Wrapping up Christmas and looking forward to Valentine's Day

I don't want to give January short shrift; we had a nice visit to Kellogg Creek Park that will be reviewed soon.

However, just as I set up the order of the reviews of December activities in order to maximize opportunities for people to take advantage of everything, there is a lot coming up that might sound good to you, and you will have to decide fairly quickly.

I did also want to go over one more night of December activity, when we went to see Christmas lights in Tigard and Beaverton. Sadly, these are my worst pictures yet. If taking pictures from a car in the dark is already hard, having it happen on residential streets that we are not really familiar with does not help.

When we went to check out the scavenger hunt at Cook Park, we noticed that some of the nearby neighborhoods had some pretty cool Halloween decorations. It was not a surprise that they go all out for Christmas, and it is nice that the City of Tigard promoted it and put out a route:

https://www.tigard-or.gov/community/tigard_walks.php

I tried getting the option for the free cookie and hot chocolate too late, but it was a nice thought.

We had also heard through the grapevine that the Hiteon neighborhood had some nice displays also. There are some pictures on this old Meetup page: https://www.meetup.com/pdxusa/events/275310830/

One aspect that worked well here was the level of neighborhood planning, where trees were planted when the neighborhood was built, and then incorporated into the decoration, giving the entire neighborhood some unity.

I appreciate that neighbors can inspire each other, and have some ability with arranging lights.

Now as we get closer to not just Valentine's Day but also Chinese New Year (and Mardi Gras and President's Day, they are all pretty close together this year), here are some events that are coming up. 

Since I don't have any pictures for those yet, I am just going to post pictures from different seasons at Enchante Choclatier in Milwaukie. They are charming so we keep going back.

Chinese New Year Lantern Festival at the Lan Su Chinese Garden

Although the specific Lantern Festival times are all sold out, if you visit the garden during this time period, you will still see some seasonal decorations.

https://lansugarden.org/things-to-do/ongoing-programs/chinese-new-year-lantern-viewing

Love Struck! Drive-In Valentine's Movie Experience

You can watch a romantic double feature and have dinner brought to your car on the open parking lot at Washington Square. Because the timing and the spacing is limited, these dates probably will sell out, so if you are interested, act quickly.

https://www.lovestruckdrivein.com/

Portland Winter Light Festival

I had no idea that this festival existed, but it has been a long-time tradition that is now spread out more, because of COVID. This means that - like Winterland PDX - seeing everything will require a lot more effort. We will try and get in some, especially the canopy at Oaks Park.

https://www.pdxwlf.com/

Yes, a lot of things are different this year. Last year we were starting to have concerns in February, but it wasn't affecting that much. That didn't last for long.

There are still always things that you can do, and doing them can really help.