Thursday, December 31, 2009

Christmas in Oregon

We had a really nice Christmas in Oregon. All the family was over on Christmas Eve to open most of the presents, then Christmas morning we opened the stuff from Santa. After breakfast and the first round of playing with new toys, my dad, eldest son, and I went for a walk in Mary S. Young Park and found another couple of geocaches.


I know anybody in Oregon reading this will probably say, "You took pictures of that???" However, I enjoyed seeing things in Oregon that I don't normally see in Virginia. For example...

Moss

A fallen tree had recently been cut into sections,
revealing these beautiful rings.

Ferns

So many ferns you can hardly tell
there's a tree trunk underneath.

Fungus

Isn't it interesting how the fungus has only grown around the edges of this fallen tree?

Moss and Fungus

On Boxing Day, we went up to Portland to visit the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). One of the big attractions at OMSI is the ex-USS BLUEBACK (SS-581).

Self-portrait with the boys in front of BLUEBACK.

Bearing, MARK!

I won't bore you here with a lot of pictures of the science museum. Suffice to say they have a lot of the usual hands-on science-experiment type fun activities to do with kids. On temporary loan to OMSI, they had Samson, one of the most complete T-Rex skeletons.

Self-portrait with Sampson.

He'll GNASH you apaht
with BIG POINTY TEETH!

There's nothing like a HUGE radiation-trifoil symbol to feed public fear of nuclear power.

Later, my brother and his partner took us all to see Beauty and the Beast in downtown Portland. It was an excellent performance. This was the first exposure the boys have had to a professional stage production like that, and my eldest son was fascinated by how the sets changed.

Playbill

The foyer inside the theater was spectacular.


With that, I bring to a close my blogging on our vacation in Oregon. We had a wonderful vacation and are very thankful for such a loving extended family and for the opportunity to spend time together this holiday season.

We left Portland just in time. As we were sitting on the plane before backing away from the terminal, it started to snow.

We made it home to the DC area just in time, too. Most of the roads are clear from the big snow storm last weekend. This morning I woke up to the sound of our neighbors shoveling fresh snow and ice out of their driveway. Time to get my boots on and get to shoveling.

Have a Happy New Year!

5 comments:

Sagey said...

Actually Sampson is believed to be the THIRD most complete T-Rex skeleton, not the most complete. I believe the info said it was 56% complete. Still amazing! :-)

Loping Squid said...

I trust Sagey...

btw: what were they saying w/ the radiation display. It looks like they're talking about the problems w/ waste disposal? Can't trust those West Coasters when it comes to rational politics.

The Cowgirl said...

Blunoz, as a fellow West Coaster, I give you permission to ignore my husband and his East Coast snobbery :)

Hilary said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful holiday photos. Most enjoyable. :) I wish you, Sagey and your kidlets a very happy 2010!

blunoz said...

LW - thanks for setting me straight. I made a minor correction to the text.

LS - it's about leakage at Hanford.

CC - that's quite alright. He's actually right when it comes to some of the tree-hugging dirt-worshiping granola people in the northwest. :-)

Hilary - thanks much! Glad you enjoyed them. Happy New Year!