Wednesday 13 June 2018

Farmers Market & UFO Festival, Portland Trip 2018 (May 19, 2018)

My Honey went out and worked out at the hotel gym again and I opted to hang back in the room and watch some of the Royal Wedding, Harry & Meghan.

While I watched, I had some of the chicken pot pie leftovers from the other night.
It was pretty darn good too.

The media sure knows how to drag a thing out.
In real time they were actually already married but I watched for a couple hours just waiting to see her get out of the car.
They kept showing the same clips over and over of guest arriving, then of guests mingling, then sitting and waiting.
They also had interviews with all these random people who don't even know the couple - like who cares?
Eventually I got tired of it and I didn't even end up getting to see her arriving and getting out of the car.
I saw pictures later though and I thought she looked beautiful and they had a gorgeous day for a wedding.

We wanted to go to a Farmers Market so we looked up where we might find one in Portland and turns out there were lots of options.

We went with the Beaverton one because it was nearby to where we were staying.

I love Farmers Markets - all the fresh fruit and veggies.

Lots of fresh flowers and plants at this one too.

If I lived closer one of these hanging baskets might have found it's way home with me.

You could buy bouquets that were already put together or you could buy the flowers individually and put them together yourself.

It was a good size one too, lots of vendors.

They had FRESH STRAWBERRIES!!!

Just look at all of them.

I bought a box and we walked around and ate them.
They were sweet & juicy and red all the way through like a strawberry is supposed to be.
Yum Yum!

I've never mastered the artichoke.
I cooked some once following a Martha Stewart recipe and I didn't like them.
Then years later I had artichoke in a dip and I loved it.
I should pick some up one of these days and try again.

I've never seen purple asparagus before.

So much goodness all in one place.

This one vendor had tons of fresh flowers.

So beautiful.

Lupins remind me of home.
They grow wild in the ditches and on the hills along the highways all over Dartmouth and PEI.
It's been awhile since I've seen them.

I got myself a snack.
They lasted longer than anticipated.

My Honey of course was interested in this food truck.
It looks to be a clay oven similar to the one he built but they have it mobilized.
Awesome!

Got ourselves another snack from Blue Moon Bakery.

They looked like they might be chewy so I couldn't resist.
They were ok cookies, not knock your socks off.
We sat on the bench and ate them and watched the kiddos play in the fountains.

My Honey picked up this cross between a croissant and a doughnut.
It had salted caramel filling.
It was the best thing we tried there.

I love watching the kiddos playing.

Both he and his mom are having a great time.
Love the smiles.

Some were brave and got right in there.

Others not so much.
This little guy stood and watched for the longest time.

Eventually he decided he'd had enough and left without getting a drop of water on himself.
What a cutie he was, and so serious.

We saw another little guy strip right down to his undies and run through the water and My Honey made the observation that kids are so lucky because if a grown man did that, they would likely arrest him or haul him away.
I never considered that but it's so true and not fair either!
Why should they be the only ones allowed to run around in their gaunch like maniacs and have a grand old time?
(Just kidding of course)
We just didn't know how good we had it when we were little!!!

They even had live entertainment there at the market.

Lots of folks were hanging around listening to it too which was nice to see.

We wanted something a bit more substantial before heading back out on the road so we gave this place a shot.

My Honey decided to go with the tacos.

They cook it up and put them together right there before your eyes.

Looks pretty darn good.
It was.

I grabbed a strawberry lemonade too.

We had our own little tail gate party before hitting the road.

My Honey had read about a UFO festival in McMinnville and there was a parade going on today so we headed on over there.

Someone parked their UFO right on the edge of town!

We thought it was going to be this simple, average, small town event but once we parked and started walking into town, we knew right away it was going to be more than that.
This is one of the very first costumes we saw and it was my favorite of the day.

Everyone was into the spirit of things and it was awesome.

A mini Rey.

Lots of googly head bands.

A stormtrooper.

Ha ha - look at the little alien just having some lunch.

Great shades.

Another great costume!

I love that the friend is participating too in her own way.

The town itself was decked out with some cool pieces.

Puppy is loving it.

Ok this isn't UFOy but I love the vines over the door.

Great for photo ops.

No big thing, just an alien walking down the street.

The parade was still an hour away but everyone was finding a spot to sit and enjoy it.
So many people!

We ran into lots of coneheads.

Blow up aliens were everywhere.

These two even showed up.

This little fellow wasn't sure what to think about that.

Another fabulous costume.

People are just so creative.

Some people were participating in a milder way, with alien accessories like socks & back packs.

Plenty of tin foil caps too.

Not everyone can pull off a suit like that but he was rocking it.

Anything goes around here.

The parade was about to start so we just found a spot to sit and watch.

Looks like Princess Lea found a spot to sit and watch too.

This was our view.
Bet those folks on the balcony of the restaurant there and an awesome view.

Cool!

I think that may be an alien hippie.

Space was definitely the theme of the day.

A few of these guys came whizzing by.

Apparently aliens need public transportation too.

I think this must be the alien queen.

Everyone seems to having a great time.

Another UFO!

An alien with an alien blow up doll - not something you see everyday!

There were school bands.

Cosmic granny librarians.

