RV Road Trip USA: August 2012

This food tour was one of my favorite things in Portland. The food was yummy and the guide was super informative with a lot of fun facts.

This is a plazza where people can splash around in the fountain.

Poles used for the tram wires lines are designed to be interesting and artistic.

The outdoor bathrooms have grates on the bottom so police can look in and make sure there's no funny business going on!

Wind turbines on the top of sky scrapers!! Awesome!!

This is a famous bar owned by the McMenamin brothers.

We learned some interesting things about Prohibition times. Apparently, at that time, there was a lady, Lucy, in the town responsible for monitoring bars to make sure they didn't serve alcohol. She was always trying to catch the owner of this bar, Harry, but was never able to find any proof. One day, Harry decided to throw a big boat party. This was Lucy's chance! Determined to catch him red handed, she called the authorities to busted the party and found several barrels of wine.

Unfortunately for Lucy, it seems the town judge must have been one of Harry's patrons, because he dismissed all charges after Harry claimed that, to his knowledge, all those barrels had been sitting on the boat for weeks full of grape juice, and in the hot sun, must have turned to wine!!

Another fun little fact...during the prohibition, shops would sell grape juice or apple juice and on the packaging would write somthing like:

"Warning! DO NOT add yeast, cover and wait 48 hours or this will turn into wine!"

:)

A favorite story of mine revolves around these bikes.

pic from a google hunt - if it's yours please say something!

Every Sunday night, regardless of season, weather, or national emergency, a gang of bike-folks, known as "Zoobombers" meets up by the “Pyle”, W Burnside at 13th Av, around 8:30pm. Everyone then takes their bike (there is a “bike library” of loaner bikes, but they might not always be available and/or functional) to the nearest MAX station to catch a train to the Washington Park-Zoo Station where they “bomb” down the steep, winding road through the park back down to the bottom, using various routes. This is usually repeated a few times.

Also, they do this on kid bikes!!

The Zoobombers used to just leave their bikes in a pile somewhere but apparently, several years ago the they lobbied the city for somewhere safe to store them because they were getting stolen. Mayor Sam Adams, transportation commissioner at the time, told the Zoobombers to develop an artistic solution to the problem – and lo and behold the Regional Arts and Culture Council gave them $10,000 to build it.

So here it is in all it's glory!

And lastly, a pretty pink building :)

Got to go on a real submarine in Portland!! So cool.

Periscope! We learned all about how they use sonar when they're submerged. Apparently, experts in the field can determine what specific objects are underwater, just depending on the sound waves they create.

Torpedoes! They're HUGE! Some of the soldiers sleep on them, because the room is the coolest place on the sub.

Sleeping quarters. So tiny!

This is IT! 4 bunk beds for the whole crew. They have to alternate sleeping.

Kitchen. They actually get some good food. Although, since the sub goes out for weeks at a time, they only have things like milk for the first few days. Ugh, no light or air for weeks at a time. Sounds awful.