What I’ve been doing lately.
We have friends visiting from California. This gave us a reason to be tourists in our own town and check out the Hopscotch Immersive Art Experience yesterday. It also just so happened to be my birthday. Highly recommended for anyone visiting Portland, particularly if you have kids.
Remembering what it was like to have time to explore the city. Enjoyed a break from the kids and the rain, with really nice weather for mid-November in the Northwest.
I took Zoey the dog with me and walked along some wonderful neighborhoods daydreaming. It has a beautiful fall day. People were hanging out at Chapman Elementary and parents watched as their kids scootered down quiet blocks into piles of leaves. NW Portland is something special.
The boy and I went to OMSI on Saturday while the girls did some crafts and made Christmas presents with a coworker. They have an exhibit called Monsters of the Abyss: Aquatic predators Past + Present. From the website:
Meet massive mosasaurs, a spine-chilling Spinosaurus, and bizarre creatures as you travel through millions of years, witnessing the rise and fall of Earth’s most awe-inspiring aquatic creatures as well as their present-day descendants. Highlighted by amazing fossils, daily educational programming, and some unbelievable live animals, this exhibit brings guests face-to-face with the real-life monsters who defy imagination and have inspired myths and legends.
Since they're working on updating the upstairs exhibit space, only the smaller downstairs area had programming, so this made for a quicker than usual run-through.
We ended up watching the 30th Anniversary showing of Jumanji on the really big screen. I probably hadn't seen it in a few decades. The graphics were cornier than I remembered, but it was still nice to see a show I didn't have to think too much about. I think my son had a good time as well.
Today my wife and I celebrated 10 years since our first date, which was at a now-closed bar called Kask, which was a few blocks from my old apartment in the West End. Today we went to a Sri Lankan restarant called Mirisata. We shared their special, which consisted of Pumpkin Curry, Deviled Potatoes, Tempered Okra, and green Bean Mallum. I added on the Jaggery "Beef" Curry and she had a spiced cider. Everything was very good, but we both agreed that the vegan beef curry was the best.
Afterward, we went for a couple mile stroll around Belmont, Stark and Kerns. We frequently find ourselves in cemeteries, and today took us to Lone Fir. It was a beautiful day. Dry and warm enough for mid-November. Things seamed pretty quiet for such a nice day and we both agreed that people must be taking advantage of it and heading out to be in nature.
We found ourselves in Kerns again and had some soft serve at the same place we brought the kids over Pride weekend.
We wrapped things up at Creo Chocolate, where we got an education in the manufacture and distribution of the stuff. While not at all what I was expecting, it was a nice experience. The owner, who was certainly a character, talked about how he and his wife got into the business 12 years ago and taught us about the various types of chocolate they manufacture. If you ever end up checking it out, bring water. Lots of samples!
We even made our own chocolate bars at the end.
One of the biggest perks of working in my field is getting to go behind the scenes in all sorts of cool places. Today I had a lot of fun touring and learning about Providence Park. Being down on the field felt pretty special. It’s nothing short of incredible how much manpower and thoughtful management goes into running a place like this.
Written by two accomplished architects and urban designers, this user-friendly street design manual shows both how to design new streets and enhance existing ones.
John Massengale & Victor Dover
James Howard Kunstler
Robert Caro’s The Power Broker traces how Robert Moses reshaped New York through unelected power—building bridges, highways, and parks that transformed the city while destroying neighborhoods. A Pulitzer-winning portrait of ambition, control, and the cost of progress.
