Oneonta Falls - Sep 3, 2012

For Labor Day we made a trip out to see Oneonta Falls, located in the Columbia River Gorge just outside Portland. It's a very short hike back through Oneonta Gorge to get to the falls, but it's not what I would call an easy hike. It doesn't take great strength or stamina, just some careful footing.

The hike begins just off the Historic Columbia River Highway at the mouth of the Oneonta Gorge. Don't go through the tunnel (unless you want to visit Horsetail Falls). Just take a right here at the bridge.

There's no trail. Just follow the riverbed. So far it looks easy, but not too far in you come upon the most hazardous part: a log jam. You have to climb up and over these logs. Take your time and go slow. One false step and you could slip and fall. There are some very large gaps that you could fall through and get seriously hurt.

Once over this obstacle the rest is much safer, but still not easy.

A few shallow pools to wade through, or walk around if you can. One deep pool that is easy if you wade through it (it's about 4 feet deep), but very cold. Some people try to stick to the wall.

Then you're there.

Both directions offer some beautiful views through the gorge.

Everyone wanted to spend some time in the sun when we returned to the trail head.

We made a quick detour on the way back to the car to go see Horsetail Falls. It's right off the road and doesn't require any hiking to see it.

There is another hike in this area up around the back side of Horsetail Falls that I'd like to go see sometime soon. It's supposed to be an easy hike. But after the soaking adventure we had in Oneonta Gorge we were a little too cold and damp to try it today.

Serenity & Empire

Last Saturday I attended the annual Can't Stop the Serenity charity event in Portland. This event was started in 2006 right here in Portland and has caught on worldwide. I didn't hear about it or start attending until 2007, but I've been every year since. It's really fun and is for a great cause.

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera this year so I don't have any pictures of the fun costumes people wore. But this year a reaver actually showed up. He looked great and was creeping people out. Last year we had a couple Blue Hand Men. They also stayed in character the entire time, intimidating everyone around them.

The screening was at Cinema 21. It's an old theater that has been restored. Comfortable seats. Not so great sound system though. Either that or the audio on these film prints of Serenity is just deteriorating more rapidly than the image.

Then on Thursday a friend at work told me that KUFO was having a charity screening of Empire Strikes Back on Friday. I haven't seen Empire on the big screen since it's first theatrical release in 1980. It was so long ago that I don't even remember going, but I must have because I knew all about it before I saw it on TV and video years later. I missed it in theaters for it's special edition release in 1997 (I think I was so disappointed with the special edition changes in Star Wars that I didn't even want to bother with Empire). So this was going to be a special treat for me and I had to go.

Also, the 501st Legion was attending. Nothing could stop me from going!

And this time I took my camera!



The movie was starting at 11pm. Doors opening at 9pm. I was expecting a long line so I got there at 6:30. Nobody there. I was the first one. Unfortunately I didn't want to stand around and I wasn't really sure where the line was even going to form, so I checked out the local shops for an hour. When I returned at 7:30 there were about 20 people in line. So, not first, but a great place in line.



The screening was at the Bagdad theater. A very cool theater that I now want to go back to more frequently. Like the other McMenamin theaters in Portland they serve food during the movie. Tasty food too from the looks of it (I was saving my money and didn't make an order).



Everyone who was in costume at this event was a member of the 501st Legion.



They walked up and down the line interacting with the guests.





Posing for photos.





Hamming it up.







And making every fan-boy (and girl) jealous that we don't have a costume as cool as theirs.











Before the movie started Cort and Fat Boy (who is actually very fit...I don't know why he goes by that name) got up on stage followed by those of the 501st Legion in attendance to welcome everybody and say a few words. According to Fat Boy, they were actually able to secure a print of Empire from Lucas Film because of the 501st. KUFO has midnight screenings of movies about once a month and have been wanting to show Empire for while. But Lucas Film wasn't going to play ball. So they decided to do it for charity, but even that wasn't breaking the ice. But as soon as they got the 501st to attend Lucas Film gave them the print. It's cool that they have that kind of influence.



After everyone came down off the stage they played a few fan-made movies that were absolutely hilarious. I don't know all of what they played but some were:

RVD2: Ryan vs Dorkman 2
Troops
Darth Vader Bing An A-hole

And a couple others I don't know the names so I can't find them online.

The theater was packed. Some were rabid fans, others mild fans, and a few who were dragged there by their boyfriend/husband. But everyone had a great time. Lots of yelling things at the screen, cheering, and shouting out lines. Perfectly acceptable behavior at a screening like this. And it was awesome to see it again (or really the first memorable time) on the big screen.

