Fort Vancouver - Summer Adventures

It's interesting to think that though I love visiting historical areas, I hadn't ever visited the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site before my week of summer vacation! It's a wonderful historic site that consists of nine buildings, and I would love to visit again when all of the buildings are open. Most of the buildings allow you to enter, but have inner doors with windows that keep you from entering the actual rooms. However, some of the buildings are completely open and can be thoroughly explored. These are the buildings that I enjoyed most, because I was able to touch historic artifacts and imagine the lives of those who used to live inside (though the buildings are actually reconstructed, not the original ones).

Similar to when we visited the Aurora Colony, we took a self-guided tour at Fort Vancouver. Even though I might not learn as much, I've always preferred self-guided tours to group tours, because they allow you to go at your own pace and in whatever order you like. The site also offers audio tours at no additional charge, for those who want to learn a bit more information about Fort Vancouver.
In my opinion, it's definitely a better idea to visit places like Fort Vancouver on days that are likely to be less crowded. I'd happily walk between buildings in the rain if it meant running into less people within the buildings. We happened to go on a really nice day, so the area was a bit more crowded. Unfortunately, we ran into several immature people (like children who had to touch and destroy everything, and a father who left his girl crying at the top of a steep staircase) during our visit, which spoiled some of the atmosphere. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate people, I just prefer to visit places like this on quieter days.

Some of the buildings have reenactors who tell you all about what the building would have been used for, and give you a taste of what it would have been like.

Overall, the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site is a very interesting and beautiful place to visit! The reconstructed buildings are great, and they really allow you to feel as if you've stepped into the past. I would definitely recommend this for everyone, and I can imagine that children would especially appreciate all that they have done to make the site authentic.

I really enjoyed their displays of artifacts!

 This was my favorite view of all, looking out from the tower.

 Here is a link to the website: http://fortvan.org/

 

Aurora Colony - Summer Adventures

The Aurora Colony was one of my most favorite destinations during my one week of summer vacation, because I was able to see actual pieces of history. I get this unexplainable feeling when I'm inside historical buildings, as I imagine the people that lived and walked within the buildings so long ago. History class was never my strong point, but I do enjoy the elements of history that don't involve memorizing hundreds of dates and reciting historical documents. I like to be able to feel history, to be able to see history with my own eyes.
Unfortunately, we were unable to actually touch anything (which I completely understand), because everything was so old and fragile. However, I was able to get some pictures with my cellphone (sorry for the poor quality) of what we saw!

For anyone who is interested in visiting the Aurora Colony, I totally recommend it (It's currently $6 for adults and free for children 5 and under)! Not everything fragile is behind glass, but it's still a great place for those who have children interested in things like this.
My mom and I took a self-guided tour, and no one else happened to be taking a tour that day, so we had the whole place to ourselves!
When you first enter the Old Aurora Colony Museum, you can watch a movie about the colony and will be given a map of the buildings. It's a five building complex, but the map will show other buildings that were originally part of the colony, but are now being used for businesses and other things (such as the post office that is now an antique shop). We visited most of the buildings, but had a difficult time understanding the map. It was also very hot outside, which made walking to each building and around the area somewhat tiring.
For lunch, we walked to the Colony Pub & Grille and sat outside. It was a bit odd at first, because though we knew it was family friendly, I felt as if I was walking into a bar full of old men (My pop was even served in a beer glass). Still, it added to our visit with its historical atmosphere.

Again, I definitely think that the Aurora Colony is a fantastic place to visit if you enjoy exploring and learning about some interesting pieces of history! 

Here is a link to the website:

http://www.auroracolony.org/

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is definitely one of my most favorite days of the year. It brings such a feeling of joy and gladness, because it's a time when we celebrate Christ's resurrection. Easter isn't all about the egg hunts and outdoor games, just like Christmas isn't all about the presents. It's about what Christ did for us, when He took every possible burden upon Himself and died in our place.
Because I really enjoy decorating for special events, I wanted to decorate for Easter last year. My Mom and I came up with some fun ideas, and I wanted pieces of the decor to be special and symbolic. We decided that it would be nice to create two crowns of thorns (one for each table), and put them under glass cake domes. So, my mom bravely went out in the dark to cut pieces of blackberry vines for the crowns. She wound them into circular shapes, which we placed on the cake dome pedestals. These represented the crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus' head. I wanted to symbolize what the crown of thorns and Christ's death means for us, so I placed a small, white bird (to represent us, after the cleansing of sins) in the center of each crown. 

Two other special parts of the decor were the napkin bands and the song banners. For the napkin bands, I used pieces of lyrics from various Easter songs, and placed a picture of a crown of thorns near the lyrics.

For the song banners, I used the lyrics from "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher, because it has such a wonderful meaning and has been my most favorite song. I typed pieces of the lyrics on separate pages, and hung them in three different spots around the house.

Overall, the decor was quite special to me, and I enjoyed the process of putting it all together! I hope that I get the chance to decorate similarly this year! Here are more pictures.

Seaside and Long Beach - Summer Adventures

Are you prepared for an adventure? I hope so, because I want to share pictures from our trip to Seaside and Long Beach with you!
My mom and I stayed the night at Seaside, and went to Long Beach the next day as a part of my one week summer vacation. Though it was raining part of the time, we had a lot of fun! Sometimes I almost enjoy going to the beach more when it's stormy or raining, because it makes everything feel so cozy. The low clouds also made everything look awesome!

We also had some great weather while we were there!

I really enjoyed visiting the various shops at Seaside, and walking out on the beach near the seagulls. (Candy from the shops definitely made the experience even better;)

I probably took nearly fifty pictures of the seagulls, because they were constantly in the perfect spot for a picture!

We walked along the beach for quite a while during the first day of our stay, which was nice because I haven't often just walked along the beach.

 I had a great time taking pictures of the various things we saw as we walked!

Since we planned to stay the night at Seaside, we booked a room at a hotel near the beach. We actually switched rooms, because the people in the room next to us were quite loud and obnoxious. I have to admit that I didn't like the idea of being on the first floor of the hotel when we switched rooms, because it seemed so much less private. But, it ended up being a very nice room, and we enjoyed staying there!

After we stayed the night at Seaside, we went back to the shops and beach one more time before we drove to Long Beach.

On the way back from Long Beach, my mom wanted to show me this cool covered bridge, so we drove around there for a while as well!

Everything was so fresh and beautiful.

And, of course we had to stop to use restrooms on the way back home, so we pulled off at some strange area. By this time it was raining and quite stormy, and the bathrooms there were pretty disgusting... but it did make for an interesting experience!

I hope you enjoyed seeing pictures from our trip!

Don't go anywhere... even more blogs about my week of summer vacation are soon to come!