Friday the 19th

 Once again, we were blessed with another half an hour of sleep. I was feeling especially tired after breakfast, so I headed down to the river at our campsite and dunked my head in to wake up. Nice and chilly! Then we did the quicker part of our soil analysis before heading out. We got soil samples yesterday from the mix that Gail uses at her nursery, and we also got some near Harris park. We figured Gail's soil would be a great control as it is a mixed and homogenized soil that should be good for growing a wide variety of plants and give us a good baseline. After getting our pH measurements and doing our nitrogen and phosphate sampling with test strips we got ready and left for the Tamastslikt Cultural Institute. It is both a museum and research institute, and an interesting fact I learned is that it is the only Native American museum along the Oregon trail. I think there should be more! Anyways, I had an amazing time getting to explore this museum. They have it set up in a sort of chronological order so that you get to see how the tribes represented here (Predominately the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla tribes) lived before, in the midst of, and after colonization. While not easy or fun to read and hear about, it is important to learn about how colonization impacted these tribes and all of the atrocities that were committed against them.



 I was enamored by lots of the different items they have on display, from the ornate cradleboards that mothers used to carry their babies or the beautiful fishing hooks and nets. The craftsmanship is really impressive, especially considering the tools available. All of the traditional clothing and beadwork was very beautiful too, as always.

On the way home from the museum we also saw a brown bear cub run across the road and right up a tree! It was so cool to see.

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