Thanks KUFO and 501st! You rock!

Orlando Adventures - Day 13

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Much better weather today. Just a little bit chilly, but sunny and clear. We spent the morning playing on the beach and in the pools then came back to the room for lunch.

No Cape Canaveral today though. We decided we had already spent enough money so we went to some cheaper (or free even) local attractions.

After lunch we headed out to Angell & Phelps Chocolate Factory and got the free tour and bought some yummy chocolates. The tour was much smaller than I expected. It's not a very big factory. Nothing is automated accept the chocolate dipping since they can't really hand dip as effectively as they could when they didn't need to wear rubber gloves (the gloves now make it difficult to feel the temperature of the chocolate). Everything else is very manual from the mixing of the chocolate, making the cream centers, and even packing the boxes...all done by hand.


Can I please eat my vegetables now?

Then we went south to the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse. The tallest lighthouse in Florida (second tallest in the US). It's a pretty cool place. It was my first visit to a lighthouse. They have museum exhibits in all the houses used by the keepers. Some showing how they lived and others showing about the lighthouse, the lenses, and the kerosene lantern. It's still operational, but is electric now of course. They allow visitors to go all the way up and out on to the balcony. You can't go up into the lamp house at the top, but they have a window you can look through to see the lens and lamp.



This is our last day. We fly home tomorrow. We've got lots of packing to do tonight to get things ready for our early morning trip to the airport. It's been a really fun and adventurous vacation.

Orlando Adventures - Day 12

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Just a relaxing day at the pool and beach today. We did get some clouds and rain that brought a cold wind. That cut our outdoor fun short. There's an indoor pool too, so we moved in there when we wanted to keep swimming but couldn't put up with the weather anymore. I even saw some tornado warning on the news while I was picking up lunch. But there wasn't any tornado touch down that I saw.

Only a couple pictures for today. I was also taking a break from having the camera always attached to me.

There's a movie theater right next door so we also went to go see Bolt. It's a pretty fun movie, although it's a very similar story to Toy Story 2.

Also, having just spent 1-1/2 weeks at Disney parks I think I've been spoiled by the level of service you get there. Everyone I've run into that works in a service type position around here just seems to be doing the bare minimum. They almost seem to be just going through the motions as if they really can't stand the job but can't seem to get out of it either. Not really a complaint, just another observation from having been sheltered in the Disney bubble.

Tomorrow I'd like to go out to Cape Canaveral and see some NASA toys. Plans might change though.

Orlando Adventures - Day 11

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

Our last day at Walt Disney World. :-(

We slept in then had to pack things up to vacate the house we've been staying at. The rest of the gang has relocated the remainder of their vacation time to Turks & Caicos while we are going to Daytona Beach for the next few days. But we wanted to get one last visit to the parks in today before checking in at our next hotel.

So we began with Animal Kingdom. I took the kids to Everest and waited in the standby line while Tammie got Fast Passes for the safari. I really don’t mind waiting in Everest's standby. The queue is very fun to meander through. It’s set up as if you are going on an expedition to the top of Everest. The first portion is the expedition office. Set up like a 3rd world travel/tour office with an old computer and an even older tv/radio. Then you move through what I can only assume is a temple of some sorts with statues of yetis with offerings of fruit and money all around. Then through a supply/souvenir shop with camping and hiking equipment plus t-shirts and other items a tourist might like all ready to be purchased, but the store owner is currently out. The station after that is a yeti museum with all kinds of interesting yeti artifacts.



The kids and I love this ride. Tammie likes it too, but can’t ride it. She tried it once but it aggravated her heart. (She does just fine on Thunder Mountain though. But this one is much more intense.) Adam even had his hands up most of the ride. (Can you tell I'm trying to train the kids to be coaster junkies? But I'm also trying to show them that Disney can be enjoyed without high speed rides.)

On our way to take the safari tour we stopped by the Flights of Wonder show...a free-flight bird show that tries to show more natural behaviors. No birds on bicycles here. It was a fun show with some really cool birds. Unfortunately most of my pictures turned out blurry. Then I had the same troubles on the safari again. I’ve really got to figure out which setting is best on my camera for the fast action shots.

When we tried to leave the park we, of course, got caught by parade traffic. And in the Animal Kingdom with its narrower walkways and fewer walkway options it's an even bigger congestion problem. We had no choice but to wait it out. I'm really really hating parades now. They are seriously nothing but trouble. And more often than not they really aren't worth all the trouble.



