Journals--Day 5 Girls

June 25, 2006

Today is the fifth day. We woke up at 7am in the morning. Angelina woke me up and I thought, “Oh no I wish it was night time so I can sleep more! But I can’t.” I was so tired because I didn’t get enough sleep. From Wednesday to now I went to bed at around 12am and got up at around 7am because I was typing all my journals and doing our research. Yep, we did a lot of work! We enjoyed learning something new.

Anyway, Lymarie, Angelina and I went to eat our breakfast in the kitchen. We ate our perfect bagels and English muffins. Unfortunately, I got a burned bagel!!!! Oh well… The boys got up a little late because they went to the bed late last night. We made our lunch as usual everyday. We had sandwiches, chips, water bottles, and Snapple.

We were getting ready to go on the van. The girls and I were doing our log again. The boys were doing their research again. But the girls were doing the visuals again too. We were in the van for around 2 hours to get into Astoria. We arrived there and it was so HOT! The only one good thing for me was that I was wearing shorts! Yes, we went there again but we went to another place. We went to the restroom before we were going to the National Park. We all felt better!!

It was the Lewis and Clark National Park and it also was the Fort Clatsop. I was so happy that I touched the first national park today because I had never been to the National Park. It was nice. We also got a free golden access passport and we can go to any national parks for free because we are deaf. YES, WE ARE LUCKY!

We went to the trails and the man who presenting for us was Henry and he is in his senior year of high school. He was a fairly young man and he does read a lot about the variety of plants. It was all about the plants and stuff. He talked about the plants that we are using for medicines and everything. But it was a lot of names of plants and I also am sure I can’t memorize all of their names. He was presenting for a long time. I think it was cool and some of them are boring. I mean I don’t like to study about plants but I like to see all the beautiful plants and I felt like I am in the jungle because there were a lot of plants crowded in on me and it was so cool.

We went to back to the Fort Clatsop after our walk. The other man’s presentation was so long!! He told us everything about the guns and stuff like that. He also was very animated when he talked about it. I am sure he would be very tired after all that. Honestly, I don’t really pay attention to that man a lot because I don’t really interesting in that presentation because that seems for boys/men stuff. When it was all done, we went to eat our lunch…FINALLY! My stomach was growling for an hour. I took some pictures of Mike and he made some funny faces on his face. It was so funny! I was laughing so hard and showed them all to the teachers and they were laughing so hard too.

After that, we walked to the Visitor’s Center. We went into this place and it was all about Lewis and Clark’s history and everything. I have learned something new about them that I never knew before this trip.

We went to the theater movie. I didn’t watch the entire whole movie because I was sleeping. While we watched it and I felt like I can’t watch it all because I was too tired! When I watched it and my eyes became heavy, trying to stay awake but the eyes are hardly opened. I was all ready to sleep and I did. Jon and Mike were sleeping too. When the movie was over, I was like OH NO! I want to get some more of sleeping time because I was so tired! Well that’s too bad for me. We went to another room to read all the information about Lewis and Clark on the walls with the pictures and the art works too. My eyes were still heavy but I was okay at that time.

We went to the shuttle bus back to the parking lot. It was so hot outside. It was like 95 degrees. Guess what? I got sunburn! I AM SO HAPPY…. Not really. I hate to get sunburWe stopped to McDonald’s. We met Ms. Nutt’s husband’s friends. It was nice to meet them. Mike, Angelina, Barbara, Jon, and I went to get something from McDonald’s. I got a McFlurry. I don’t remember what they had. I only remember what I got for myself.

We were on the van and drove to the Column Astoria. It was so beautiful. It was so tall. We went to inside and walked to top of it but it was so long. It was 576 feet above sea level. We walked on the spiral stairs inside. We were all tired! But it was funny because Mike is scared of heights and Lymarie complained that she had to get more energy and I DID TOO! Finally we arrived at the top of it and we saw all of the view of forests, mountains, Lewis and Clark River, Columbia River, and cities. It was so beautiful, amazing, and awesome! We took some nice of pictures of us all. Jon took a picture of us (Angelina, Lymarie, and me). We love that picture of us! Richie took a picture of Jon, Mike, and me. Mike and I went to back down the spiral stairs. It was easy to walk down than went to go up. We finally arrived down and waited for all the other kids.

