OMSI camp (Harrison guest blog)

I was on a trip to an OMSI camp in upper Oregon, near Mt. Hood, that my fourth grade class went to, along with another fifth grade class. There was a long bus ride that started about 7:30 and ended at noon. I did not like it. I sat up front because I felt "bus-sick"  I got off the bus while the bus was trying to find a spot to park. Afterwards,I got together in a group with other people and had a lesson called 'field study'. Our group leader found a slug and offered that people lick it.  I was not up for it.  We discovered orange/red berries called salmon berries. they looked like raspberries.I had quite a few  They were very good.

salmon berry bush

 I am in the cabin with my friends: Felix, Diego, Brandon, Nikhil, Carlos, Ean , my dad and Nikhil's dad.
After field study I had some free time and then went to a camp fire where the OMSI staff did very funny things.  There was a skit called Johnny got run over by a water buffalo.  They did the skit normal, dramatic, slow, fast,backwards, and with zombies.  The best thing at the campfire was the "Great OMSI Staff Nymph".  It was basically four staff members with linked arms.  They would answer questions by one head saying one word and the next head saying the next word. I  asked them what was 33*33?  They answered, 'Once there was a beautiful lady. She got a carpet but it had mice. So she got a new one.' I was not impressed by their answer, but impressed by the correctness of their grammar.

June 4 - Day 2

Today I woke up early to the light outside the cabin. My cabin had to go help the kitchen get ready for breakfast. Afterwards we had breakfast.  Then we went to field study where we caught critters and learned about ecosystems in the water. I caught a water skimmer and a roughskin newt. The newt was like a little alligator. I forgot I had my digital camera and was reminded right when I let the newt go. Luckily Dad got a picture of some newts with his group.

roughskin newts

Deer!

I saw a deer afterwards.
  Then we went on a long kike around looking and asking questions about plants. In the middle we had lunch. A deer came to about 2-3 feet away. It was so cool.

Afterwards I had something called an interest group. That day I had signed up for survival.  It was great. Me, Ava, Ean and Mason build a fort using ferns, moss, dead sticks and a fallen tree.

 Then we toured around other people's forts. One was very large with a pit, one used mainly live trees as a rain protection, and one was small. Then there was rest time. I rested and practiced a skit called Who's on First  By Abbott and Costello with Felix. It was fun.



Then there was EcoJep, an ecology themed jeopardy. I liked the question from odds and ends: "impersonate an OMSI staff member". I was part of a great OMSI staff nymph impersonation. It was fun trying to end the sentence.  Instead of getting the normal (as our leader tells us) score, -1, we got the score 'A LOT'!  Then was time for the campfire.  I did my skit with Felix and it was definitely the least random and most classic thing at the campfire. Just before bed, Dad took my cabin out stargazing. Mrs. Maxon, my teacher, came too. Then we had to go to bed.

June 5 - Day 3
I woke up today to people talking.  I thought it was still nighttime, so I was going to ask them to please stop, but then I saw the light coming from the window inset into the door. Then I had breakfast. Afterwards it was time for interest groups. I signed up for Squid dissection, but it was way too gross for me.  I instead went to early Oregon studies.  There I threw a spear with a tool, called an atalal(prnoced atal-latal), and tried to make fire with a spinning bow. After a short while I boarded a bus back to the Dalles. My family picked me up and we started the Portland/Seaside trip.