Fun in Portland OR

With Bug's birthday coming up, I packed 3 new t-shirts (wrapped) and handed them to her on our first morning in Portland. I told her that she could open one, but that she would have to wear whatever it was. 

The first one was pretty cool!

We hopped onto the streetcar and headed to OMSI.

They had an exhibit about mazes and illusions. Bug had fun with this balance board maze. She ALMOST got the ball into the center.

This was a giant model of a human ear. The curved red line to the left of Bug (in the ear canal) moved across, demonstrating how sound waves move through our ears. The parts to the right also moved. It was pretty cool.

This had various organs that would light up when you pushed the button next to their name...except, apparently, the stomach.

Shark tooth bracelet.

One of many bridges in Portland.

On our way to OMSI, Bug spotted this shop. We stopped on our way back. 

Finally, somewhere that I wanted to visit. ;)  YARNIA!

Bug picked out some red and yellow bamboo yarn. I'm going to make a hat similar to the gray one she's wearing in some of the other photos. Here you can see the yarn on the holder, attached to the winding machine.

The 2 cones of yarn are what I bought at Yarnia. The purple/orange/green is for me (bamboo and wool) and the red & yellow bamboo is for Bug.

OMSI!

 After breakfast (more waffles!) we got on the streetcar again. Just days before we got there, they had opened a new line which crossed the river and went down to our destination....OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry). Here's Bug, ready to go.

While waiting to change streetcars, we took some pics by this wall. We don't know what it used to be. Anyone? There was a sign on it that said "history", but no details. 

 

We made it to OMSI!

The woman in the physics lab commented on my cheese curds t-shirt...we found out that she grew up in a town near ours. We had a great chat and she was very helpful.
Bug had fun turning the crank on this  Van de Graff Generator...I think that her dad enjoyed it, too!

I don't remember what this was called, but it was pretty cool. Bug got each of the 2 arms moving, then watched the pen on the paper. She did it twice...

and got this: 

On our way to the submarine tour! We went into the USS Blueback. Bug LOVED it!

We had a great tour guide. 

 

He answered any and all questions that Bug had and was amused, not annoyed when half of them were "Are we underwater yet?"

They had a doorway like this inside the building, where we lined up for the tour. If you couldn't fit through it without help, you could not take the tour. Bug didn't have to duck...I only hit my head once. 

 She's learning how to start the engines.

Outside the submarine with our tour guide, Darl. 

Looking at the list of subs on "eternal patrol". She was very concerned about this. 

They had some really cool skeletons and rocks inside the building. 

 

On our walk from the streetcar stop to the hotel, Bug found some tall, soft plants. 

We saw the front-end of a vehicle in another building, too, but only got a photo of this one. 

We then visited our new friends who made pizza for us. YUMMY!

Then Bug's dad had some business to take care of...