PDX Christmas - The Lighting of Maddax Woods

The Oregonian ran an article recently about holiday light displays:

http://www.oregonlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/11/the_10_best_holiday_light_disp.html

We had never heard of The Lighting of Maddax Woods, so we decided to check it out.

It is a pretty small display, covering a small area, but it is fun to look at and it is free, which cannot be said about most of the other displays.

Virgil Maddax was a boat builder, and the largest single light display is a large sailboat in tribute to him.

Most of the emphasis is on nature though. There are representations of flora and fauna.

The animals are represented not just by lights, but also with painted wooden cutouts.

Each animal featured is one that can actually be found in the area. There is a checklist you can use to make sure you spot them all, but that might work better in the day.

The lights mainly focus around a small loop that includes a boat loading area (blocked off in winter), a viewing platform for the river with a picnic table, and that runs by the Maddax house. There is another path that goes up to overlook the city, but that seemed more like something for daytime.

A photo display shows pictures of both Virgil and Dorothy Maddax, Dorothy often surrounded by the geese she kept, and we found some reminders of them as well. (Though I believe her geese were domestic, and this was clearly a Canada goose.)

There are two things to keep in mind. One is that while the Oregonian article says that the path is accessible, only part of it is actually bricked in, while there is a lot of walking on soft dirt and a section of steps. If navigation could be an issue, a daytime visit is probably preferable.

In addition, when we got near (approaching on River Street) we saw a lit wide paved road, so thought it was the trail, and there was no parking. We were about to risk parking in a "County vehicles only" spot, but then saw a car on what we thought was the trail. That was in fact the road that takes you the rest of the way -- not particularly wide, but following that there is some parking.

(It's still better than trying to get to anything in Lake Oswego.)

http://westlinnoregon.gov/parksrec/lighting-maddax-woods

Boise Fry Company

Boise Fry Company does have three locations in Boise, plus locations in Nampa and Meridian, but there is only one location in Oregon, and that is in Portland, on Burnside just down from Providence Park.

Oregon and Idaho have always had pretty close ties anyway, but at least the way that this location decorates - with bike wheel light fixtures and state outline tables - makes the restaurant feel like a good Portland fit.

The line of Mr. Potato Head toys around the perimeter is an apt touch.

But what really matters is the food, and what matters most is the potatoes.

Our group got purple potatoes in curly fry form, and both yams and sweet potatoes in regular form. I chose the rarest, because I can get russet regular fries anywhere, but curly fries and purple potatoes are both hard to find.

The burgers are secondary. They're not bad; they're just not the main event. That being said, I chose "The Classic" for my burger and was disappointed, because the flavor on their house-made pickles is not good. This was a bigger disappointment for me than it would be for a lot of people, I know. If I were to get a burger again, and go with Classic, I would ask them to hold the pickle, and it would be sad.

But with that emphasis on fries also comes more ways of enjoying them. There is a good reason that the dishes have holes for the little cups.

I haven't been to Raccoon Lodge, so I can't compare, but I find this to be a most impressive array of salts and sauces. Notice that there is a variety of sweet, spicy, and savory options, but also that there is an emphasis on providing vegan and gluten-free options. Their history might lie in Boise, but they are clearly Portland-compatible.

http://www.boisefrycompany.com/

Oregon - Leaving Lake Oswego

I do not have any pictures of activities in Lake Oswego. We tried.

It started out with an attempt to ride the Willamette Shore Trolley:

http://wst.oregontrolley.com/

It only runs for a limited part of the year, though that's fine. What's a little less helpful is that you cannot buy tickets in advance. You can't buy them online. You can't go there, find out all of the tickets for that day are sold out, and buy tickets for a future day.

Their excuse is that it is all volunteer run. They do charge money, and one would think that they could make more money with a little more efficiency. Chances are good they could find a volunteer to work out some basic e-commerce design, or a spreadsheet for tracking advance reservations.

(Wonderfully, for their Christmas Ships tour they are showing the ability to purchase tickets online. Unsurprisingly, everything is sold out for the year!)

Now, if there was a value in people making treks out to Lake Oswego, being disappointed, and then choosing some other local activity, that could work well. I don't think that is the plan for two reasons.

