Visions of Christmas Lights Passed Before Me

Apparently this year marks the 100th anniversay of Portland's Rose Festival. I've never attended any of the festivities; Scio's Lamb & Wool Fair was good enough for us. This year, though, figuring as the downtown PDX activities are about three miles walking distance each way, I thought I'd do well to at least check it out.

Saturday night was the Starlight Parade. Although visions of luminescent glowing floats loomed large in my mind, the quickly realized reality was that it was a fairly hokey parade featuring loads of Christmas lights strung on cars & marching bands with glowing spots on their hats. An instance where I would have done well to nurse the fantasy & neglect the reality. C'est la vie. See here for a few pictures. (What I wouldn't give to have a digital camera that takes decent nighttime shots without a tripod!) It might have helped my experience had I not chosen to stand on Morrison Street angling toward Fourth Avenue, which seemed like a perfectly lovely way to both see the parade & not be crushed amongst the madding crowd; until the parade started & I realized that indeed, the Max was going to continue to run (& frequently stop in front of me) throughout the duration of the parade. Awesome.

Eventually, I was overcome by squalling brats & a harrassing homeless man who touched my ass. Twice. Suspecting this was a ploy on his part to get me to turn around so he could demand a donation for a cheap plastic American flag , I was steadfast in my refusal to acknowledge him & eventually he went away. The nasty children, however, did not & ultimately along with the lack of glowing awesomeness led to my early departure.

I've heard that the Grand Floral Parade which happens this coming weekend is the big one, the one to go to; but honestly I'm not big on either parades or crowds in the first place, & it was only the promise of shiny lights that whetted my interest in the Starlight Parade. I would, however, like to see the Dragon Boat Races, having already been unknowingly privy to the Dragon Boat Practices.

Also, & this is only because it occurred to me as I sojourned toward the parade, for the record, I am so happy to live in a city this friggin' gorgeous. Clean. Green. Laid-back. Friendly. And flat. Yes, flat is a strong virtue, at least when one abhors city driving (& more precisely, city parking) & adores taking long urban walks. So maybe it rains a little during the winter. But, man, if what you get for that is a nice sunny summer with NO HUMIDITY & NO HORRID THUNDERSTORMS (it's nearly enough to make me bemoan the years I wasted in the weather-hell of the Northeast/Southeast U.S.) & loads of lovely greenness & so many beautiful flowers, well, I will take the winter rain, thank you.