gl.

 

by month:
* March 2002
* April 2002
* May 2002
* June 2002
* July 2002
* August 2002
* September 2002
* October 2002
* November 2002
* December 2002
* January 2003
* February 2003
* March 2003
* April 2003
* May 2003
* June 2003
* July 2003
* August 2003
* September 2003
* October 2003
* November 2003
* December 2003
* January 2004
* February 2004
* March 2004
* April 2004
* May 2004
* June 2004
* July 2004
* August 2004
* September 2004
* October 2004
* November 2004
* December 2004
* January 2005
* February 2005
* March 2005
* April 2005
* May 2005
* June 2005
* July 2005
* August 2005
* September 2005
* October 2005
* November 2005
* December 2005
* January 2006
* February 2006
* March 2006
* April 2006
* May 2006
* June 2006
* July 2006
* August 2006
* September 2006
* October 2006
* November 2006
* December 2006
* January 2007
* February 2007
* March 2007
* April 2007
* May 2007
* June 2007
* July 2007
* August 2007
* September 2007
* October 2007
* November 2007
* December 2007
* January 2008
* February 2008
* March 2008
* April 2008
* May 2008
* June 2008
* July 2008
* August 2008
* September 2008
* October 2008
* November 2008
* December 2008
* January 2009
* February 2009
* March 2009
* April 2009
* May 2009
* June 2009
* August 2009
* September 2009
* December 2009
* January 2010
* February 2010
* March 2010
* April 2010
* May 2010
* June 2010
* August 2010
* October 2010
* November 2010
* March 2011
* June 2012
* July 2012
* August 2012
* September 2012
* October 2012
* November 2012
* December 2012
* January 2013
* February 2013
* March 2013
* April 2013
* June 2013
* July 2013
* August 2013
* September 2013
* April 2014
* August 2014
* November 2014
* December 2014
* January 2015
* March 2015

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?
site feed by atom

Saturday, August 10, 2013

 
[#] [0]

the last "trek in the park" season ever ended with "the trouble with tribbles."






the only regret: we got there 3 hours early and barely found a spot close to the front. unfortunately, that spot was behind the bar and so we missed the iconic moment when tribbles flooded out of the grain bin! so i'm using dang's photos and two terrific animated gifs from larptrek:






also, i made name tags for everyone:












we even had visitors from seattle! dang brought karen and afterwards brian had his picture taken w/ the cast.







Sunday, August 04, 2013

 
[#] [0]

Every year I have a birthday event at an appropriately numbered location. This year I took a bunch of friends on the 4T Trail: it's a loop around SW Portland using the Train, Trails, Tram and Trolley. It was appropriately epic for a new decade. This marks my 10th birthday in Portland



Before we began, Sven & I stopped for donuts at Blue Star. I had no idea how long we would need to wait before trying to serve a bunch of people at brunch, and a hungry Gretchin is not a happy Gretchin. Good thing we did, too, because we weren't seated for 1.5 hours!


We began the loop at Tasty & Alder. One of the things I was looking forward to was the flux of the party as people joined us at different points along the 4T. I was surprised to discover brunch was the most popular segment! And they didn't even mind waiting so long to be seated (how I wish I could have made reservations! WHY PORTLAND?).



Afterwards we took the MAX (the "train" of the 4T) to the Washington Park station, where the trails would begin. I've been through that station, but never in it. As the deepest light rail station in the world, they had a lot of natural history elements, including a core sample from the initial dig. The elevator even measured its ascent by feet, not floors.




The bulk of the 4T trail is a trail through SW that leads to Council Crest, which is the highest point in Portland (and though I didn't realize it at the time, it's pretty cool to have been at the lowest point at the MAX station AND the highest point in the same day). Then it goes through the Marquam Nature Park on the way to OHSU. There's also a shortcut that uses the roads -- which we used because we wanted to catch the last tram down the hill and we were running behind.







Because it's a loop, there are two approaches to the 4T. We took this approach because taking the tram down from OHSU is free (and costs $4 otherwise). I was pretty happy the 4T included OHSU, since I've been working there so much the last few years. And so I was even more delighted when, while walking through OHSU to the tram platform, I ran into Jalex's fiance Paul.




The streetcar platform (the "trolley" of the 4T) is right at the base of the tram. We didn't get any pictures of it because on a Sunday afternoon that thing was PACKED. But here we are resting after that long walk while waiting for the streetcar.


The streetcar dropped us off just a couple of blocks away from where we started, whereupon we walked back to the MAX stop and rejoiced at our completion of the 4T trail!


We were also quite close to Saint Cupcake. Cupcakes are an important additional segment if you want to celebrate a birthday with cakes, candles & singing. 


At that point, to truly complete the loop, we had dinner at Tasty & Alder, where we began at brunch.



To enhance the rambling aspect and to reward my fellow explorers, I created merit badge stickers for each segment of the party, recreating the icons from the 4T Trail. There were 7 badges in total, including brunch, dinner & cupcakes. Mine would not stick to my dress, but they would stick to my arm. Chris put his on the metal mug he carries everywhere. Michaelmas put them on higgledy-piggeldy.






None of this would have been possible without Sven, who is always supportive of my birthday adventures. Because he was the one taking the pictures, he's never in them, so I'm glad I could grab this one in the train station when we had a moment alone. He is the best gift of all.