Science Center Spree

ASTC is the Association of Science-Technology Centers.  They have a passport program in which if you buy a membership at any of their participating centers, you can have free entry into all the others (with a couple restrictions- click here to learn about it if you're interested in getting one).

So, I bought a membership from Pacific Science Center and we took advantage of that and 3 other centers in the past 5 days.

Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum

McMinnville, Oregon

When I first saw this on the list I didn't think much of it except that it was probably a bit too far off I-5 to be worth the trip.  Boy was I wrong.  I pulled up their website and found that they have the actual Spruce Goose on display!  Yes the actual thing built by Howard Hughes.

Spruce Goose @ Evergreen Aviation Museum
Notice the tiny people standing below the nose

 And more surprises were in store- a water park.  Are you kidding me?  A water park at an aviation museum?  This place looks dang awesome with a wave pool, water slides, and a water science museum.  We didn't go to this part because it was an extra cost, but I would love to go there some day, it looks like a blast.  Very out of the box and an excellent attraction that probably puts McMinnville on the map.

The aviation museum and the Spruce Goose...all I can say is- wow.  Wow!  That thing is HUGE.  My jaw was dropped open most of the time and I was happy to get to go inside and we even paid a little extra to go up into the cockpit.  Amazing.

8 Huge propellers powered this giant

Tail of the Spruce Goose

Yup, it's actually made out of wood!  View inside passenger area

The cockpit - notice the tube on the back of the pilot's chair on the left - this was the special ventilation system for Howard Hughes.  Hepa filters were based on his invention.  We got to sit in these chairs and imagine what it would have been like to fly the old girl.

Spruce Goose Cockpit

Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum - If you're ever in the vicinity it's worth the detour.  And it's really not that big of a detour anyway, just a different route.  (Click to visit their website.)

Pacific Science Center

Seattle, Washington

(Click to go to Pacific Science Center website.)  I remember this place when my family went several years ago when I was a teen.  I had vivid memories of the cool water guns outside, the giant furniture, and the exhibits that explore the senses.  Those things were still there and we got to explore some music exhibits, space, ...  They have an exhibit of King Tut that I'm sure must be fabulous but it would have been an extra $40 for myself and my two boys, so we passed on that.  We did get to see a movie To the Arctic which was fantastic- it's the story of a mother polar bear and her two cubs.  Very beautiful 40 minute 3D IMAX film.

My big splurge that I justified as a birthday present to myself was They Might Be Giants "Here Comes Science" CD and DVD together for $35.  I thought that was a pretty killer deal.  The kids already know the songs by heart.

OMSI

Portland, Oregon

When I was remembering my long ago visits to Pacific Science Center and OMSI I thought that Pacific Science Center would be the better one.  I was wrong again.  I think OMSI was way better.  (Click for OMSI's website.)  They had a great exhibit on natural disasters that went through earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and volcanoes.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  They had a computer program where you could "create a volcano" by setting high or low gases and high or low silicon in the lava, and by adjusting those two settings you can create the 4 types of volcanoes (shield, cinder cone, stratovalcano, and lava dome).

Exhibits on life science and earth science thoroughly geeked me out and the kids loved the sand and water table in the earth science lab.  They also have a "science playground" meant for ages 6 and under that is pretty sweet.

Then we went into an awesome physics exhibit- many machines, laws of motion, etc. being explored here.  And one very cool feature was the inventor's ball room where you can hook up pipes and valves to create new pathways for blue foam balls to catapult around the enclosed room.  Major coolness factor.  There are also Chemistry, Physics and I think one other lab off of this area but they were closed by the time we got there.  The center stays open later- 7:00- which is great, but the labs close at 5 or 5:30.

There is also a submarine tour that I didn't find out about until 15 minutes to close.  It does cost extra though so we might not have done it anyway.  They have an actual sub in the river next to the center so it could be pretty neat.

A.C. Gilbert's Discovery Village

Salem, Oregon 

Another surprising find.  They have 3 houses and then a huge outdoor play area with a maze, giant chess board, mammoth skeleton, and more.  In the houses were exhibit rooms such as the China room, China room, fossil room, and my favorite - the bubble room.  This is a place I think I will take the kids to anytime we have to pass through Salem or even close because it's a great way to kill a few hours and very educational stuff disguised as wicked awesome fun.  (Click for the website.)

