Going Coastal 2019

In 1851, the first people settled in Tillamook. They discovered that it was a great place for a creamery because of the climate. The weather in Tillamook is rainy and cool, which makes it easy for grass to grow. Green grass = dairy cows,  which are needed for making cheese, milk, and other dairy products. That is why the Tillamook Creamery was founded where it was.

Hatfield Marine Science Center Visitors Center

I think that there is a tsunami machine is in the visitors center so that people can learn about the power of tsunamis. The Oregon Coast is especially susceptible to tsunamis, and it is important for people to see how dangerous they are so that they can keep themselves safe. The tsunami machine knocks over LEGO building really easily, and that water isn’t even moving that fast. It is important to educate people so that if there is a tsunami it won’t be too damaging to cities and lives. 

We stopped by Newport, OR on our second-to-last day. There were lots of sea lions, and they were really loud! It was interesting to learn about the town and it’s industry in fish. 

This photo was taken from my lap, so you have a nice view up my nose. Sorry about that.

This is me trying a Thai salad with basil, tomatoes, lettuce, celery and beef in it. It was interesting because I’ve never had a salad with meat in it before.

Hatfield Marine Science Center Animal Adaptations

Animals adapt through a process called natural selection. If an adaption works in an animal’s favour, it’s more likely to reproduce, and so more of those animals will have that adaption. Likewise, an animal with an adaptation that doesn’t work in it’s environment will probably not reproduce, so less animals with that adaption are born. An example is polar bears. A long time ago, polar bears were brown. They had a harder time hunting and hiding from predators because they didn’t blend in to the snowy environment. When some white polar bears came along they were better suited to the Arctic landscape. They ate more food and escaped predators more easily. They had more babies, and so eventually all the brown polar bears died out, and now there’s only white polar bears because they had an advantage over the other ones. That’s how evolution and natural selection work. 

Columbia River Maritime Museum First Nations Section

In the Columbia River Maritime Museum we looked at the First Nations section. We learned how the arrival of the European settlers to North America changed the worldview of the Native People already living there. Before the settlers, First Nations had never seen any people other than their tribe and tribes living around them. When the European arrived, they realized that there is a huge amount of the world that they’d never even imagined. They also learned about lifestyles that were really different from their own, and set up a trade for items that they hadn’t seen before, like metal tools, fabric, glass, and many other products that they hadn’t ever heard of. They’re lifestyle was significantly changed, and they came to rely on these tools and ways of living that hadn’t  been thought of before. 

Columbia River Maritime Museum Crossing the Bar Section

Whether I would be willing to cross the bar depends on my situation. I probably wouldn’t do it just for fun, but if I was in a situation where someone’s life depended on it, I think I would try (try being the key word here). If I did attempt to cross the bar, I think that I would probably fall out of the boat and as soon as the first wave hit. As a novice rower, I have some experience being in tippy boats on days when the water isn’t so calm, though I never have actually tipped over. So I think I would be wary of entering the Columbia River, unless I had a really good reason.

Depoe Bay is known as the smallest navigatable harbor. On March 11, 2011, the port was damaged by a tsunami caused by an earthquake off the coast of Japan.

Hatfield Marine Science Center Assemble a Whale

When we were building the whale we worked together as a class. There weren’t actually that many bones to assemble, but we didn’t know what most of them were. We assembled the spinal cord by lining up each of our pieces in order of smallest to biggest. Then we weren’t sure how the ribs worked at all, so the instructor showed us a model of another whale outside so we could see. Afterwards we had to discuss the placement of some other bones. They were a bit confusing but eventually we figured out where they went. I would say that the class worked together pretty well to overcome this challenge.  Sometimes we thought that bones went in different places, but we always worked it out calmly without getting into disagreements. That’s why it was so easy to put together the whale - everyone cooperated and listened to each other’s ideas to assemble the whale. 

The rocks at the Yaquina Head Natural Area formed from a volcano, and then were washed around in the ocean for thousands of years until they were perfectly round and smooth. They may look like the perfect souvenir, but they are one-of-a-kind: Yaquina Head is the only place that they are found. If everyone took one, than there would be almost none left, and then another lovely natural site would be ruined by human greed. 