We went to see the house that Goonies (the movie) filmed at. We saw the REAL HOUSE! It was so amazing. I mean I couldn’t believe I saw a real house that the Goonies movie was filmed in it. But we didn’t go closer because it was a private home because it was famous. We took some pictures of it. We went to the town docks place. We saw real sea lions. They were so cute! They were huge and they were sitting on the docks. We saw some of them swim in the Columbia River. They were so cute! We didn’t go to close to them because it was dangerous. But we wish we could go closer to them. But we can’t. We wouldn’t bother them.

We went to on the van and went to back to WSD. I knew that we were all very tired! We ate our good dinner. We also started to type our journals. Right now, I am so tired and I am lying on the bed. Well I think it is done for the day. Bye good night.

OTR Fifth Day

Today, when I woke up at 7am, I was so exhausted. I got up and got dressed, and then ate breakfast. For breakfast, we ate bagels, English muffins and orange juice. Then we were making our own lunch; sandwiches, chips, water bottle and Snapple drink. Also, we packed some things in our back bag and got our laptops to bring them with us and got ready to GO!

It is only one hour and a half to get there to the Fort Clatsop, which is part of the National Park. When we got there, it was pretty hot outside but it was a perfect day for us to tour through the National Park with the amazing view variety of the trees, plants, and the flowers too. I really enjoyed listening to Ranger Henry that told us about the variety of plants that can make the special medicine to be able to cure any disease or sickness. I felt so relaxing while I was walking and seeing every tree passes by me; they are beautiful, so green, and very tall!

Then we walked to back to the Fort Clatsop and waited for a man to come and show us of how the rifle did work and how the muskets worked. He also told us some stories about Lewis and Clark about using the rifle to shoot any animals to get the fur to make the warm clothes for them and the meats to eat as well. That time, most of us were starving and waiting for our lunch. We were waiting and waiting until the man’s presentation is done. We all took the small place near where the man showed us how to shoot the rifle. We sat and automatically ate our foods already! When I ate the sandwich and drank some Snapple, I already felt so much better!

Then afterward, we walked to the Visitor Center where the people could walk in and see many pictures with comments about Lewis and Clark’s history, like a small museum. It is really a nice small place and we really enjoyed it. Also, all of us got the free golden access passport, and for this we could go to ANY National parks we want; that is so AWESOME and we are so lucky to have that passport!!!

We went to the theater and watched a short video about Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea, her baby and her husband, the Indian tribes, and their events of history in the past related to the Fort Clatsop; I really didn’t enjoy it because of no closed caption on to read. I also kind of couldn’t see Anne very well where she was interpreting for us; while the light is out too. It took about 30 minutes to watch that video and then we walked to the shuttle that waits for us, we got in and rode to the parking lot where we got off then walked to our van then we were gone!

But we didn’t go back to WSD; we stopped at the McDonald’s for Anne to meet her friend that she hasn’t seen him for a long time since from college. It is a really nice opportunity for Anne to grab her time to see him for a short time.

After that, Barbara was driving us to somewhere and I really had no idea where are we going to. We stopped to the Column Tower in Astoria. Inside the Column Tower, it has the spiral stairs probably over 150 stairs and we did walk up the way to the top. Oh boy… I felt so “extra-exhausted” and I felt my legs were getting weaker so I stopped for a little bit and continue walking again. At the same time, Jon was helping me and encouraged me to keep going and I did! When we got there, it was really so stunning with the beautiful view of the mountains, the houses, Columbia River, the long bridge, and much more! Column Tower was very tall probably more than around 100 feet and my favorite part was running down and up the stairs with Jon just for fun. I was getting pretty tired a lot. We were just chilling out there for a short time. A few minutes later, Barbara drove us to the Goonies’ house. When I saw that house, I smiled already and couldn’t believe that we actually already know what the Goonies’s house looked like and it’s right there!!!

