So now that you have read about the first unit in PLP year 4, its time to go more in-depth about the field study to Hanford. If you haven’t yet read my post about the unit go read it first and then come back and read this one.

This field study was one of the shorter trips we’ve gone on as it was a 4 day journey down to the United States. We would travel first to Portland and then across to the Tri Cities area to see the Hanford site. The first stop in Portland was the world famous Powell’s Books. Powell’s is a new and used book store in Portland that features books about pretty much anything and everything. They even had books about Ultimate Frisbee! Anyways I’m not a very big book person and reading isn’t one of my favourite things to do, so buying a book of all things on a PLP field study isn’t something most people would think I would do. Well I found what I think is the coolest book ever in this store and I just had to buy it. The book is the Baseball Encyclopedia, published in 1993. It features stats from every single player to take an at bat since the start of baseball in the 1800s. Here is a photo comparison of the book compared to The Lord of the Rings for you to understand just how big it is:

Since this was a PLP trip the next stop on our trip was an Apple. This Apple Store was a part of a mall though so we were able to roam around for a little bit. After going to a wings place for dinner we then went to watch a movie in a cinema. However this wasn’t just your everyday cineplex movie theatre, it was an old elementary school turned movie theatre and museum by the McMenamin brothers. It featured a 1900s aesthetic and was super cool. Although the movie we had to watch was definitely not a movie I would have gone and watched myself or with a group of friends, the atmosphere of the theatre at least made watching Mama Mia 2 more bearable. Here is a photo of the theatre:

The next day we went to visit one of the few working nuclear reactors in America. This reactor was in Reed College a school in Portland. We were able to look into the pool of the reactor from above and learned more about how nuclear reactors work and how they shut it down in case of an emergency.

It was now time for our long journey along the Columbia River. We had a few different stops along the way including a waterfall and a couple super scenic stops, as well as the Maryhill Museum of Art. We then went to to the Stonehenge Memorial, which was a memorial made for the soldiers who died in World War I in the shape and style of Stonehenge.

Now that we were in the Tri Cities area we went on a tour of what Hanford was like before the Manhattan Project. Before the project there was a small town called White Bluffs. This town went through a lot, even moving location multiple times. This was also a time for us to get interviews for our projects. This is the tour where my group interviewed Joe, who was a docent who worked in Hanford during the Cold War.

That night for dinner we went to war! As in we went to Red Lobster to take on “Endless Shrimp”. Most people in the class took on the challenge and prior to the field study we had all been prepared immensely for this night. It was us against the corporation, a war against the consumer. However I don’t like shrimp that much so I didn’t participate in this war, I just ate some maple chicken and had fun watching the show.

The final day featured a tour at the B Reactor. The B Reactor is one of the many buildings built and used during the Manhattan Project and into the Cold War. The sheer size of the reactor is incredible, it was ginormous (even bigger than my baseball book). This was where my group got our second interview with the docent Ben. It was also where we filmed our intro and conclusion.

Overall this was an awesome trip where I learned a lot but also had a lot of fun despite being very sick (I completely lost my voice at one point which is a bit of a challenge when making videos). This field study really helped me get interested in the topic of the atomic bombs. History isn’t typically very interesting for me until I gain a real understanding of it. However, once I get to explore a historical topic deeply I often get really fascinated by it and want to learn more. I definitely found I was a lot more interested in the Cold War and specifically the development of the atomic bombs as a result of this trip. This field study also gave me a new perspective on the topic of the Manhattan Project as before the trip most students in PLP were very against the use of the atomic bomb, however after talking to people who had worked on them you do gain a new point of view. This field study taught me that it’s important to consider history from many perspectives before making a judgement on a topic.