Da Vinci Days...dirt, mud, water, and fun!

Okay, everybody, this post is going to give you a taste of the Northwest...so prepare yourselves.  Recently, Corvallis came alive with banners and signs talking about "da Vinci Days".  Everyone told us we should go and that it was a mixture of science and art that culminated in a "kinetic sculpture" race.  We got excited even though we didn't know what the heck they were talking about because my honey and I are all about new experiences!!  Nerdy fun, carnival food and a race...fantastic and right up Jason's alley!

The festivities began with a parade including these "kinetic sculptures" that were basically man-powered "art-vehicles" that had to be able to navigate land, water, sand and mud.  Craziness!  Also, like other parades in this area there were plenty of interesting people and fun pets to entertain us as well.  This is something my honey and I love about living here is that everyone includes their pets in everything!!

This is a video of one of the sculptures called the "Newly Deads".

This sculpture with its drivers was called "Fun-Guys"...it was a play on the word "fungus" in case you didn't get it!

Here is a sculpture navigating the sand dune part of the race.

Our "Newly Deads" trying to get through the mud bog part of the challenge.  This one involved people wallowing around in the mud trying to get their vehicle through!

A fan favorite, the interesting gnome-man with his "bike" that uses car tires and no gears/pedals.  We occasionally see him rolling around town on normal days!

The final part of this two-day race event involved the sculptures navigating the Willamette River...clearly some of them were more equipped than others, check out the dirigible being "towed" down the riving by the sheriff's boat!  We have no idea who won, but I don't think that that was the point!

My honey had to include this video...part of the first day's fun involved a huge area where there were tons of different sized hula-hoops for people to use.  I realize that hula-hooping is not my forte!

We love you all,

Amanda