On Wednesday we left Seattle for Portland, Oregon. When we got there, we went to an outdoor store to get rain jackets, air mattresses and stuff, bought some greasy pizza that sort of made me nauseous, drove around for an hour (while getting lost) to find a campsite, and then went to sleep. Fun.

Thursday, we woke up early and drove 40 minutes to get back to Portland, where we rented bikes. Portland has done a lot of stuff to get people riding their bikes. There are bike lanes on almost every street, bike parking everywhere, and a lot of other cool stuff. We also met with Mia Birk who was the cycling coordinator for Portland for so many years and we interviewed her. It was really interesting. Then, we took the train to the top of the mountain with our bikes and rode down. It was so much fun!
That night we slept in a nice little guest house. And in the morning we rode back to the bike renting place. Friday, we visited some people we know and also a science museum called OMSI. There we saw the movie Flight of the Butterflies about the migration of the monarchs. It was so cool! We also saw exhibits about sustainability, and in one room there was a display of each week of the development of a fetus! It was an awesome museum.
That night we drove to the Oregon coast and camped near Lincoln City. And Saturday and Sunday were spent hiking to beaches, seeing huge trees (and I mean HUGE), and watching people surf in the freezing Pacific Ocean. Without a wetsuit, our legs were numb after 20 seconds. After 30+ temperatures in Portland, I was so cold wearing my fleece AND rain jacket on the coast. But I must say the Oregon coast is beautiful.

I think I’ve covered a lot of the school subjects so far- let’s see,
- Gym (riding a bike around Portland)
- Oral communication (interviewing Mia Birk)
- Geography (finding my way around Portland)
- Science (going to the OMSI)
- Math (my mother)
- Writing (this blog entry)
We had a great little trip to Oregon. Can’t wait for Costa Rica on Thursday!

Hope everyone is having fun back at school 🙂
Kaia
September 8th
This looks so wonderful, thanks for the update!
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You write so well! The pictures are fantastic. Thanks for sharing this (and not catching hypothermia in the ocean).
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Hi from Ava! School had been great. I have Mme.Adam. The biking in Portland sounds cool. I want to go there now.
Hi from Erik! I lost a tooth and got 4$ from the tooth fairy. I found a quarter on thr bus. Best day ever! I like my new school but my teacher speaks a lot of French. I hope u see turtles in Costa Rica.
Hi from Maureen. Construction at work still isn’t finished. You aren’t missing a thing!!! Numbers are up and we have a new gr. 6/7 opening.
Hi from Chris. Hope u can bring back some good solutions to the P.Dot.
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