Gingerbread Adventures at OMSI

This wasn't quite what we expected, but it was still interesting.

We once went to a display that was fundraising for hunger. It featured elaborate gingerbread structures built through collaborations of architecture firms with bakeries and restaurants. This was similar, except with very little in the way of traditional structure.

The differences could be attributed to a focus on science. That was initially heard by us as focusing on earthquake resistance. I am thrilled with seasonal seismic safety, but this wasn't that either. So really it was science-fiction inspired, where the gingerbread mainly stood in for dirt. I am not sure how that related to science, but here are the individual structures.

Welcome to Portland, Mars, by SRM Architecture and The Nines/Urban Farmer: This depicts an airport for arrival on Mars. Then lots of red dirt and dust makes sense.

At that other exhibit (long ago at Pioneer Place), the McCormick and Schmick's (I think) one had a marzipan octopus (and a sleigh drawn by gummi dolphins), and this reminded me of that. I don't think Urban Farmer is known for their seafood, but for the home of the Departure Lounge an airport motif makes sense.

My favorite touches here are the Oregon-shaped Portland sign, the underground tram (I think it looks good, lots of airports do it, and if you are on Mars, a lot of things are going to be underground), and the little gingerbread man jauntily perched on the control tower.

Planet of Roses by ZGF Architects and Nel Centro: It shows an exotic garden and organic market.

I would not know there is a market if the sign hadn't mentioned it, so while very Portland, I don't think the execution was great. That being said, the terraces work as both a nod to the structure of the International Test Garden, and to remind me of how terraforming (which would not necessarily involve terraces, though you can use them to create micro-climates) would be a key part of Martian colonization.

This was not the only one that incorporated a tram, but it's a nice touch.

Portland Outpost Mars (P.O.M.) by MWA Architects and The Dessert Tray: This shows a yeti colony that pays tribute to their home of Portland.

If we get past yetis not originating in Portland - and no one else was going for realistic depictions of humans anyway- I like this one a lot. It reminds me of the Macy's building better than the one affiliated with the Macy's building.

That may not be intentional, as that shape could also be reminiscent of the KOIN Tower, but check out this Convention Center in-spire-ation.

The design was overall colorful and fun, making it a strong contender.

Ground Control to Santa Claus by LRS Architects and Nothing Bundt Cakes: NASA is helping Santa with a departure from Kennedy Space Center.

This is the one I ultimately ended up voting for. I liked the incorporation of Rice Krispie treats. I love the inclusion of the space shuttle with the external tank and rocket boosters, allowing the comparison and contrast with the position of the sleigh.

I also enjoyed the pen of backup reindeer. What really put me over the edge, though, was that there was a visible interior to the building, with licorice all-sorts as gifts. This won me over on both cleverness and attention to detail.

Marscape Superlife by Soderstrom Architects and Bon Appétit Management Company: This colony consists largely of domed living quarters, underground facilities, and tall communication towers.

 This one probably has the most realistic vision of how a colony would go, and it shows some ingenuity with the incorporation of rock crystals and apparently melted hard candies to give a colored glass effect. At the same time, it left me cold.

I think it was a combination of too much dirt, and some sense of it being off-balance. The gap between the two towers - both because of the distance between them and the difference in height between them and the lower structures - creates too much void. Appropriate for space exploration, I suppose, but it feels like this could have been better.

GingerTARDIS by Dangermond Keane Architecture and Délice Chocolate and Confections: Instead of future Portland, the Doctor comes to present Portland to battle Daleks.

This was another strong contender. While not very scientific, I thought it made the best use of gingerbread.

This came through in the rocky structures that don't necessarily look like a local part of Portland, but they are interesting and artistic. Maybe the fractured pieces stuck together is a concession to the difficulty of working with gingerbread, but they look good.

This was also true of the trees, and here we have the best Portland sign. Also, I just think putting a Dalek in a Santa hat is funny.

I'm sure someone will see it and be inspired to create a gingerbread tableau of weeping angels, which could be Christmas-y, I guess.

Gingerbread Adventures will be featured in the Turbine Room through January 2nd.

https://www.omsi.edu/calendar/gingerbread-adventures

Bob's Red Mill

There are many stores that carry Bob's Red Mill products, but if you want to take a factory tour or just soak up the general ambience, you need to head to Milwaukie, Oregon.

