I’m not sure where I first heard about it, but sometime a couple of months ago I heard about a race of boats made out of milk cartons. The aptly named Milk Carton Boat Race happened on June 13th down in Sellwood.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect. In my head I was picturing little milk cartons with a side cut off and pocket-size sail sticking out. I was wrong. Take a look at the pictures to see how Oregon dairy farmers get us city-folk to come out and have a good time.

I wasn’t expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. It was actually reasonably fun to hang out and watch this one. I’ll likely come back next year and watch it again.

The Rose Festival ran in Portland from May 28th to June 13th this year. During that time the Tom McCall Waterfront Park was converted to a big carnival. When I first heard of it I thought the carnival was the entire Rose Festival. Then I got to talking with one of my neighbors and learned that it’s quite a bit more. Apparently during the 3 weeks of the RF there are events going on throughout town.

On Friday, my first day of Summer Vacation, I decided to hit up the carnival by the river. I was actually not looking forward to it as I assumed it would be a bunch of food tents and dirty carnies trying to convince me to give them money so I can pop a balloon with a dart and win some uber-shitty stuffed animal. I also figured going during a weekday would work out best as it wouldn’t be super crowded.

So I headed down to the river and was pleasantly surprised to find that if you show up on a weekday before 4 pm you get in free; an instant $5 savings. Heading in I found the food carts as expected. I also found the tents with the steal-your-money games, though to their credit those working the booths looked like normal people and not like they just finished stealing the radio out of your car. But to its credit the Rose Festival was more than typical carnival. There was a couple of stages with bands and acts and whatnot. There was a little magician booth. Additional there was an area of the carnival that was themed with the theme changing each of the three weeks that the carnival was going on. To finish it off there was also a little petting zoo, and a display of exotic animals from an oregon-based wildlife preserve. All told I spent 5 hours or so out there, watched several magic shows, and got to pet a baby lion.

The evening of June 5th found me hanging out at the corner of 10th & Taylor getting ready to watch the Starlight Parade. I haven’t watched a parade live in probably 20 years if not longer. The parade was a good time. It wasn’t a holy-shit-you’ve-gotta-go-to-a-parade experience, but it was a nice way for new Kane to spend a beautiful evening.

Another event incorporated into the Rose Festival is known as Fleet Week. During that time both the Navy and the Coast Guard dock their boats in Portland. The boats are then opened up for tours. I’m not a huge boat person but, like I said, I’m trying to do as much of these things as I can. Unfortunately I found out about this the day before the last day of tours, so when I went touring the next day I got to see the 2 Coast Guard boats but was too late to check out the bigger, more impressive Navy ships. Next year though I think I’ll make more of an effort to.

The Rose Festival has not one but two parades! Now I had a good time at the Starlight Parade on but in the end a parade is a parade. So I had no real plan to go to the Floral Parade, even though it was the bigger of the two parades. But as luck would have it, Saturday morning I was out with a neighbor and her dog and were looking for an excuse for her to use her new camera. Well when you live downtown, usually if something’s going on in it’s just a block or two away. So it was that within week or so I watched two different parades.

One of the events that I didn’t get a chance to watch was the Dragon Boats Race, though I passed the event as I rode down to Sellwood to watch the Milk-carton Boat Race. I did stop long enough to take a couple of pictures.

That’s been my Rose Festival experience. I wish I would’ve known about all of the events ahead of time. Particularly the fireworks, I would’ve liked to go watch some fireworks.

Now for the pictures. Follow the links to more pictures than you care to see.

• Starlight Parade (These came out really bad)
• Coast Guard Tour
• Rose Festival
• Rose Parade

So are you in love with Portland yet? If not, let’s see if this pushes you over the edge. Want something to do over the summer? Well Bridgetown’s got some options for you. I’ve already told you about and Parkway Sundays where you come hang out, check out some neighborhood parks, and have an excuse to take your bike out for a ride. But let’s add to the list; over the summer Portland Parks and Recreation hosts two series of events.

First there’s Concerts in the Park. I love the idea of this one. Throughout the summer a series of musical concerst are hosted, for free, at parks around town. Want a pleasant, cheap way to spent a summer’s eve? Join me in the park and let’s listen to some tunes.

