Our class just came back from an great trip to Oregon. It was a one to remember! Saturday was the day we left, so we had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning (that was not fun but is was worth it) to meet the bus. We got on the bus, said good bye to our parents, I was in the back of the bus with Anders. The drive was long to the border but it was fun because I did not know what to expect when we got there.
We had to get out of the bus and get in line to clear customs, which I have never done in my life at the border. We got back in the bus with everyone luckly. Then we drove for at least 3 hours but we stopped at Panera bread. It as my first time eating there and it was so good. Then all of us got on the bus and played music and we were singing so loud it was pretty fun. Then we stopped at Cabelas it was pretty much a Bass Pro Shop, if you know what that is. If you don’t know what it is, it’s a very big outdoor store where they sell everything from boats to guns, that’s right guns! It was really interesting to see a store selling guns since we don’t see that here in Canada. Then we drove for a while everyone pretty much slept the whole time but it got more exciting when we got to this place called The Astoria Column. It was this big tower that is 125 feet tall and it so high, I am not usually a guy who is afraid of heights but I was afraid when I was up there! But it was so cool you could see everything from the sea to the mountains. That first day we did a lot of driving so there is not a lot to talk about.
On day 2 we did a lot that day as well, so I am going to only hit some highlights. First, we went to Fort Stevens and learned all about the war and how the Americans army were protecting the Columbia river from the Japense Navy. A cool fact was that the Japanese came by submarine and were shooting at the Americans but the Americans did not shoot back and the Japanese could not figure out where they were so they decided to go back home. Then, we went for lunch at Dairy Queen it was good as usual. After that we went ziplining and this was the highlight of the trip for me! When we got there it did not look like much but oh was it something! We had been put into teams in the morning but I will come back to this in a second. So, my team went first, we went in High life Adventures garage to put on all the gear. On the helmets they had nicknames already on them, mine, was Birthday Squirrel. Then we went on the course! The first line was the warm up line to make sure you like it. I liked it as soon as I was locked on the line. It felt like your flying. It was so much fun until the 7th run. On this one we went over the lake really low, the instructor’s even asked us if we wanted to get our hand to drag on the water or you could get a butt dip or full soak! My thought was, I am probably never going to come here again so if I don’t get the full soak I would regret it. So I chose the full soak with Ryan. We were going down and everything was fine, key word there was fine. Then we hit the water! At that moment everything went south, our feet hit the water along with our legs up to our knees. With so much of our bodies in the water we stopped waist deep in the middle of lake still attached to the wire just hanging there. The instructor had to come out and get us so he was pulling the line down with his weight. By the time he got to us I was neck deep. It was so much fun I don’t regret it at all!
To start off day three we went to the Columbia River Maritime Museum, it was really cool! We got to learn about the First Nations people. We also learned about “Crossing the Line” it is wear the river and the ocean meet and it can create some tuff tides and really bug waves. To end the day we went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and it as one of the coolest things I have seen when it comes to food. WE GOT TO TASTE THE CHEESE AND IT WAS INCREDIBLE. I used caps their because I got a bit excited. I was going to do day by day but I don’t want to bore you so I will just talk about the highlights. We went to the Hatfield Science Center and raced crabs. That was way cooler then I thought it would be. I didn’t like when we had to pick them up. Next we went to Marine Discovery Explorer Cruise. The water was so nice, when we got to open waters I got seasick and that was not fun trust me. The next day we went back to the science center and built ROV’s which are basically submarine’s. We got to drive them as well which was pretty cool. We went to Depoe Bay the smallest bay in the world. It is so small but there is a whale watching center and I think we saw like 3-4 Grey whales. That was the first time I had ever seen a whale in the wild. For lunch/dinner we went to John’s Incredible Pizza Company and man was that good. It was so big it was like an indoor adventure park. It was insane, I am still in shock. The last day we started it off with the Northwest Trek. At first I had no idea what this place was but it was pretty much a zoo. It was pretty cool, we went on a tram and saw the animals wild which was cool to see them in their habitat. That is the trip to Oregon. A lot happened but it was one of the best trips I have ever gone on.
