Field Tripping, Portland Art Gallery

The fourth grade really outdid themselves on this field trip!  They have some seriously ambitious teachers to take on such a big adventure.  Lucky for them there were quite a few of us parents tagging along to lead smaller groups.

Here was the itinerary:

>Take bus to the Max station (8:05am)
>Ride the Max Line into downtown Portland (40 min.)
>Tour the Art Gallery
>Take small groups to Historical Museum
>Sack lunch time
>Complete scavenger hunt walk about around downtown
>Back on the Max
>Back on the bus
>Return to school (2:00pm)

Crazy, right!?!?

My group ended up being really well behaved so I took them to Starbucks for cake pops, which was kind of a forced issue since the other group leaders were feeding their groups McDonalds fries....eww.

Anyway, I needed a coffee.

On the way to get coffee with my little group, I was asked to sign a petition.  I looked down at the guy's poster and realized he was wanting to legalize marijuana.  I declined, as it wasn't the most field trip appropriate topic!  Funny.

The art gallery was just amazing; we saw native american artifacts and I found myself enamored with every mask in the gallery...but especially the transformation masks.  These are masks within masks that  "transform" through the pull of a string, hinges, and some very innovative design.  As the dancer wearing the mask tells his story in dance, he is able to change the mask to accentuate the story.

Via

Via

I felt like a mama duck in charge of my group, adventuring around the big city.  Back at home, I needed a big long rest.