Portland Pirates
The city of Portland, OR does love it’s pirates. On any given day you are likely to see one walking down the street. But, on September 20th, at the annual Pirate Festival the city showed the world just how much it loves pirates, by breaking the Guinness Book world record for the most pirates gathered in one place.
“The current record for the most people dressed as pirates is 1,140, set at Heide-Park, in Germany, on 6/2/2007. Portland Pirate Festival draws enough scallywags decked out in Pirate finery, will be sure to break the record for the most people d…ressed as pirates gathered in one location.”
Lauren signing in to be counted
THE CURRENT RECORD IS NOW BROKEN!! 1655 pirates (including Lauren and Hannah) at the Portland Pirate Fest 9/20/2009 Arrr matties!
The weather was beautiful and the festival had such a warm friendly atmosphere, it made for a perfect day.
It was a family friendly event with lots of kid-centric activities.
And top notch entertainment
Music!
Kiddie Shows!
And dancing!
All my photos from the festival can be see here, Spidersart Studio – Pirate Fest
Trimet Green Line Opening
Today was the opening day for the Green Line train in Portland, OR public transportation system.
It is a big deal here. Especially for anyone who rides the 72 bus on a regular basis.
The 72 is the bus line that services 82nd Ave. 82nd is a very busy shopping and business route, and even with the buses running every 15 minutes, it has been over crowed for a long time.
The Green Line is an electric train which will run on brand new tracks parallel to both 82nd Ave and highway 205, from the Clackamas Town Center Mall. At the Gateway Transit center the new track connects with the old and the Green Line will be on the same route with the Red and Blue lines running into downtown. At the transit Center downtown, the Green will again pick up on new tracks running over to Portland State University. They have included plenty of free parking at each stop, which is really great.
Portland is a city never to shy away from a reason to party, and today was no exception. Trimet offered free rides all day. There were big organized events all day at five of the stops along the route. the biggest being held at the Clackamas Town Center,
and at Pioneer Square.
We went to Clackamas Town Center, enjoyed the music
and the many booths,
and rode the Green Line downtown. Trimet has estimated that over 40,000 people rode the Green Line today, and I have to say a good time was had by all.
More of my photographs from today can be seen here. Spidersart Studio
Fireworks on the 4th, on Mt. Tabor
Mt Tabor is one of the many beautiful city parks in Portland, OR (info on Mt. Tabor park). It is a mountain, or specifically an extinct volcanic cinder cone right in the city proper.
The above photo is the view of Mt. Tabor from the Ross Island Bridge.
In 1894 the city built the first two of four open water reservoirs on Mt Tabor.
On the fourth, we watched the city fireworks from the top of Mt. Tabor. There is a road and parking right near the top, with a short, but uphill walk to get to a vantage point looking down Hawthorn Ave., straight to the river, where the fireworks are shot off from a barge.
It is a mountain forest escape right in the city. We had a nice picnic before the fireworks show, and afterwards, while we waited for the traffic to clear out, Lauren and Hannah showed off their mad crazy hooping skills.
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