Tag: dates

Weird Al at Edgefield

“Weird Al is going to be in town next week,” I said to Matt while perusing the entertainment section of the newspaper.

“I know, we’re going,” said Matt.

“What?”

It wasn’t properly listed on the calendars, so it wasn’t on my radar, but I did dimly recall a text message chain in the colder months of the year making plans to go.

So my first Edgefield concert was Weird Al.

The line was long when we got there.

So long that I got to spend a lot of time contemplating what these structures were. Here’s what a website listing about the Poor Farm says:

By 1914, the Poor Farm was a success on paper. It housed 302 residents and managed a herd of Holstein dairy cows, 100 Duroc hogs (that ate the leftovers from the dining room), 420 Plymouth Rock hens, and 225 chickens. The crops, vegetables, fruit, hay, grain, eggs, and twenty-seven acres of potatoes were shared with the county jail (which provided some trustees to work in the fields), a hospital, and a juvenile home.

oregonencyclopedia.org

My first read was that it was maybe a jail, but upon re-reading I see the food was shared with those locations, not that they were located there. So I have no idea.

Update! I emailed the McMenamins Historian and Caitlin Popp wrote back saying:

Caitlin here from the McMenamins History Department! The structure that you were looking at on the Edgefield property was a minimum security jail. It was opened in the 1960s, was still open when McMenamins took over the property and didn’t close until 2006. Currently it is storage as well as artist studios.

So my initial thought was right! Also, how interesting that there was a jail operating for a time when McMenamins was running their hotel.

Back to the concert.

We secured our seats. When you get to the concert after work, you get to sit behind a tree. Also note that that man in the blue shirt is probably on the quest for the Passport. That’s a shirt from Centrailia they give you for getting that stamp. I’ve got the same one.

Waiting for the concert.

There wasn’t an opening act listed, but the 40-piece orchestra played three pieces, which was a nice treat.

We got “Word Crimes” early on.

Also early on, I was thrilled when Weird Al sang “One More Minute” which is from the 1985 album Dare to be Stupid and which, with it’s 50s styling, is my favorite Weird Al song.

The distance, the twilight and the tree got in the way of my usual slightly blurry, ultra-zoomed concert photos. This was my best shot. It was interesting that they had the orchestra, plus the drummer behind a wall, which I assume is for acoustic purposes. Someone has that job!

The crowd was the most multigenerational I’ve seen at a concert—everyone from grandparents to small children. He has been making music long enough to have reached multiple generations and I enjoyed seeing when different people had their peak Weird Al moment. Mine was in 1985, but there were a ton of people there who were all in on Amish Paradise from 1996.

Observation: people just wear whatever to a Weird Al concert. I saw two people in cosplay, and a few in Weird Al t-shirts, but most people looked like, they were wearing whatever they had put on that morning.

Another observation: Weird Al Yankovic can sing! I forget, because mostly he’s brilliant with lyrics and I’m paying attention to that, but this concert highlighted the man’s range.

This was a fun first experience at Edgefield.

Harry Potter Celebration at the Kennedy School

For Harry Potter’s birthday, the Kennedy School had a celebration. We attended in the afternoon, which was good as there weren’t many people around.

We pose with our houses.

And then someone else took our picture.

Here was another photo backdrop.

They had merchants in Diagon’s Alley and a photo scavenger hunt, plus a bunch of riddles posted. There was a prize for the photo hunt. By the time we were done they had given out all 1000 prizes. Which was fine by me and a good testament to what a successful event it had been.

While Matt thought about riddles, I busied myself looking at this photo taken on the steps of the Kennedy school.

I particularly liked this scowling girl, and her cheery companion with the white bow.

Our visit to the 2019 Oregon Country Fair

I’ve been Oregon County Fair–curious for many years now, and the date finally made it on the calendar. It happened to be the 50th year of that hippie celebration outside of Eugene.

We left early for Eugene.

I had read it was best to take a shuttle from Eugene to the fair site and I timed our arrival to just before the first bus. That was a mistake. If you want to get to the fair at the opening time, arrive very early for the shuttles.

We chose the standing line, which was moving faster than the sitting line. The lines were very organized, and the shuttle buses came quickly.

I had envisioned the shuttle bus ride to be 10-15 minutes. It was about 45 minutes. When we arrived, we picked up our wristbands (another smooth process) and then there was a bit of confusion as to where to go to get in.

We walked to the back of a very long line that didn’t seem to be moving and as we got nearer to the end of the line a gate (maybe one outside a parking lot?) was suddenly thrown open and a roiling boil of not-happy people surged toward the end of the line.

We ran so we could be in front of them, and a mostly orderly–but still angry–queue formed behind us. Soon after, the long line started moving very fast and we made it into the Fair.

