delicacy of the beluga whale salad, and I went for the otter surprise. Just kidding!!!! I wanted to make sure you were still awake. It was lots of fun although I think Artax enjoyed the gift store more than the animals (as usual).
We finished up our visit with a trip to the airplane museum in Eugene, Oregon. Well, what did you expect! It was great as always. We actually found out that the US government loans out old airplanes to museums rather than destroy them. They had an A-6 Intruder and an A-4 Skyhawk. When we were there, one of the members was taking photos of the airplanes to send off to the government to show they were taking good care of their babies. The high point of my day there was that I shook hands with an actual pilot of a Douglas Dauntless dive bomber! This is one of my favorite airplanes and it was used in the battle of Midway during WWII. I was so excited I forgot to ask the guy what battles he had flown in. It was a wonderful joy to walk around and experience a piece of history and to be able to educate my children about airplanes and spaceships.
Oh, and we drove by McMinnville and did not stop to see the Spruce Goose (no time). That was hard for me. It reminded me of the story of Odysseus when he had his crew tie him to the mast when they sailed by the sea nymphs. He was drawn by the sound of the sea nymphs but his crew kept him from jumping ship. I knew I could trust my children to keep me on the path! But it was still sad. I could even see it through the big window on the front of the museum :( I guess we will just have to plan another trip to Oregon!
