You may know that in Brooks, Oregon (just outside of Salem) there is a 62-acre parcel of former farm land that provides space for 16 museums, societies, and associations, mostly related to vehicles and farm equipment.
You may also know that one of these museums is the Oregon Electric Railway Museum, with a large collection of trolleys and streetcars from all over Oregon, as well as historical information about their use in Oregon. (The museum was formerly located in Gale's Creek, Oregon, but the harsher weather was not good for the trolleys.)
What I am telling you in case you don't know is that they are celebrating Halloween with a pirate-themed adventure!
On weekends through the rest of the month, you can have a fortune teller send you on a quest to retrieve the portal stone. The portal sucked in a pirate ship and let strange creatures out, so finding the stone will allow things to be set right again.
A pirate map provided three important landmarks to look out for on the way to Yellow Bone Park, where the portal stone resides.
Obviously, the event is designed for children, where they are encouraged to call out the landmarks and keep track of the password and help keep the adventure on track.
But also, they get to ride a trolley, past other trolleys, looking for Halloween-themed things.
A scarecrow was one of the land marks...
... as was a skeleton on a watch tower.
"Fire" truck may have had a double meaning.
Once arriving at Yellow Bone, the password was provided so that the portal stone could be given to our pirate conductor. However, it still needed to be placed on the Wizard's Pillow.
That involved gaining access to the FBI guarded warehouse, full of strange creatures from the other dimension where the pirates had gone.
I was especially impressed with the efforts put into the decorating of the trolleys.
Obviously, we dared.
The low light pictures don't really capture it, but as we went past trolleys fulls of ghosts, spiders, and levitating objects, there was a lot of fun, and a lot of attention to detail.
Nothing should be too scary, even for young children.
We worked our way through one corridor of haunted trolleys, and then we found it: the Wizard's Pillow, ready to receive the portal stone.
All was restored, and suddenly it was like you left the Haunted Mansion and got on to Pirates of the Caribbean (which is completely plausible, as that is all New Orleans Square).
At that point, the next corridor of trolleys was all pirates and parrots. Kids like those too.
The had some nice backdrops set up for photo opportunities, with ships and treasure.
There was some time to mingle with happy pirates, grateful to be brought back to their own dimension
(Actually, everyone was enthusiastic and friendly. The museum and the activity are all volunteer-run, and the volunteers are passionate about their work.)
And then we stepped outside and into the pumpkin patch.
Everyone could choose a pumpkin. They were small, but that did make transport easier. There was also a jar full of fortunes for the adults. (Minors could probably have asked for fortunes if they wanted, but they were not just handing them out.)
At that point there was the option to walk back, and we decided to do that. Everyone else got back on to the trolley.
They pulled up about the same time we did; at that point, there was not much ride left.
And we already had our souvenirs.
https://powerlandhalloween.com/
https://museum.oregontrolley.com/
https://www.antiquepowerland.com/
Note: In past reviews I have often tried to include information about accessibility and COVID issues, but lately I have been forgetting this as I get into the flow of the review. I shall be including those as separate sections going forward.
COVID-19: While part of the activity was outside, everyone pretty much just kept their masks on, which I think worked well. Parties were scheduled in smaller groups so that social distancing could be maintained as well.
Accessibility: There was no obvious wheelchair option, but I would call and ask, as I found them all very accommodating. Our party did have one cane user, and he seemed to do well. Surfaces were smooth and easy to navigate, though there was one big step onto the trolley.
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