The grounds are really beautiful, with some picnic tables (though most diners sit indoors) and a cheerful red and white building that brings to mind wholesome country living.

There are also great smells in the area - some of which could be from the neighbor - but there is a general feeling of being in a good grain nexus.

Factory tours take place about a mile down the road on weekdays. We were there on a Saturday, so only went to the visitors' center. There is still a lot there.

That includes retail space with the greatest selection of products.

There is a kitchen space where cooking classes are taught. (There was also a worker with samples and recipes out front, so even without official classes there are options to learn more about using the grains.)

There are historical displays of traditional stone milling equipment.

And there are reminders of social good and responsibility. There is a strong sense of belief that goes with their products.

It is also a restaurant with food made with chips and breads and flours that were milled just a mile away.

The food was generally pretty good, but don't drink the soda. It is absolutely not surprising that they would not carry corporate-backed, artificially-sweetened soda, and you probably can get used to the agave and maybe even grow to like it, but it's horrible. Water is always a good beverage.

http://www.bobsredmill.com

Laurelhurst and Joan of Arc

I don't spend a lot of time on the East side of Portland, so I have only recently started getting a sense of where things are in relation to each other. I have still always had certain places that I remembered that I liked.

One of those has always been the area around Greek Fest. So many cars end up needing to find somewhere to park that you end up all over the immediate neighborhood: first driving through it, desperately looking for a space, then walking to Holy Trinity, then walking back.

When I was getting ready to head to Greek Fest this year, it occurred to me to see if there was anything else to do in the area, and that included looking up the location of the famous Joan of Arc statue. She is just a few blocks away.

Joan of Arc is a World War I memorial residing in Coe Circle. I had read articles about her being there, and efforts to restore the gold leaf. It didn't seem right to me that she could be so near the church and I had never seen her before.

After walking along Glisan from the church, it makes more sense. The way the trees are, you don't really see the statue until you are right there.

The trees are part of that atmosphere in the neighborhood that I have always liked, but there is more to it than that.

It is an older neighborhood, with the land for the development first being purchased in 1909. That means the plots are bigger, so many of the houses are bigger, but many are built like cottages. There are gardens, and trees whose roots have crept out and buckled the sidewalks. I didn't feel right taking pictures of people's houses, so there are only pictures of the statue in her circle here, but in general the houses are gracious and charming.

Well, except for the one with all of the broken bird baths and faded lawn ornaments. I'm not sure what they're going for there.

Mountainside Lavender Farm

July is lavender season in Oregon, and many farms host festivals around the second weekend in July.

Festivals generally involve bringing in vendors and live music, which is the kind of thing that attracts a crowd. We went to check out Mountainside Lavender on July 5th, five days before the festival.

There are charming touches of purple scattered around.

Inside the store you can purchase various lavender products.

Mountainside has both French and English lavender planted in neat rows with labels at the end. You can take clippers into the field to select your own bunches of lavender, or just walk among the rows sniffing.

One thing we were not prepared for was the bees. I was not able to get a picture that really captured it, but they were everywhere.

In some gardening information I have, there was a long list of bees attracted to lavender. I think I saw them all. I guess the lavender honey needs to come from somewhere.

http://www.mountainsidelavender.com

http://oregonlavenderdestinations.com/

Pennsylvania and Minnesota Overview

It's normal after I finish the micro-blogging about a vacation that I think about what we should have done differently. The great thing about this trip is that the initial answer is not very much.

If I think harder I can come up with things. We would have skipped Hershey Park and instead gotten in the museum and the garden. We might have chosen a different hotel.

If we knew we were skipping Hershey Park - which after Labor Day is only open on weekends - that could have given us some more leeway for maybe spending more time in Philadelphia, which has a lot to see (probably too much for one trip). It would have been good to go into the Hard Rock Cafe in Philadelphia.

Those still all feel really minor. We had a great time. We saw a lot of different things and used our time well. This trip and the Chicago trip really stand out as having been planned well. It would be nice to think that means we are becoming better travelers, but I can rule out the possibility that it is simply that these are great cities where it is easy to get the advance information you need. Of course, we are still pretty good travelers.

That makes it hard to wonder when I am ever going to go on a vacation again. I have some local things to blog about, and maybe I can keep finding more of those, but I may run out of posts, and that will feel like its own loss, but not enough to distract from the greater loss of missing going somewhere. We will have to see.

For now there are a lot of great memories captured here, along with some not great photos that I still like a lot.