Today was our Keep Portland Weird adventure.
We took the max light rail downtown, which is always interesting. It was initially standing room only. There were seats available, but two ‘entitled’ folks decided they needed to spread out to take up six seats. Given their glaring demeanor, it didn’t seem worth the confrontation.
At the next stop, some spots opened up, but they were filled with mysterious crumbs from departing children. I’m pretty sure it was a corn muffin, but who knows, I sat on it anyway hoping for the best.
We arrived downtown to the sketchy Skidmore stop near the waterfront, which is home to many homeless people, since it is near the much needed shelter. Jasmine and I marveled how the pigeons played ‘chicken’ on the tracks before the arriving trains.
Our goal today was to witness the Mermaid Parade. Yes, mermaids. Apparently, this is the third year, but the first I’ve heard of it. We walked to the opening ceremony, but not much was going on yet. So we browsed the nearby Portland Saturday Market. We found an amazing portrait artist, and watched him draw from start to finish.
Finally, the paraded kicked off, or rather tailed off. We loved how the parade made special effort to encourage wheel chair adults/kids to participate. On our way home, we got a close up view of the famous Portland sign.