That was the only ugly moment of the day. Fair volunteers were super happy and welcoming and things moved smoothly, especially considering the number of people in a small space. However, it did feel for a moment like there was going to be a hippie riot. Which is probably a pretty low-key riot.

Matt poses next to the Fair Drama Danger sign.

A random happening: stilt walking teeth people.

The fair is a lot of booths and a goodly amount of stages. One of the things I loved was that most of the booths were semi-permanent structures with platforms where booth people and their friends could hang out above the fray. It was fun to see what’s been built up over the years.

Also: condom roses. And I think there were four different booths I saw selling fantasy horns.

Here’s a fun sculpture in an open meadow space.

We checked out the Charlie Brown Comedy Juggling Show. His shtick was that he wasn’t very good at doing comedy juggling shows. But he was. It was quite entertaining.

Here’s a glimpse of fairgoers. This group skewed older, but the costumes, and tie-dye were pretty standard across ages.

We went to the Spirit Tower to see Patch Adams, and caught the end of the Ace of Cups concert. Which was amazing, and I don’t have any pictures because they were being blocked by a tree. I’ve lived more than four decades and this is the first time I’ve seen a live band whose members consist of women. And apparently they “were at the epicenter of the ‘60s cultural and social revolution. ” This was a big win.

Patch Adams was also good. He discussed his approach to changing the American healthcare system. It was great to be able to see a living legend.

More fun fair details. Why have a standard fence, when you can instead have a fun fence?

Throughout the fair were maps in different styles. This one was perhaps my favorite fun, though less legible than others.

We didn’t have a strategy for going to shows, which would be something to revisit for our next visit. But we did sample the food and the food is amazing! It’s the best fair food I’ve ever eaten. Many of the vendors return year after year. Because this was the 50th year, there were vendor stories at some of the booths. The falaful booth we visited has been there for three generations. (And one of the oldest members waved a wand over our strawberry lemon aid to give it that final Fair touch.)

I always love a good land payments display.

This fair is one weekend a year and mostly volunteer run. I marvel at the organization and commitment of the people who make it happen.

Waiting for the shuttle back. Volunteers told us jokes and helped everyone sit in an efficient manner (always appreciated.)

Car art.

Our seat on the bus. I opted for sitting on the way back. It was a long day.

“You don’t have to dress like a hippie to have your photo taken at the Oregon Country Fair.” So said the guy as we were standing in line for our photo booth photo.

That comment caused a raised eyebrow, but I loved that they had a free photo booth.

Celebrating Matt’s birthday

For Matt’s birthday we visited Han Oak and partook of their very delicious tasting menu.

For appetizers we had the kimchi plate, curried potato salad and the seaweed and greens. We picked the chicken wings and the onomiyaki for the snack and had dumplings. Also the smoked hanger stake and the pork bo ssam. Plus the dessert.

While we didn’t love the dessert (we reestablished that neither of us like mochi, or meringue) the rest was incredibly delicious.

Plus, they were playing hair metal ballads the entire time, much to my delight.

Anniversary dinner at Navarre

It’s our seventeenth anniversary and to celebrate, we had a delicious meal at Navarre. The restaurant was deserted, as it was a glorious warm spring day and everyone else was probably hiking or some other outdoorsy Portland thing.

Due to the full staff and the lack of other customers, our food came fast. While we ate dinner we traded off asking questions of our favorite memories. Examples: favorite vacation we’ve taken/ favorite wedding we’ve attended/ favorite thing about our house, etc. It turned out to be a pretty fun game.

We forgot to take a picture in the restaurant, so here we are by the car.

We watched a movie today. So did half the country.

The Baghdad Theater was a great place to watch this movie. A big theater with lots of audience reaction, makes an eagerly anticipated movie that much sweeter.

What did I think? I’ve got a review here.

Plus, this movie got me to thinking about just how many superhero movies the two of us had watched in the course of our relationship. And then I wrote a blog post which can be found here.

The evening in which we throw axes

Matt visited his brother in Indianapolis earlier this month. He sent me pictures of him standing in front of a bullseye painted on wood next to a hatchet wedged deep into the wood.

“What is this?” I asked him

“Ax throwing,” he replied. “It’s a thing here.”

“I’m surprised we don’t have that thing here,” I typed

Turned out, we did.

We threw axes at Jack Axe, which is located in the Tiki Family Fun Center in Gresham. We arrived 20 minutes early as requested, heard the safety information and the lesson and then were set loose on the range with four other people.

Our four other people turned out to be great fun, inventing different ways to throw an ax (on one foot; with your eyes closed!) and providing challenges such as affixing a $5 bill to the target. It made our 60 minutes go by quickly.

I was able to hit the target several times. It’s a very satisfying sensation when the ax sticks. Jack Axe wets down the wood, though, so I’m not sure I would have such good results out in the wild.

