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Published: July 23rd 2010
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My cold must be finally passing (faint hope), with an early morning wake. The birds at the bird feeder provided pleasant watching, with first a collection of small yellow birds and then two larger blue birds. I'd spied a little himmingbird a few days ago hanging around a purple-flowered bush on the back fence. It was smaller than a mouse, with blurring wings that sounded like a giant bumblebee (notice again the trip theme of 'giants' coming out again despite not looking for it).
Ky, the boys and I took a drive back to Corvallis to check out the shops again. Ku enjoyed finding fantastical material in the quilt shop, then the boys had milkshakes at the Cafe Marche. Joseph chose a mixed choc-banana flavour. The cappucino was good.
Driving has been confusing. First there's the adjustment to where the approaching traffic is coming from. Secondly and more of an issue for me is the pedestrian crossing areas. They are marked with strong solid white lines that look just like our stop lines in Perth. There aren't any stop lines at signalised intersections, leaving the driver with no clear indication where to stop. But as I'm turning the corner
or even crossing the intersection, I feel something's wrong because I'm driving over a stop line. Some of the intersections are a collection of stop signs. Maybe that's why everyone drives at such a leisurely pace: to prevent mistakes in the confusing roadscape.
After a little more wandering around we decided we'd seen enough and headed back to see "The Brass Ring" in Albany.
Absolutely amazing. This team of volunteers and sponsors is building a new carousel with dramatic creatures carved from bass wood. We attended a fascinating and thorough tour of the museum and factory, seeing pieces in various stages of assembly. Families in Albany and surrounding areas have sponsored these creatures, each one telling a story of the family, person, or pet that it represents. They also contain time capsules in them describing the story behind the creature's design and who the sponsors are.
I rate this visit as a 5* to visit. Our boys aren't normally into the museum tour type of thing but they got right into this and hopped on some of the finished pieces afterwards.
A trip to the Heritage Mall on the outskirts of Albany yielded a small bag
of magnetic stones for Joseph, a "No" for Liam who wanted to buy (real) air rifles and swords, and a cheap lunch in the food hall. The calzone, like a rolled-over pizza, came with a delicious tomato sauce.
Looking for a nice shirt for Joseph to go to restaurants in, we went across to the Fred Meyer store which is a combination of clothes, sports, gardening, electronics, jewellery, groceries and probably more. Not only that but the selection is extensive. Being the end of summer they only had short sleaved dress shirts, although a lot of the clothes were on sale. Liam and Joseph opted for leggo men for $2 each (they were $5 in NZ, near twice the price).
We returned home to prep for our drive to Mary's Peak. That was a well designed curvy road that wound through picturesque forests with wildflowers dotted along the sunny edges of the road. In some places the white ones formed a light covering as if of snow, reminiscing about the colder days in winter.
From the carpark near the peak, we walked to the left through a small wood of large trees. Liam grew tired so I
stopped part way with him, and we chased orange and blue butterflies, spiders, crickets, and poked at spit bugs. I took copious photos of flowers and a few scenic shots looking over the hills, although the hazy smog didn't lead to good viewing. Liam later showed Ky a number of spit bugs (and he was forced to wash his hands before dinner).
Then after walking around for about an hour we drove back down to get dinner at McMenamin's in Corvallis. There we had a range of burgers with fries (each <$10, again cheap). Joseph had an 8" pizza, while I tried battered Atlantic Cod with chips (the only time you can order chips as "chips" is with fish, otherwise it's "fries"). All up with drinks for 7 people and a tip was $82. Unbelievable, and top class waitering too. The sink sculpture on the side wall added some interest. Dessert was a mix-your-own frozen yoghurt at Yoghurt Madness next door. The dark chocolate and coconut was scrumptuous.
On the drive home, Jas Joseph and I saw three antlered deer. beautiful light brown colouring with pretty antlers. They had about the body height of ponies, but ran off
when Jas approached them for a photo (guess they don't like being shot). However it seems our little adventure wasn't as interesting as the other car.
Liam and Avery in the back seat
"Want to play doctors and nurses?"
long sigh "Yeah"
overheard
"Freckles and warts"
...
"Metal parts"
...
Matt: what are the metal parts?
The lady is getting a metal v~ to cure her freckles and warts"
"If she didn't like it or it was too uncomfortable they can stand near a large magnet and have it removed." "It will be really painful".
The man is getting a metal p~.
When they had progressed to metal ears and noses, "If you don't want a metal one, there's the door."
Later..
This girl was going for her 553 before school shots. Ky: "I haven't heard her screaming once." Avery: "I've stuffed her mouth with lollies to stop her from screaming". Liam: "Good job you're not the dentist".
A small discussion has ensued in the background about the fittest person here. Ky talks about running for 20 minutes and then huffing and puffing. Matt says that happens to him too after 12 miles, his philosophy: Don't stop because
you're tired. He just keeps going for another 88 miles...
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