Then there’s Movies in the Park. Along the lines of the Concerts in the Park comes free movies in the beautiful outdoors. Show up early, grab a bite to eat, then kick back and enjoy cinema and fresh air.

Those are just another two examples. It would take a long time for me to try and list everything going on in Portland this summer. From Pedalpalooza which spans 2 weeks and almost 300 bike-related events to Jackson’s Ride The Gorge which is a single ride along the beautiful Columbia River Gorge. What about Dirty Birdy or Sand in the City, both of which you’ll hear more about on my blog. The brewfest and the Rose Festival. The list is long and we’re both too impatient to write/read the whole thing.

Long list aside, the point Portland is a busy, busy town in the summer. I’m going to try to take in as much of it as I can.

Hmm, do I have any homework due? Umm, no, I don’t think so. Any exams coming up? Wait, let me check… nope. How about work, any of that going on? No, doesn’t look like any of that either. Well well, if I didn’t know better, I’d say I was on vacation! Wait, wait… I think I am on vacation! In fact I think I’m on:

Summmm…

Errrr…

VACATION!!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

School is done! This is my first actual Summer vacation in 17 years. So I guess I now need to figure out how to fill my next three months. Here’s what I’ve got on the list so far:

Get my license transferred & car registered

OK, so I think you’ll enjoy this story. In order to go camping I’ll need to drive to whatever campsite I end up selecting as my cherry popper. While my Texas drivers license is still valid, the registration for my car has expired. Now in order to register the car in Oregon I’ll need to get an Oregon driver’s license. Well to get the ball rolling last week I headed down to the DMV to get my license.

Now Oregon requires you to retake the non-driving portion of your exam if you’re transferring your license from another state. Stupid, right? Well it’s $5 and not a choice, so I dropped a five and took the silly test. I’ve been driving for 14 years now, what do I care about a beginner’s test? So yeah, I failed it.

In my meager defense the test had all these questions that were obviously designed to test if you read their stupid manual. So on top of my list: get myself back on the road.

Go camping

As I’ve already mentioned I’ll be going camping for the first time in my life this Summer. I’ll go at least once, but if I like it expect to hear about me going 3 or 4 times this Summer.

Calculus

Ah yes, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned my need to catch up on math before. Now however it’s really becoming do-or-die time. With the upcoming Fall I’ll be taking the math courses needed to finish up the degree. In my case it’ll be calc 4, linear algebra, and differential equations. So this Summer I’ve got to reaquaint myself with all the math I’ve forgotten.

ARM processor

For those who aren’t aware, in order to insure my Geek Card remains valid I’ve got to maintain a certain level of geek activity. This Summer I plan on start down the path to becoming proficient (and if not “proficient” at least pathetically incompetent) programming an ARM processor.

However with reality being reality and me being me I’ve got to admit that if anything doesn’t really get accomplished this Summer, this is likely to be it.

Walk There

I don’t want to say much here, tomorrow (or soon) I’ll post more about this. But it’s on the list.

Hit up Portland parks

Portland is just full of parks. One of my early thoughts for the Summer was to visit every park within city limits. Using my bike for as much (if not all) of the trips possible. Then I went to the Portland parks website and saw that there are 287 parks in Portland (Though that number includes non-parks like community gardens. But there’s still a heck of a lot of parks!). Yeah, that’s not going to happen. So instead of all the parks I’d like to go visit an “appropriate amount” of parks. How’s that for non-commital??

So that’s my list so far. I’m sure there’s more stuff to put on here, and some stuff that wasn’t big enough to list. And there’s no promise that it doesn’t get derailed into a netflix-filled, beer-fueled, three-month stupor. But hey it’s fun to make lists right?

So come by and expect grand adventure.

No no no, check that. Come by and expect shameless laziness. I’d rather you be pleasantly surprised than disappointed.

Yay Summer!!

All I wanted to do yesterday was take my bike out for a little ride, but it wouldn’t stop raining. I’ve got class in 1 ½ hours and it’s dry as a bone outside.

I should’ve woken up earlier.