We finally made it out of the park and made a dash over to Hollywood Studios to try to get to the Backlot Tour before it closed for the day. I was imagining the tour to be much bigger. It was a bit of a letdown. It had a quick "stunt" show at the beginning where they had audience members participate in a demonstration of some movie magic. Then we hopped on the trams and took a back and forth drive through boneyards (where old movie props are left to rot) and another demonstration of movie effects magic involving a fuel truck explosion and a flash flood. It scared Adam and made him cry, but it really made no sense at all other than showing some cool effects. Why exactly are things breaking, exploding, and flooding? Is Michael Bay here? Oh, yeah…he's actually mentioned quite a lot throughout the attraction.



Once that big disappointment was over we made our final walk out to the trams and to our car. I couldn't help but feel a little sad that it was over, but I was also glad that we were able to come and enjoy so many good times together. I learned a few more things about my kids and I hope they have made some good memories that will last a lifetime.



Here in Daytona things are much different. It's nothing like the serene Kissimmee neighborhood or the sanitary Disney atmosphere. There was some kind of car show tonight and classic cars were cruising the streets in front of our hotel. There was quite a bit of noise outside with the cars and the onlookers that made our arrival a little more confusing than we had anticipated. And so far, the party atmosphere and high rise hotels have the kids feeling a little intimidated. It should be interesting to see how things go the next few days. But I'm sure once the sun comes out and the daylight takes the place of the nightlife things will be better.

Orlando Adventures - Day 10

Click on the photo to be taken to the first in the set of today's photos.

I think the kids are officially Disneyed-out. I felt like I was dragging them into the parks today against their will. Adam seemed excited though. Rachel just seemed to be going with the flow. But David was protesting the most. Well, most of the day that is. But towards the end of the day Disney delivered on their "dreams come true" end of the deal and David was able to find a cast member wearing a limited edition Monorail pin that he had been dreaming of getting (literally...he had a dream about it) and that seemed to perk him up quite a bit and he was much more cheery the rest of the night.

And even though it was the day after Thanksgiving, the park attendance wasn't as bad as it was yesterday. It was still pretty thick, but things seemed to lighten up after dinner.

We also managed to avoid all parade traffic and get quite a bit done, including things we hadn't seen before. In fact, we did so much I'm currently having a hard time remembering the order we did things. And some things are repeats, I'll move quickly through those. So in order as best as I can remember...

After taking the ferry boat into the Magic Kingdom this time instead of the monorail we got Fast Passes for Space Mountain then rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority followed by Tomorrowland Speedway. We ate lunch at the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle place. It was okay. Not as good as the Yak & Yeti Cafe in Animal Kingdom though.



Then we caught story time with Belle. Adam got called up on stage to play the part of Gaston. He loved it. Sometimes if he gets shy he'll completely clam up and roll up into a ball. But he just let the ham in him come out and shine. It was hilarious!



Then we made it Fantasyland to get Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh and ride Peter Pan. While we were in line for Peter Pan, Tammie took Rachel to get her hair all glittered up at the barber shop. We were hoping she would have been done before we made it all the way through the line, but they caught us at the exit and we rode later again at the end of the day to give Rachel the chance to ride (we also lucked into getting someone else's Fast Passes and saved us 30-40 minutes in line).



After we met up with Rachel and Tammie again we rode Pooh (our first time riding the WDW version...it's okay...it's got some fun bouncy parts), then Space Mountain.

We wanted to give the kids a chance to go play on Tom Sawyer's Island, but the sun was quickly setting and we had to get to the other side of the park. We hopped on the train to make it faster, but even that wasn't fast enough. The rafts were already closed by the time we got there. We grabbed some Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain and went on Country Bears (yay...I miss them), got some Dole Whip Floats (mmmmmmm), and went on Tiki Room (Under New Management...and this new management thing is a real stinker...they need to restore it back to the original and get Yago out of there, ugh), Pirates (this time the Davey Jones effect was working...very cool), Haunted Mansion (it's more fun at night), then grabbed dinner at the Columbia Harbour House (again...great place).



After all that we did some souvenir shopping, watched Mickey's PhilharMagic (first time seeing it...that was a very impressive show...I wish we had the time to watch it again), went back to Peter Pan (this was the second ride I mentioned earlier), caught the fireworks, then rode Thunder Mountain in the dark (this time even Adam was raising his arms!)

And the day is over. I think I covered it all.

Tomorrow will be our last day at Walt Disney World. We're going to spend some time in Animal Kingdom doing a couple things over again, then over to Hollywood Studios to try to squeeze in a backlot tour. In the evening we head to Daytona Beach for the rest of our stay.