Penny Presses

Alex loves those 51¢ penny presses in gift shops. He still thinks they really press his pennies, though. He always has to dig for the shiniest penny I've got. He just did one at Ripley's Believe It Or Not in Newport and, since I didn't have a penny that was shiny enough, he took a penny to the counter and asked them to exchange it for a shinier penny!

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Wildlife Safari in Winston

We got started a little late this morning for the Wildlife Safari. I wanted to be there when it opened at 9:00, but that's about when we ended up leaving the hotel, an hour away.

We stayed at the Safari from the time we got there at 10:00 until they closed at 6:00. We drove through the park twice and went all through the walk-through exhibits, but also did lots of extras.

We had our van washed by an elephant. The elephant squirted water on the van from its trunk, then picked up a sponge and wiped the van, and finally rinsed it by spraying from its trunk again. No, the van didn't get very clean, but Alex LOVED getting sprayed by an African elephant. (Elephants Have ALWAYS been his favorite animals and African elephants have always been his favorite elephants. He's always a little upset because most zoo elephants are Asian because they are smaller, less high-strung, and easier and safer to work with.)

We went on an elephant barn tour where we got to see the inside of the elephant barn, but also feed and pet the elephants. Alex got to ride a dromedary camel. We rode a train around part of the Safari. We went to the Cheetah keeper talk.

I think the highlight of the Safari for Alex was a prank we pulled on Tiffany. We had done this several years ago, the last time we were at the Safari, and he talked about doing it all day. Finally, just before leaving, we pulled it off. Tiffany dozed off the second time through the park; we pulled up next to a female Emu (a very ugly, evil-looking animal that I call a 'Devil Bird') and let it stick its face right up to Tiffany's open window, then woke her up. I know it was a cruel thing, but she took it well, and Alex is STILL laughing about it, hours later.

When the Safari closed we decided we wanted to stay close to Bandon tonight, so I made reservations for Comfort Inn in Coos Bay and we headed out. We pulled in to the hotel about 9:00; we were all hungry, but too tired to go out. On top of that, Alex had some homework that he had to finish this weekend, so we ordered Domino's and he did his homework while we waited for the delivery.

I wrote this blog as I ate the pizza; I'm now more than ready to go to sleep.

Tomorrow we'll be hitting the Bandon Game Farm (billed as the world's largest petting zoo).

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Cottage Grove

We left last night for a trip Alex has wanted to do all summer . . . Wandering around SW Oregon. He wants to go to the Winston Animal Park and the Bandon Game Farm. There's quite a bit of driving involved so we have been waiting for a three day weekend. This will probably be our last trip of the Summer.

We left home last night heading toward our hotel reservation at Comfort Inn in Cottage Grove. We stopped at Harbor Freight in Salem to get some transfer punches for the Soap Box car, but ended up getting quite a bit more, including an RC car for Alex and a 72" level that was on sale for an incredible $15!

On our way south, I was watching the traffic map on my Droid that was showing a huge tie-up in Eugene; the tie-up had been there since we left Portland.

When we hit Eugene about 8:30, it looked like I-5 was almost shut down so we decided this would be a good time to stop for dinner. We went to a Skippers a couple miles East of the highway where a truck driver told us that a pickup had rolled over on the highway. We asked around about how to get South of town without taking I-5, but nobody had any good, easy directions.

When we were done eating we started following any road that headed South but didn't run into I-5; we had the GPS so we weren't TOTALLY blind, but it was dark and we were driving through what looked like extremely bad neighborhoods. I've often said that one of the good things about Portland is that there really aren't any neighborhoods that, as a grown man, I absolutely would NOT walk through after dark. I might be a little uncomfortable, and watch my back closely, but I would likely make it through. We drove through neighborhoods in Eugene and Springfield that I would not walk through.

We finally hit a traffic-free Interstate south of town and drove the remaining 20 minutes to our hotel, arriving about 10:00. Alex and I played in the outdoor heated pool for about half an hour (that boy is a FISH!!!), then we watched the last hour of 'Titantic' and feel asleep.

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AC Nutter

I got Alex out of the house early this morning to visit AC Nutter's shop. AC has been building race cars, race car engines, and race car drivers for decades. He is one of the big names behind Greg Biffle's success, and built every one of Biffle's engines right up until he was signed on by Rousch Racing. Alex was actually pretty excited to meet him and didn't give me ANY problem getting up early to go. Although I have a couple connections to AC (He went to High School with my father-in-law and has built an engine for my brother-in-law), I have never met him. We just drove to his shop and introduced ourselves.

We talked Soap Box Derby for a while. AC remembered there being Soap Box races in Vancouver when he was a kid, and jumped on his computer to pull up the websites . . . He was very interested. He had lots of good tech advice based on his decades of involvement with various types of racing. Much of his advice sounds pretty good, and is a little different than what I hear at the track. And some of it . . . Just SOME . . . Would actually be legal. (Sorry, But no, we won't be rod drilling our axles!) We had brought in a part to ask him to do a little mill work on. Instead of doing the work, he actually came up with a way I can do it myself with a drill press, and it will be just as accurate (or even more accurate).

We ended up having to run to get Alex to school on time. After dropping Alex off, I called back to apologize for running, and to thank AC for his ideas. He wants me to bring the car in for a little show-and-tell. Turns out he has a machinist working for him who has a 6 year old daughter who lives and breathes race cars, and they might want to try this out. I figure getting this guy's eyes on our car can yield nothing but good things. We're going over next week after putting the car back together for the next race, but before aligning it.

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Pumpkin Pie

Alex had been wanting to make a pumpkin pie for a while so last night we went to the store and he got all the stuff . . . Canned pumpkin, spice, whipped cream ("In a can!", he insisted). The only thing we did not get was condensed milk. Alex was insistent that we had some, and I thought we did, too.

We got home, poured the pumpkin into a bowl, then discovered that we had only evaporated milk. I had to run down to Albertsons to get condensed. As Alex was stirring I convinced him that condensed milk tastes like frosting, and he nearly licked the can clean!

Alex took a shower while his pie cooked them enjoyed a slice before bed. His only two complaints . . . It was too hot, and the whipped cream was melting.

Tiffany just sent me a photo that illustrates how much Alex is still enjoying his pie today for lunch.

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Cub Scout Pack Picnic

We had a great time at the Cub Scout Picnic today. We came back from Poulsbo and skipped a day of Soap Box racing to be there, so I was really hoping Alex would enjoy himself. He did.

The picnic was at Orchards Park. We played Frisbee and catch, the kids rode bikes and scooters, and we all played a big game of Ultimate Frisbee. This is basically football, but with a frisbee instead of a ball. There were about three adults and five kids on each team. Tiffany says we played for half an hour; I'm pretty sure it was more like four hours. Nobody is sure who won.

David brought an air and water powered rocket and let the boys launch 2 liter bottles 100 feet in the air.

After the picnic we went to the Troutdale Outlet Mall and Wal-Mart for school clothes and supplies.

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Poulsbo Soap Box Derby

Alex had a great time at today's race. He ran three heats (six runs down the track) and came in eighth place. In one of the photos you can see his 'cheat sheet', where he mapped out the track and planned his line, then taped it inside his car for reference.

His first heat was against Anthony Poggi, who just came back from Akron, where he won eighth place in the world.

After the race I drove to NAPA where I bought a new brake light switch for the van . . . Both the brake lights AND the cruise control now work.

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