This year I kicked off the week by heading to the Portland City Hall to watch Mayor Charlie Hales declare January 20 as "Decemberists Day". I knew full well that a free performance of any kind (but especially with the much beloved Pdx band) would be a large draw despite it being at 2pm on a week day when normal people in a normal city would be working at their day jobs. If there's anything portlandians love more than craft beer it's going to free events.
We followed up good food and great brews by meeting up with some friends at The Funhouse Lounge to catch their current performance run; Star Trek: The Next Generation Musical Improv. Yes, someone found a way to mash together 3 of my favorite things: nostalgic nerdiness, comedy and musicals.
On Saturday, Garrett kicked off a day of surprise adventures with a trip to the Expo Center for The Great Train Expo. No, neither of us are into model trains. It was still pretty kickass.
We followed in the train-vein by heading over to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center where you can get the lowdown on the history of PDX rail systems (more interesting than you might think), see fully restored and in-progress engine cars (significantly larger than I thought), and on Saturdays take a ride along the Springwater Corridor to Oaks Park and back for just $5!
In the Gift Shop- Train T-shirts! And if you're over the whole train thing, one sleepy cat shirt.....
On the same property you'll see a set of these classic cars. I was excited and ready to hop a fence to try my luck at finding a way in to take some cool photos. Turns out, these guys are actually home to several small businesses including Cascade Web Development.
As we walked back to the car we heard music pumping and laughter. Looking up the street we could see people jerking around (we both thought maybe it was a bunch of drunk kids trying to have a danceoff). Turns out it was much, much, much more awesome... and that's how we found out that A) Basecamp Brewing has covered their outdoor space with an awesome, all-weather tent and B) Human Foosball is totally a thing and totally awesome.
We ended the day by heading over to the palace of nerds, Guardian Games to browse tabletop games Garrett has been dreaming of buying and await the final surprise: Dungeons and Dragqueens. And while nobody is going to accuse this little show of being overly rehearsed or even really seeming to remember where the story is supposed to go next, it was a cute idea and you know nerds are strong supporters of all things nerdy.
If you're hoping to see more of these types of wild mini-adventures check out my sister's travel blog Graveyard Shift Travel where she explores and writes about Portland with the know-how of a local and the child-like enthusiasm of an 18 year old recent high-school grad getting laid by the hot guy staying at the same travel hostel on their first trip out of the US.