PDX Christmas - Peacock Lane

It had been many years since I had visited Peacock Lane. What brought me this time was the peacocks.

I assume the name relates to how the street gets all lit and decorated at Christmas, or maybe that was the original name and it helped inspire the display, or maybe they are all completely unrelated. I had still never literally seen any peacocks there, but a photo in the paper seemed to show one. Trying to find another view on line, I found a different one. It turns out there are four.

I am a sucker for adhering to a theme. Sure, the theme of Christmas (plus one Hanukkah house) is already present, but I really appreciated the residents who incorporated peacocks.

It was also nice to see Zero, at a Nightmare Before Christmas House. Actually, many of my favorite displays referenced beloved holiday entertainment.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (yes, also a book)

A Muppet Christmas Carol

A Charlie Brown Christmas

I'm assuming this is a general Star Wars reference (out of two on the street) and not specific to the Star Wars Holiday Special, based on the inclusion of Yoda, and the special not being beloved or entertaining, at least not in the ways the others are.

The most common criticism I hear of Peacock Lane is that lots of streets (and people) do amazing Christmas displays that make them superfluous now. I get that, and I don't imagine going every year, but it is nice to have traditions, and a place that has been doing this for close to a hundred years now.

https://www.peacocklane.org/

PDX Christmas - The Festival of Lights at The Grotto

The line at the Grotto was long. I don't know if that's because I got there right at opening, because it was the last night of the season, or because Michael Allen Harrison was going to be playing later - maybe it was all of the above - but it was long.

 I definitely saw the value of having purchased tickets in advance. Since I hadn't, I had to stand in a very long line waiting to get them, before then getting into another line to enter.

 I have to say, though, that everyone was pretty good about it. I assumed that most of the labor was volunteer. Some of it may have been paid, but everyone was really friendly, courteous, and helpful. I appreciated that.

 You can tell that a lot of thought has gone into the design.

 As you wind down the initial path, there is another procession alongside: a caravan of sheep, camels, and even people. Recordings play of scriptural passages from the Nativity story.

 Then there is the star, and a sky of angels, and the stable itself.

 That takes you to the main area, and there is plenty to do there.

 There are places to sit and listen to music and there are concessions. I glanced at these but did not really pay any attention.

 I was there for the lights.

 Mainly it was the way that they lit the trees, but also the way some things were hanging.

 There were the reindeer and other shapes as well.

All of that worked together. And honestly, without knowing how crowded or comfortable it gets, the $11 admission getting you a concert is pretty good.

But mainly I was there for the lights, and they were very beautiful.

https://thegrotto.org/christmas-festival-of-lights/

Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Key Arena in Seattle

I did have some pictures, but they were lost with the hard drive.

I posted my thoughts about the performance itself on the main blog, so I could just have this be a review of the Key Arena, except there is a way in which this particular show made a difference, and I will get to that.

Mainly my issues with the Key Arena relate to accessibility. As my mother began to have knee problems and other issues with age, I started thinking about accessibility beyond wheelchairs, and have since learned more about potential issues.

Some of the issues we encountered were worsened by time and parking. Some traffic issues led to us running late. There is a large parking structure next to the Key Arena, but there was a long line to get into it.

I realize some of the issues here are worsened by the way the city slopes down, and exacerbated by one-way streets. Locals may be able to avoid that by walking or taking public transportation, but we needed a place to park.

Checking through the nearby streets, we found one small lot that looked promising, except that while there was a place to pay on the outside, and signs that the parking was only reserved on weekdays, there was another sign (and a person calling from a window up above) that parking was only by permit. It seemed like to big of a risk, and we ended up getting back into the line for the original garage.

There was a handicap section for the parking garage, and I am sure there were elevators, but they did not seem to be near the arena side of the parking. The handicap section itself merely had sloping paths outside to the entrance level of the arena, which was a good idea, but it was also completely full.

Remember, not all disabilities require wheelchairs. There can be issues with joints, muscles, nerves, and other things that affect mobility, plus many potential sensory issues. In my case, I was with someone who had a parking permit, but no place to use it. Walking was possible, but fatigue comes faster, and suddenly there were so many stairs. I was fine, but worried about my companion.

I understand why a multi-level parking garage has stairs. I am not sure that it is necessary for the Key Arena to have an entrance below street level, so that you need to descend into a massive courtyard, enter the building, and then climb back up to the level of your seats.

Again, I'm sure there were elevators, but it is not just about legally complying with the law; convenience, and visibility are also important, especially for people in a hurry.

Visibility also made the bathrooms far less convenient. I was stunned to see only four stalls in the women's restrooms. That only made sense because there were multiple small restrooms instead of fewer large ones. That is not necessarily a bad plan, but you need to know about it.

I had thought there had to be some way to avoid the front courtyard on departure. I did find an exit on our level, which was basically street level, except that there was a back courtyard too, and I couldn't find a way to avoid it.

I know we could have looked harder for an elevator, and maybe that's on us. Still, the architects didn't need to go out of their way to create a navigational nightmare, especially in 1995 when the ADA has been around for a while.

Those are the accessibility issues.

I said there was an issue specific to TSO, but lots of shows have pyrotechnics, so in another way it is not specific: the ventilation is terrible. You probably don't notice it at the ground level, but in the upper levels the smoke built up visibly, not to mention the way it affected smell and taste.

Overall it was just really surprising. I realize 1995 is a while back now, but I have been to older venues than that, and many of them do much better.

Because of this, I cannot recommend the Key Arena. However, if you live nearby where you will not need parking, and it is a show with no pyrotechnics, and everyone either knows where elevators are or there is no one who would have a problem with stairs, then I guess it wouldn't be too bad.

https://www.paypal.me/sultryglebe

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.