Design Museum of Portland

I came across the Design Museum by accident, tried to figure out what it was (There's a museum here? Not exactly.), and went back to photograph it after the exhibit had technically ended.

Design is a really broad and interesting topic. I read once that it is essentially problem-solving, and that can be overly simplistic, but does give an idea of design's heart. So design could bring in anything and everything.

In its own way, a nomadic museum could be solving a design problem of accessibility. The lack of permanent space, just putting things out there where anyone can stumble upon them and no admission needs to be paid, that at least sounds very Portland, at least as we hope to be. (Though also Boston and San Francisco.)

They can go interesting place with this. Technically, they can go anywhere.

https://designmuseumfoundation.org/portland/

https://designmuseumfoundation.org/portland/blog/2019/02/12/last-chance-to-visit-street-seats/

Portland: The South Park Blocks

I specify "South" because there was once a longer stretch, part of which is still there. Director Park is in line with the South Park blocks, and the North blocks are slightly lower, due to how odd juxtaposition of Downtown with Old Town.

Just for clarity, I started at Salmon and went South-West all the way to that loop by Jackson.

That way made a lot of sense to me. You are starting in the Cultural District and finishing at Portland State, making this a loop of art, culture, and education.

The weather was nice, though it was still a bit early for the trees to even show buds. There were more signs of green lower down.

I had been in different parts of the blocks many time, but this was my first time methodically doing the entire length.

There is a lot of seating available, making it tempting to grab your lunch and sit outside. (There is also quite a bit of camping.)

There are art installations everywhere. A good free activity could be enjoying the Portland Art Museum's sculpture garden, and then checking out the park art.

I was pleased to see that there was a public bathroom, but not a conscientious enough reviewer to investigate it. It does look nicer than a porta potty would be.

As important as the trees are, I was happy to see that one of the artworks directly referenced them.

The Portland Streetcar runs directly through the park blocks (and the PSU campus), making for convenient transit to other parts of the city.

One more thing that made me happy was seeing the restoration of the Simon Benson house, now home of the alumni association. I had seen the house for year and liked its design, though it was not in a good state of repair. Seeing it once again be beautiful and useful is satisfying.

https://www.pdx.edu/profile/visit-simon-benson-house

Before hitting the hills there is still some increasing incline, which probably affects the layout a little, though perhaps not as much as being right in the middle of campus and providing a place for students to hang out.

It also becomes a nice play for a farmer's market.

http://www.portlandfarmersmarket.org/our-markets/psu/

Chess, anyone? (Or checkers.)

As I approached the end of the blocks, I saw a playground and thought that was perfect. Portland State has a lot of continuing education students who might have families. Having a place kids could play while their parents worked was very practical.

Then I saw that it was only for children 2-5, with parental supervision. Yes, kids that young should have their parents with them, but the age range itself seemed very limiting for the potential needs of the student body.

Perhaps that was a good symbolic end to the park blocks - "Portland's Extended Family Room" and a transition to expensive housing and roads that get really difficult when it's icy. But that is part of Portland too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park_Blocks

A map of Las Vegas

When I was getting ready for my first trip to Vegas, way back in 2000, I borrowed a travel guide from the friend I was going with. I am sure I kept it longer than she intended, because I was trying so hard to memorize the strip and make sure I wouldn't miss anything. I have a different solution for that now.

You may remember the food maps of Disneyland. My sisters asked me to do that for them. It takes some doing.

It is totally not to scale, but I added distance information when we started getting into longer gaps. (That is more of an issue as it goes past the strip toward Fremont.) Also, there are some structures missing and wrongly-sized. The point is to get the order right, and to remember where the points you want to hit for sure are located. (And maybe a few things I put just because.)

The primary purpose is to get a sense of how the locations relate to each other, but also as I worked with the real map (maps.google.com) I would notice new things. It's one way of gaining a new perspective, and a new sense of place.

But mainly, sometimes it is good to draw and be creative, even if what you produce is not super high quality art.

Revisiting Las Vegas

Okay, I have not been there recently, but I am helping some other people plan a trip. It is leading to a different kind of trip - down memory lane - especially because so much has changed.

Frequent readers may know that I don't gamble or drink and I am certainly not into strip clubs. Those were all reasons for me to not be that interested in going to Las Vegas. I started being interested in the early 90s.

This came from two related things: stories from a cousin on the amazing buffets, and stories about pyramids, castles and volcanoes from a mission companion. She was from St. George, and her retired father was driving a tour bus to Las Vegas to keep active. It sounded fascinating.

The reason I say those two things are related is because they are all from a time when Las Vegas was trying to broaden its appeal and draw in more people, including people who might be reluctant to go to a Sin City. You can bring the family!

Increasing your customer base sounds like a good idea, but there can be flawed premises. First of all, the idea that so many things could be free or cheap because they make it back on gambling falls apart if you draw in a bunch of non-gamblers. Even people who would gamble without their kids will probably do less of it if they come with their kids. Also, some of the ideas had technical or other difficulties.

The Luxor was built in 1993, about the time that I would have been hearing about it. I did not make it to Las Vegas until 2000. By that time, their talking camels and the barges were gone, as well as the Emerald City scene in the MGM Grand.

At that point, most of the attractions that were gone had been removed for more practical reasons. The lions in the MGM lobby were still there, as well as the hourly fight between Merlin and the dragon at the Excalibur, and the fight between pirates and a British navy ship at Treasure Island. The Tropicana had a free bird show that was really good, as well as a museum that was just a display case full of chips from different casinos that was not quite as good.

I went back for a quick trip in 2002, but most of out time was taken up with wedding party stuff. You could still do Star Trek stuff at the Hilton for sure; the bachelorette party was at Quark's Bar and Grill. I also know that the Mandalay Bay Brunch buffet was still good, and that it had become pretty disappointing by the time we went back in 2007.

The main thing I remember noticing then is how much dirtier everything looked. On the first trip I had been amazed by some of the beautiful architecture, which reminded me of Disneyland. However, Disney parks are much more conscientious about power washing and maintenance.

We went to the Neon Sign museum, which was still basically a junkyard then. The guide was a local who loved the history and had seen much of it. We discussed some of the closures, but also he was the one who told us about the Treasure Island show changing to a sexy fight between men and women pirates. It did not sound good, so we did not try and see it. Treasure Island no longer has a show.

Many of these changes were probably inevitable. There are still attractions, but far fewer free ones. The Bellagio fountains and the volcano at the Mirage still run on the strip, and there is still the Fremont Street Experience. Otherwise, for most things you have to pay. Some buffets are not as good, and they are no longer cheap the way they were, especially on the strip.

It doesn't mean that you can't have fun, but it's different. It makes planning somewhat different, and I will write a little more about that next week.

It is probably still true that you can get comped many wonderful things if you are a high roller, but I am not your source for that.

https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/question/2015-05-28/