Right now, we are on the way to the WSD dorm. We have some stuff to do tonight. I will tell everything to you guys tomorrow night of what we might have done for tomorrow. Good bye and good night everyone! I know you guys are exciting and couldn’t wait to know what’s going to happen tomorrow…

Journal day 5:

Today was exhausting! We had to get up at 7 am and get ready to leave for Fort Clatsop. For breakfast, we had bagels and English muffins. Then we all had to pack our lunches if we wanted to eat, for lunch was sandwiches, chips, and Snapple juice.

We left around 9 am and arrived at Fort Clatsop National Park around 11:25 am. Most of us, almost all of us, had to use the restroom. Then we all got in the park’s shuttle and rode down to the gate where to Fort was. We had to walk in the forest to get to the Fort.

The thing about the Fort is that it was rebuilt, because it burnt down last year. So they started to rebuild it in February of 2006. But they aren’t sure exactly what it looks like. They don’t know how tall the roof was, and they don’t know where everyone slept.

When we got to the Fort, we saw two buildings with three rooms each and that was it. We listened to a ranger telling the history of Clatsop. Then when other people were finished asking questions, we went into the room that he was in and started asking him questions that we weren’t able to ask him before. When he was done answering all of our questions, we took a group photo with the ranger.

Then we went on a medicine tour of the Fort. The ranger, his name is Henry, showed us the plants that they use for all different kind of things. Henry showed us the berries that we can and cannot eat. He showed us different kind of ferns, trees, berries, and other plants that they used in the time that Lewis and Clark stayed there for the winter of 1805 to 1806.

When the tour was finished, all of us just chatted with Henry and he told us some things that he wouldn’t tell on the tour because there would be people asking questions and the tour would be for hours. He told us things like where they have the fort now might not be the exact place where the Fort was originally built, that’s what the archeologist said. Other things like that that might not be true. It was really interesting to know all that and the other people that were in with the tour didn’t know about.

After we got back to the Fort, we saw a gun show, where a man talks about the weapons that they used on the way to the Pacific Ocean. When he was finished talking about the weapons, he showed us how a musket worked. He showed us how to load it and then he showed us how loud it is. He also said that when Lewis used an air musket it made no sound and the Indians didn’t know why there was no loud boom that they are used to hearing it when a rifle/musket goes off.

After the demonstration, we had our lunch because everyone was so hungry. When everyone was finished eating, we talked and relaxed while the staff was talking with the man who did the gun demonstration. When Jessica sat on the fence that they had there, Jon like tapped her on the shoulder and she fell back! It was so hilarious we all were laughing so hard!! And she was SO embarrassed.

When we were done with lunch, we went to the Visitor Center that they had. In the Visitor Center, they had a gift shop and they had a small section about the history of Fort Clatsop. When we first went in, Nancy asked all of us if we wanted a National Park pass. A National Park pass is like a passport that allows you to go into any National Park for free, that includes parking as well. It was really good and I was thinking that I hope I can use it later and that I will tell my parents about it so maybe we can go more often. Also while we were there, we went to see a short movie. Many of the other students fell asleep during the movie. I almost fell asleep but Lymarie woke me up. Then I looked around and saw that Lymarie and I were the only ones of the students that were still awake.

After the movie, I went in the display area that they had showing all the history and took some picture. I took pictures of some of the things that they think belonged to Lewis and Clark Expedition. I took a lot of pictures.

When we were done, we went back on the shuttle to go to the van. When we were in the van, we went to met one of Nutt’s friends that live here in Oregon. They showed us the Column Tower. We all walked up to the top that they had, and trust me it was so high! I was scared at fist because I’m afraid of heights. But I got used to it. Then when we were finished with that we went to see the Goonies’s house that they used in the movie. Even though I didn’t see the movie but it is cool and now it makes me want to see because they have been talking about the movie the whole time that we been here.

After driving by the house, we went to see sea lions on a dock in the river. There were three all together. At first, there was only one on the dock, and then as I started walking a second one came on then the third. It was really neat to see the sea lions when they were in the water and when they were on the dock.

Now we are going back to the Washington School for the Deaf so that we can rest and eat dinner. Lymarie, Jessica, and I are planning on doing our laundry tonight as well. I can’t think of anything else to write about today’s activity. The way I felt when I was finish end of the day was exhausted, hot, and sweaty, but I t was a lot of fun anyway. So I guess I’ll be going and I will talk to you tomorrow!!! Au Revoir!!!