Hatfield Marine Science Center Speedy Science

For our experiment we compared the speed of green crabs to purple crabs. Our hypothesis was that the purple crabs would be faster, and it was correct: the average speed of the purple crabs was 33.74 seconds, about 10 seconds faster than the green crabs, whose average speed was 23.93 seconds.

The Astoria Column is 125 feet tall and is covered on the outside by a scraffitto frieze that depicts figures from the history of Astoria and the Columbia River.

This eagle liked to pose for the camera. 

The Northwest Trek is important because they are preserving wildlife and nature in a safe place. The animals still get to live in their natural habitat. They are protected from poachers, cars, and predators. So many animals are becoming endangered because of humans destroying their habitats and homes. The bison, deer, moose, geese, sheep, and lots of other animals depend on that land to survive. It’s where they get their food, where they live, and where they reproduce. If we destroy that land they will have  to find a different place to live, and many of them probably won’t survive. The Northwest Trek is saving the forests and grasslands so that the animals that live there can be safe and still live normal lives. That’s why  it’s important that they keep doing what they are doing to preserve the animals and the land. 

I’m excited to see and octopus because I think that they are super cool. They can change colour and shape. They are also super smart: octopi in captivity have figured out how to do things like opening locks and taking pictures on cameras. They are amazing!

Hatfield Marine Science Center R.O.V. Challenge

Our group: Simon, Nate, Amy and I - worked well together to solve this challenge. We shared ideas well, and we listened to each other. We had a bit of trouble putting together the tubes, because some of the pieces were longer than others, and so they didn’t fit. We put shorter pieces to get her to make long pieces though, so that problem was fixed. Our R.O.V. still looked a little wacky, but at least it worked. Another challenge was protecting the motors. Originally our design was a little skimpy in terms of protection for the propellers. As a last minute edit we added a “birdcage” (as Amy called it): a piece that went over the top of the R.O.V. and acted as an extra barrier between the propellers and the wall.  Overall I think our R.O.V. worked pretty well. It was maneuverable, and it was able to complete the task of picking up metal objects from the bottom of the tank, though we could have placed the magnet a little differently.  We worked as a team to make our R.O.V. the best, and it payed off. 

One of the most memorable things that I learned at Fort Stevens was about Disappearing Cannons. Disappearing Cannons are 6.14 inches across. What makes them special, though, is that they can pop up over a wall of the fort, fire, and then go back down, which is how they got their name. This function makes it very safe for people to work around them. It only takes five seconds to raise up the cannon, and then 1 second to lower it down, so it happens very fast. The crew to load and clean the cannon consists of 6 men. The cannonball and two silk sacs of gun powder are wheeled over to the cannon and loaded. After the cannon fires, the crew takes a sponge and wipes down the barrel to get rid of sparks. That’s what I’ve learned about Disappearing Cannons at Fort Stevens!

Jakub requested the song ‘Barbie Girl’, much to the delight of the rest of the bus.

We spent over 24 hours on the bus over the course of this trip. At times it was a bit dull, but we came prepared with many hours of Netflix! There were some memorable moments though. Let me share a few...

Mr Hughes went nuts about Pok Pok Chicken. He got off the bus and got himself chicken wings!

PLP 8’s Epic Journey to the Oregon Coast

My quest group - Amy, Logan, Nathan, Simon and me - worked together okay. On our first quest, in Fort Stevens, we had some trouble listening to each other. Over the course of the quests we did - four in total - we improved greatly on this skill. By the last quest we were able to listen to each other’s ideas and take them seriously. Another thing that we originally struggled with was reading the clues carefully. We were a bit rushed and didn’t take the time to fully understand them. It really improved our results when we really thought about the clues: after all, they are meant to help, not confuse! By the end of the trip we had completed 2 quests, and I’m proud of us. We’ve come a long way from our first quest, where we were constantly bickering! Teamwork really is essential to a successful quest. 

We watched a beautiful sunset at Beverley Beach State Park. It was so much fun to relax with our friends and frolic on the pi beach while we took in this beautiful scenery. 

I think that tourist activities are important to small towns because they help get the town publicity, and they bring more people to the town to help with the economy.

Here’s me with the chocolate fountain. I look kind of crazy!

Evelyn Crump is a nerdy student at Seycove Secondary. She enjoys reading, drawing and playing with her friends.  

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