Tide Pools

Day 3 of my internship here at Hatfield Marine Science Center, and it feels like I've been here two weeks, because that's about how much awesomeness and learning I've had, crammed into a very short amount of time!
Today we got to go to Yaquina Head tide pools at low tide which was dang freaking awesome!  We climbed all over and saw a lot of neat stuff.  On the drive up of course the first thing we saw was the dock washed up from Japan that everyone has been talking about and tourists come to see.  It's just sitting down there on the beach.

Dock debris from 2011 Japanese tsunami, Newport Oregon

FYI, here is a closeup of the dock.  It's 66 feet long, 19 feet wide, and 7 feet tall.  This is from the Hatfield Marine Science Center blog.

Hatfield Marine Science Center investigated the potentially invasive species aboard the dock.  Click to read more.

You can also read the following press releases from Hatfield Marine Science Center for more info on what happened and the issues with the invasive species:
June 7th - Floating dock from Japan carries potential invasive species
June 22nd - Species identified from the Japanese dock that washed ashore
Very fortuitous that this dock landed a couple miles away from the marine science center here with tons of ongoing research and experts in invasive species!  This will be enough to keep them busy for a long time yet.  As if they weren't busy enough already.


But that is not the focus of this post.  This is:

Yaquina Head lighthouse, Newport Oregon with tide pools in foreground

Now that's some beautiful scenery.  I absolutely love the rocky Oregon coast!  This area in particular is made of basalt.  That means it was formed by volcanic activity - Yaquina Head used to be a volcano.  I thought our guide said this was a possible old site of the Yellowstone Caldera, but I can't find any info backing that up, so I could have heard wrong.   This site has a good summary of the geology of this location.

Basalt cobbles that give Cobble Beach its name

The beach where you go to the tide pools is called Cobble Beach, because it's covered with basalt rocks.  A local told me that if you come here at high tide the waves pick up the rocks and as the surf goes in and out it makes a really neat sound.  Hoping to hear that for myself at some point.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Newport Oregon

The Yaquina Head lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon.  You can learn more about this and the Yaquina Bay lighthouses at this website.

Some awesome finds at the tide pools today: 

Sea anemones

Barnacles and mussels

The black shells are mussels and the white are barnacles

Rocks covered with mussels and barnacles

Coralline Algae

Fellow Sea Grant Scholar, Brian, showing us coralline algae

Coralline Algae gets is name because of its resemblance to coral

Coralline algae that has been bleached by the sun

Crabs (Red Rock Crab?)

 Sea Urchins

Purple sea urchins - look closely, especially in the shadow- there are a bunch

Sea Stars

Sea star in tide pool

Sea stars - the one on the left is eating

Sunflower Sea Star

Sunflower sea star and big red sea urchin- I altered the coloring of the picture so you can see it better

I loved seeing the sunflower sea star, perhaps mainly because I spotted it on my own.  Thanks to Planet Earth, I was familiar with this animal a little bit from the cool time lapse of it trying to get hold of a brittle star for dinner.  Here is the video- it starts out talking about the sea urchins that destroy kelp forests which is also cool.

Mossy Chiton

Chitons look like potato bugs/ pill bugs/ sow bugs/ rolly pollies/ whatever you call them.  But Chitons have 8 plates of armor, are marine, and are in fact mollusks, complete with a foot, gills, and mantle.

Mossy chiton

Gumboot Chiton

The gumboot is the largest species of chiton in the world - and we found one!  That was an exciting find.  Doesn't look like the other chiton right?  Well this one has a fleshy covering over the bony plates, but when you touch it you can still feel them beneath.

Gumboot chiton - largest chiton in the world

You can see the gills here right below Brian's thumb.  The light part in the middle of the animal is the foot, and the sides are the mantle

When disturbed, the gumboot chiton rolls up into a ball just like a potato bug

And lastly, up by the lighthouse we did a little bird watching and I got to learn a bit about the Common Murre.

I know, it's just a rock.... except that all those little black dots are birds

There were a few different kinds of birds on that rock and others nearby but the majority were the murres.  Here's a closeup:

Picture source

They look very similar to penguins as you can see.  And in fact they are pretty poor fliers and can maneuver much better under water.  I watched them fly and really they just kind of jumped off the big rock and awkwardly flapped their way down to the water.

Picture source

The birds don't build a nest but just lay eggs right on the rock.  These large rocks are like big isolated cliffs with sheer drops on all sides.  But the eggs have a clever mechanism for dealing with this.

Common murre egg is in the middle

The shape of the egg allows it to roll in circles- so if it starts to go anywhere on the rock, it will turn and avoid disaster.  Pretty cool.

That was an incredibly cool day!  If you found anything helpful in this post, please leave a rating and a comment!  And if you feel like it, join the site too.  Thanks!