At $20 per person for 60 minutes, this wasn’t fun enough to meet that high money threshold, but I enjoyed myself and am glad to have done it.

Asylum Theater Speed-the-Plow

The Northwest Classical Theatre Company has taken its last bow in Portland and I miss it. So when I received an email that one of the players from the NWCTC was starting a new company and would preforming David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow, I made a note to buy tickets.

And we did! And here we are back at the Shoebox Theater, which is now the home of Theatre Vertigo. They’ve taken down the costumes which used to hang from the ceiling and done a few things different with the lighting and the painting, but otherwise it’s still the same cozy place.

I had forgotten that when you walk into the theater there are usually some newbies who gasp and exclaim at how tiny the theater is. That was fun to experience again.

Self portrait.

Speed-the-Plow was a great play! It was made better by the fact that when it started, it was trending in a direction of me not liking it. Two guys talking about the amazing deal they were going to make on a movie is not my favorite thing. But things kept shifting and I felt like I had the rug pulled out from under me several times.

Jason Maniccia and Danny Bruno were great as Gould and Fox and Briana Ratterman was also very good as Karen.* Don Alder directed.

Matt and I had a lot to chew on as we drove home from the theater, which is always the mark of a good play. Hopefully we will see another production by Asylum Theater soon.

Fun audience moment: the music playing before the play started included “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” by U2 from their Rattle and Hum album. I was signing along quietly and noticed that the woman sitting on the other side of Matt was also singing along quietly.

*Fun fact: Madonna played Karen when the play debuted in 1988. Also fun fact: the revival of this play was supposed to star Jeremy Piven, but he begged off claiming Mercury poisoning due to eating too much sushi.

The Portland Streetcar Scavenger Hunt

The Portland Streetcar put on a scavenger hunt and we participated. There were clues (that rhymed!) and they led us to different spots along the Portland Streetcar line. When we found them, we took a picture, posted it on Instagram and received the next clue. Here are all the places we went. Of note: I learned that I have no selfie skills. None. I’m usually laughing in these photos due to my sub-par skills. I take self portraits all the time with my camera, but it’s much easier to do than using a phone.

We started at the Spirit of 77, where we checked in and got a brochure with all the clues. This was handy as our last few posts got lost in the shuffle and we didn’t get our clues via Instagram.

Also, it was the rare summer rainy day! Here we are just outside our first destination The clue “Working out this clue/Gave us quite a fit/Mostly because/Nothing rhymes with it.”  Matt knew it was “Orange something,” and a bit of googling showed us the location.

“For this basilisk vessel/Look above, not below/It’s hanging in a place where/You attend a conference or a show.”  This one was tough. We had to figure out with basilisk meant (lizard). I guessed the location was the Convention Center and downloaded a brochure of public art that alerted me to the dragon boat. Then it was a matter of walking there. Matt wishes to point out that a dragon isn’t a lizard and thus, this was a sub-par clue.

“Dame says get your fun on/and be witty!/Be the “i” in the sign of / “__ __ __  __ __ __ __”  We had to ask for a clue for this one. Luckily Instagram direct messenger made it easy. “Damian Lillard” was the clue and that meant that it was something over at the Rose Garden. I took a picture of Matt by this fountain because I’ve always liked this fountain. To solve the clue we took our picture in front of a clothing store that wasn’t open and it was pronounced good enough. Apparently there was a big “Rip City” sign out front and you could take a picture with yourself as the I. However, the sign wasn’t out on this particular day, much to the organizers annoyance.

“Be it dark, white, or milk/Design your own, smooth as silk.” Googling told us there were two options of chocolate stores, one on the west side of the river and one on the east side, where we were.  I DM’d to see if we should cross the river yet, and the answer was that it wasn’t quite time yet. So Creo Chocolate it was.

We both got chocolate drinks as the rain had gone away and it had become a sunny day. They were chocolate, milk and club soda, I found mine funny tasting (I don’t love bubbly water, so I’m not sure why I ordered it) but very refreshing.

As we had done nothing but walk thus far, we had planned to take the streetcar across the bridge and into the Pearl. But the next car was not coming for 18 minutes and so we walked some more. I groused about it, but we did see some fun things like a group of guys playing around on the electric scooters.

From the Broadway Bridge. West side of the river:

East side of the river.

Union Station always looks so pretty.

Some graffiti 

“Head to the Pearl for your/Next treat/”Eat it! Don’t Bake it”/This dessert is sweet!”  We discussed what kind of dessert place they might be talking about, but I remembered the Cookie Dough Cafe, where you can buy cookie dough to eat. “That’s right by my work!” I said, happy to have solved the clue. “We can stop by and use the bathrooms. And so we did.

