We're Not in Kansas (Molalla) Anymore

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Back in October, we went to a food festival next to an amusement park at the beach. Sounds like lots of fun and great food -- an amazing cultural experience, right? Well...it was a fun cultural experience.

We were joined at the festival by one of Emily's new friends: Celine a Filipino foreign exchange student at a local university. There were a variety of rides set up on the beach and no lines. The girls enjoyed riding on horses and quads and Sandy joined them on the bumper boats -- which were set up on an amazingly large above-ground pool on the beach.














This was supposed to be a food festival, but I have to admit I was disappointed. The food was special for the holiday, but our interest in it was mostly from afar. Sandy and the girls sampled some spicy cuttlefish, the girls had some ice cream, but that was the closest we got to the specialty food. Dinner was just good ol' Chinese. The skewers were probably the most interesting sporting large grasshoppers, grubs, and scorpions.











Amid all the fun, were some new sites for me at an amusement park reminding me that despite all the modern rides and beautiful scenery, we definitely weren't in the US, and it wasn't just because of the cuisine. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.













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