One is the poor navigability of Lake Oswego. Street names change multiple times, turns pop up suddenly, and it is really easy to miss entrances. There is a good chance that getting to where you are going will involve a few extra turns as you loop back around to correct your overshoot.

We think about going places a lot, researching and seeing which things are close together. We knew that we were supposed to be close to the Elk Rock Garden, which was another thing that we wanted to try.

We checked directions and started heading to there. Once again, navigation was an issue, though this time it involved much narrower and steeper streets. It also involved something that looked exactly like a private drive.

Going back and checking maps and things later, I have to believe we were in the right place, but there was no signage whatsoever. It looked like we would have to park on the grass and go past the end of the road and houses. This is not particularly welcoming. If you want people to visit, you should give just a few indicators that they are in the right place, and that they are not likely to be shot for trespassing.

That was the other reason I had to feel like Lake Oswego is not really encouraging tourism.

There was something interesting that happened on this doomed trip that kept it from being a total loss. Going down another narrow street, and then up, although the foliage was overgrown and it was hard to tell where we were, I suddenly realized we were in front of that Italianate castle that I have seen from boats.

Now, I already knew that it had never been occupied, so maybe that made it less disappointing to see what a dumpy street it was on.

Having seen these homes from the backs, I know that they are huge and expensive and they all have docks for boats and even pontoon planes. The walks (or climbs) down are pretty long, but that's just the river side, right?

Well, if you wish to travel by land, you will be on steep, narrow streets with greenery obstructing your vision. I would have thought it was strange that things weren't better maintained, except a shocking number of the houses had for sale signs on them. In addition, they were all for sale through auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's, which makes me think they are not particularly easy sales.

You know, where I live is pretty good.

When we were fighting the streets to get to places that didn't want our business, Lake Oswego felt smugly snobby. After that street, it seemed sad. I guess both things can be true.

I do hear good things about George Rogers Park. I am not strongly motivated to check it out.

Oregon Coast, Newport - The Oregon Coast Aquarium

Our trip to the aquarium was largely inspired by the adorable commercials for the Big Bites exhibit.

The animation was really engaging, like in this one for the piranha:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glEhKPMuIIw

Also, I have always adored puffer fish.

They had the puffer, the piranha, and the parrotfish, but the exhibit did not have the charm of the commercials.

That was the problem overall. It's not that the aquarium was bad, but for the price and the drive I wanted it to be great. It was not great.

Not that jellyfish aren't always cool.

My favorite spot was the seabird aviary outside, which offered good views of a variety of birds.

I think that was the part they did best.

Otherwise, I have seen bigger aquariums with more variety, or aquariums with really great design values, or aquariums that create great perspective on the sea life. This one felt just okay.

http://aquarium.org/

The Oregon Coast, Florence - Sea Lion Caves

We visited the Sea Lion Caves in August. I had been there as a child but it had been a long time.

It is much improved. There is clearly identified auxiliary parking across the street and new artwork, which perhaps is more cosmetic.

My memories are long ago enough to be not completely clear, but it feels like the paths and access to the cave is improved as well.

That is not to say that the accessibility is perfect. There are steps in the building, and about 400 yards of walking on a somewhat steep grade. I just seem to remember it being worse before. They do still have to work with the grade of the land without disrupting the natural environment too much.

Most of all the experience within the cave is improved. There is more signage available and a short film that help you learn about the sea lions while you spend time with them.

This includes geological information as well as acknowledgment of the other species. We could see at least one Pigeon Guillemot inside the cave, but outside you can see other birds and whales. Staff is very knowledgeable about the local wildlife.

There is an outside viewing platform as well, as there are often sea lions on the rocks outside the cave.

A friend recently visited with her family. They asked, and the sea lions were not in the cave at that time. They did not go in, but also they did not have to pay and then be disappointed, and there were no hard feelings.

That can also raise a concern, as it is a long drive to take without seeing any sea lions. Considering the time of year makes sense, but it is also a nice drive along rocky coasts and forests, and a great view of the Heceta Head Lighthouse.

We enjoyed our trip, and we combined it with a stop in Newport, but we would have been disappointed if there weren't sea lions.

http://www.sealioncaves.com/