We were told to go inside on this one and were rewarded with some cookie dough to go. Thanks Cookie Dough Cafe!

“This place is also/Swell, nifty, groovy, and cool/Find it and take a photo inside the ‘Better Takes Action’ tool.”  While Matt stood in line for our cookie dough prize, I googled “better takes action” and was told about the shoe company Keen’s campaign. We headed down the street to Keen for this photo.

Keen had benches outside, so we rested while we worked out the next clue. Across the street Filson (of the overpriced flannel fame) was doing something with chainsaws.

“This awning is great/for a night or a bite/Find the sculpture inside/Of birds taking flight”  We knew it had to be a hotel with a restaurant, but there are many, many hotels in that area. Matt googled “awning hotel portland” and it came back with Canopy which is a new hotel by Hilton. In fact, I have chronicled the block after the previous building was taken down, but before they had made much progress building it.

In other news, though I walk past this hotel regularly, I had never noticed this grand sculpture of the swifts!

“Public art in a park sure is neat/These make streetcar poles more/discrete.”  Matt knew exactly what the clue was talking about. I had never noticed them, even though the bank where I deposit work checks is right across the street from these totem poles/streetcar pole camouflage.

People who spend time downtown know the signs of something being filmed nearby. RV, Penske rental truck, No Parking signs. Somewhere in the vicinity filming is happening.  Strangely, they were spread out over three or four blocks.  It appeared to be some sort of athletic gear ad.

We found our final place, the Tea Bar, and headed for the last clue, “You’re done!/Come celebrate and say YAY/At the brick home of/The original IPA!” That was Bridgeport Brewing.  Matt got a burger and I got a hummus plate while we waited to hear the results of the raffle.

And Matt won!  A basketball signed by last year’s Blazers. Thanks, Portland Streetcar!

On the way to take the streetcar back to the starting point we had a very rare summer downpour.  That was fun!

Finally, we use our free streetcar fare!

This was a very fun way to spend the afternoon. Thanks, Portland Streetcar!

Our first time at Breitenbush Hot Springs Resort

Matt turned 40 and we decided to celebrate with a trip to Breitenbush Hot Springs. It was a good decision.

Our cabin was very roomy for two people.

At Breitenbush, you are provided with a bottom sheet, but bring your own blankets and pillows.

All of the heat is provided by geothermal energy.

I loved the beadboard siding and the many hooks to hang things on.

Our cabin exterior.

They had indoor showers, but this is a picture of the “new” outdoor showers and they are great. Breitenbush provides the biodegradable soap.

Interior of the outdoor showers. There’s something about showering outside that is so fun.

The bathhouse, one of men and one for women.  There was also a restroom building near our cabin.

Breitenbush is a year-round operation, and I loved this snow shoveling schedule posted.

It must be some operation to clear all the roads when it starts to snow.

There are multiple fire stations on the property. This is one of them.

In the warmer months you can rent a tent.

There are a lot of good hangout spaces. This one is near the Sanctuary, where a lot of the classes are held.

They ring a gong to call people to the thrice-daily vegetarian meals that are mostly organic.

A view of the lodge.

Some steam escaping from a too-hot stream near the lodge.

The sign keeping us all away from the very hot spring.

Originally Breitenbush was a regular hot springs resort, rather than a hippy granola hot springs resort. My mother visited it when she was a child.  I was excited to find a remnant of that time: the traditional-style swimming pool.

More steam coming from more hot water.

One of the meadow pools. These were my favorite pools.  There are three of them and their temperature gets progressively hotter.

The view from the pool.

I love all the hooks affixed to the sheltered bench near the pool.
The view from the silent pool.

I’m always interested in how operations work, so I was happy to find this schedule tucked away on the back of a bench/structure thing.

Some really great details have gone into Breitenbush, such as the wood that creates this bench.

There are outdoor showers that help you cool off from your soak.

The sauna, which more like a steam room, not a dry sauna. While the hot pools at Breitenbush somehow manage to escape the stinky sulfur smell I associate with hot springs, the sauna is the most sulfurous smelling.

One must duck to get into the sauna.

The resort generates it’s own power from the Breitenbush River. They have also built a fish ladder.

A view from the bridge over the Breitenbush River.

And a view of the river itself.


The kitchen always had music coming from it.  It’s probably a big job to provide three vegetarian meals per day for the resort guests.

Where we got our massages.

One of the vehicles.

The forest shelter building.

Us in front of the lodge. Notice how people hang their towels along the deck in front of the lodge. That was one of my favorite details.

Once you park your car in the parking lot, you use these carts to bring your things down to your cabin. Then you never see your car for the rest of your stay.

This was a great place to celebrate a big birthday.  It’s such a relaxing place.  When I wasn’t sleeping, I was lounging, or soaking, or eating a good meal.