Day 2--The Great Pacific Northwest Adventure

Day 2-Friday, June 26th--

Mamma Mia, broken hands, traveling Docs, big chief Kno-Tah, double libraries and double playgrounds, and what ground score is never EVER to be used in an invention.

One day into our vacation and Dug has a broken hand and Sagezilla has blisters, from her too small traveling Doc Martens, that she insisted on wearing on one last journey!

This idyllic pond behind the big Hillsboro library is the scene of Dug's mangling. We were taking pixs while the kids made small boats of leaves and sticks to float over the rapids. Dug decided to hop across the narrow stream and underestimated the slipperiness of the moss covered rocks and took a plunge........... right on his butt.

Later, I felt horrible for laughing first and saying, "Are you OK?" after. Unfortunately, he broke his fall with his left hand and the rocks in turn broke his hand. Some of my optimism must be rubbing off on him, because he said "Hey, I saved my Blackberry and wallet."


Just prior to Dug's dunk in the creek, we had a great evening at a Mamma Mia movie/sing along at the local library. They really went all out with the kitch, even providing a snack "wedding buffet" complete with bride and groom ducks on a wedding cake! People were encouraged to dress as characters from the movie or in 70's ABBA style rock star attire.

We were endlessly amused by how serious some of the movie goers took things. We all even got a brown bag of movie props ala Rocky Horror Picture Show, that matched up with various songs. It included glow sticks, packets of honey, a clock depicting the time "after midnight", a tissue, and fake money.



Much earlier in the day, we made the acquaintance of Chief Kno-Tah, an enormous wooden Indian head, created by sculptor Peter "Wolf" Toth. It stands near a cool wooded play ground, next to the small Hillsboro library. He came to stand for Chief No-Touch, as we had one of those OMG parental moments, requiring extreme calm in the midst of an internal freak out.

My kids are constantly making inventions and recycled art works, so they like to walk and scavenge for invention pieces. For years this has yielded cool little gears, bits and pieces of cast off toys, broken electronics and funky possibilities. But today in the beautiful old growth forest of the Pacific Northwest, they were gathering invention pieces and picked up a syringe!

We had a calm, quick lesson about NEVER EVER picking up a syringe for an invention piece. I explained that people are sometimes sick and that the kids could get sick from pricking themselves with a needle someone else used. ACK! All our years of urban living in the heart of Chicago and the kids have never stumbled upon a syringe........

As I tried not to flip out and scream, it was a small comfort to know neither of the kids had gotten pricked. Maybe this unfortunate lesson will save them from a later encounter, where they might not be so lucky. We headed on in to the library where we checked out a bunch of books and movies, joined the local summer reading program and discovered the Mamma Mia sing along, slated for tonight at the larger local library. My sister and Dug had never seen it and in Dug's case he wanted to keep it that way. But the kids and I had seen it once and were jazzed to go.

We all did various degrees of 70's glam and punk dress, and I went as Meryl Streep, whom I've occasionally been told I resemble.

Sagezilla almost got left at home, when she threw a big old drama queen flurking snit, about having to wear shorts under her glam rock top. She pulled out of her funk just in time.

Here's Du-Jay in Greek fisherman/ 70's hippy garb--well camouflaged in Aunty Maia's green velvet chair.

We were amazed that the free movie included a pretty lavish spread of snacks and drinks, laid out to look like a wedding buffet. And we were amused that the front of the room was scattered with round, cedar dog beds, like we got at Costco, for people to lounge on. The kids happily piled up their plates and piled on the pooch pillows. We took the folding chairs in back.

My little sister, Maia, & husband, Dug, went as the black wearing, anti-disco rebel & metalhead, AKA: themselves.

The funniest moment for me was at the end of the show, when the little, old librarian toddled to the front of the room and after a big build up, excitedly told everyone to peer under their chairs to see who won the grand prize of a Mamma Mia DVD. It was the one person least likely to want to ever see the movie again... Dug! I'm so excited we can endlessly torment him with ABBA in the comforts of our own home. Mamma Mia indeed!

Zilla and I both wore our flowered Dr. Marten's punk/hippy boots. They were my youthful travelin' shoes and I've photographed them in weird and interesting places all over the world. I was elated to find a matching little pair for Zilla in a thrift store, a couple years ago. She's pretty muchly outgrown them, but was adamant about bringing them to Oregon for one last adventure. After this, she'll just have to grow into and inherit mine, and the little ones will be saved, in case of future generations.


The rest of the day, we just relaxed, blew bubbles and hit the local play ground. We are on vacation after all!