Week 13 - Oregon City - March 27 - April2, 2023
SPRING BREAK!!!! The weather forecast for the week showed two days of no rain - on those days outdoor activities were planned.
On Wednesday, the Scotts, Louthans, RKGrays, and WWGrays went to the Zoo. The last time I was there was during a Christmas vacation when we went to ZOO Lights. I remember it being so cold and I was miserable. Previous to that I went to the zoo as a chaperone with school and remember driving into the parking lot and being unable to count how many school buses there were....because the number was uncountable. I had pretty much decided to take a Zoo visit off my list, and yet here I was again at the Zoo on a very good weather day. We took MAX to the zoo which is a really easy way to get there. The grandchildren love riding the train.
Think about it - perfect weather and spring break..... a bizillion other Oregonians with their kids and innumerable strollers were doing the same thing (just like at Disneyland) - trying to keep up with the kids, trying not to lose any kids, and trying to get up close enough to the animals to actually see them. There were two highlights for me. The first was a closeup view of a River Otter swimming and spiral-spinning right in front of me. It was swimming exactly how I imagined I swam when I was a kid. Maybe I'll change my spirit animal from a rabbit to a river otter. The other was a big display of bats at feeding time. Amazing - better than a documentary. All kinds of fruits were hanging on strings from the ceiling, and bats were clinging to the string and gnawing on the fruit. Some were clinging to a ceiling screen with their hind feet and walking upside down. There was a big fat bully bat who was chasing other bats away from his favorite spot. It was a great exhibit, but I won't chose a bat as my spirit animal.
Here is proof no one wandered away.
Afterwards we went to Pioneer Square (because we always end up there) and to the food court and ate DELCIOUS Raising Kanes chicken fingers along with those blended fruity drinks with gelatin blobs in the bottom. Very yummy. And best of all we didn't have to think about dinner when we got home.
On Thursday - - no, ,,, wait for the big news of the day TRUMP WAS INDICTED!!!!!!!!!
Okay, back to the real world. Abby and Ruby had chosen Geocaching for their Christmas presents - today was the day. I wanted to go to the Bonnie Lure State Recreational Area. I'd read about it in an article called....maybe "recreation gems in Oregon you don't know about". Well, it is a gem and it is close, but the area was burned somewhat in the fires a couple years ago and it wasn't very gem...able. Of course it was cloudy and nothing was green or growing or blooming - our woods are more lovely. This place is at the confluence of Eagle Creek and the Clackamas, but the currents were raging and nobody could possibly swim there - fish yes, but not kids. And....to make things less good, we could not find the two geocaches there. I wrote to the owner of the two caches that they need to re-do their hides.
Here is Abby climbing up a little ridge looking for a red flag that was supposed to mark the cache.
Lunch at the confluence of Eagle Creek and the Clackamas (actually just a short spur of the river.
To top off a great week was the gymnastics meet in Denver - the finals for the National Championship in a couple weeks. Oregon State has to take first or second place to go to finals.
SNIFF...............DOUBLE SNIFF............SOBBING........................
I tried to go to the zoo in Vienna! But it was so cold and rainy, and we learned from that last visit, didn't we. Thank you for sharing. As someone who doesn't live in Oregon City anymore, your posts keep me informed :)
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