Kate's Day 1: Vancouver to Portland

I suppose that it's quite busy here at OSU, and Margot has an extremely busy field season ahead of her, and she knew that not only is my schedule flexible but I was also looking for something to do this spring that would use my field skills. All in all, it didn't take too much convincing for me to decide to hop on a plane and come down to Oregon and Washington for a week to help Margot do her PhD. I had kind of been wondering what she's working on, and also wanted to check out her life down here, as well as see a bit more of the world. It is my first time in Oregon, and I have never made it out to the coast of Washington.

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I should explain that I am writing these posts on my last day, from Corvallis. My brain is pretty much a pile of mush, I feel like I might have the edge of a cold, and I am pretty tired from a week of early mornings! If I ever have time, it would probably be a good idea for me to come back and edit these posts. OR not.
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I need to thank Mel, Margot's Mom, for her help getting me to the airport. The day that I left Vancouver, I was called in to work Kindergarten in the morning, and then I switched schools halfway through the day and taught Science 10 in the afternoon until 3pm. My flight was from Vancouver to Portland, leaving at 6:15 and I was a bit nervous about the horrid rush hour traffic, especially since I was driving from North Van. Fortunately our worries were unfounded, I made it over to the Hessing-Lewis abode with plenty of time, and Mel dropped me off at the airport at around 4:30.

Margot and I nearly didn't find each other once I reached Portland (confusing airport!) but we managed to hook up and get me out of there and into Portland. We stayed that night at Margot's former labmate's lovely 1900s home in the Hawthorne District of Portland.

I wish that we had taken pictures that first night (ha, really made up for that later on!) because when we went out for a walk to check out Hawthorne St, we happened upon a bunch of people wearing bathrobes. As we continued down the street we noticed that there were actually hundreds of people in bathrobes, and they were lined up in front of a cinema. It turns out that there is a cinema that shows The Big Lebowski annually! The bar attached to the cinema was providing white russians for everyone... if we had only had a wristband, we could have enjoyed the fun!