Even an alien lobotomy and with selfie taking scientists.

In case you are hunting for a house that is out of this world.

Just downright creepy people.

Punch buggy yellow.
(I'm not one to let an opportunity to win a punch buggy pass by)

The big tall costumes are always magnificent in my humble opinion.

Another marching band - these guys were all wearing alien sunglasses.

 A mini space shuttle.

More blow up aliens.

A helicopter full of aliens.

Alien vacationers.

Takes some guts to put on a shimmery pink onesie!

Local cheerleaders.

Can't have a space parade without this crew.

Storm Troopers deserve to have fun every now and then too!

Even Chewy was there!

More space creatures.

Super Girl & Groot.

Even some Na'vi from the world of Pandor showed up.

They brought their youngsters.

Trying to scare folks, all in good fun.

Pets were out in huge numbers today and they were having just as much fun.

Live bands.

I think that's Rick from Rick & Morty.
I'm not a fan but My Honey is.

Such imaginations.
Who would have thought you could get a costume out of a piece of bristol board?

Monster school bus.

When I saw that they really included everyone in this parade I got choked up.

It was a beautiful thing to see.

Love the purple hair.
I love this hairdo on little girls too, as soon as my grand baby has enough hair I am so doing these buns for her.

The Purple People Eater Band.

The "people" on the float were kind of lifeless, ha ha!

Pin Wheel lady.

Doctors with baby aliens.

Adopt don't Abduct!

This little dude was sitting next to me for the whole parade almost and I only noticed near the end that he was wearing a Chewbacca costume.
He was good as gold the whole time too, never made a peep (or a woof 😜)

Another school marching band - that green hair is pretty great.

Aliens giving out goodies.

R2D2 showed up.

A couple of puppeteers.

Then the hometown marching band.

There were a ton of them.

Green glob guys.

More of those tall costumes.
They just stand out so much and make such a statement.

Next up the bee hive and the busy little bees.

Those eyes though!

So much joy every where, wonderful to see.

The mean old beekeeper.

Another lovely bee girl.

Even the knitting club participated.

Another alien visitor in his space craft.

Having a blast.

Some furry creatures.

Love the nose on the mask.

Hula hoopers.

They performed as they walked, that takes some skill for sure.

More green folks.

These two!!

The colors of the day.

Then the hammerheads arrived.

They were doing cartwheels down the street.

Another band.
These guys were a Grateful Dead tribute band and they were really good.

I think these were the band groupies.

Then more hammerheads showed up with their ladies.

High fives for the crowd.

Another conehead.

Then it was over.
It was so good - we loved the parade and the vibe, the energy and the atmosphere.
It was a great experience and I am so glad we came.

We were hungry by this time so we found a Mexican place, Los Molcajetes.
We had to wait for a table but it wasn't too bad.

I liked the decor in the place.

Just me!

Those painted windows on the wall were nice.

There were lots of pinatas hanging from the ceiling, this one was a cactus.

The good times were continuing on in here.

There were a bunch of paintings all done in this style and I really liked them.
I've never been to Mexico but I imagine it to look something like this place.
Maybe one day I'll find out if that's so.

The chairs were really awesome too.

No missing this guy.

They brought us chips & salsa while we waited for our food.

Caught off guard, ha ha.

I ordered chicken tortilla soup and I had a taco salad as well.
It was really good but I couldn't finish, too much food.

My Honey ordered a new to him dish too (I forget what it was called) but he was impressed and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Notice the elf ear peaking out?

More googly headbands.
I wanted to get one but I couldn't find one.

After we ate, we walked around the town a bit and checked out a few of the little stores.
Saw this guy again and his other half.
They look like a perfect match to me.

We came upon the Grateful Dead cover band playing in the street so we stopped to listen and enjoy them for a bit.

By about 6 pm the stores were all closing so I convinced My Honey to drive to Salem, Portland.
We were halfway there already and they have a Hobby Lobby there!
He isn't as crazy about HL as I am but he thought it would be a nice drive.
We took the back roads instead of the highway and the scenery along the way was just fabulous.

This looked like a tree farm.

They were being grown right in pots out there in the field.
I've never seen that before.

So much gorgeous green everywhere.

I fell in love with lots of trees on the way too.

These looked like dark pink lilacs which I've never seen before.

Not sure if this is a vineyard or another tree farm?

That electric green is stunning.

I love farms on gently rolling hills like this, so pretty.

Another field of red clover.

Blooms galore.

OK, I have a tree thing, I can't help it.

Another spectacular vista.

Those clouds almost look like mountains.

Made it Salem.

Looks like it's a vibrantly green city as well.

More blossoms everywhere.

Reds,

Yellows,

Pinks, peaches,

Corals,

Purples.

Even some gorgeous whites.
So many colors, each prettier than the last.

We drove over this river as we entered town and I noticed there was a Sternwheeler there.
They have this nostalgic look to them that is so great.

AAAAAAAAH!
When I saw this it was like the grey clouds parted and this shimmering ray of sunshine was bathing the whole place in dazzling aura of light.
At least that's how I felt when I saw it, ha ha!

As soon as I walked in I saw things that I wanted.

Even if I can't get them, I could at least take pictures and perhaps try to reproduce like items when I get home.

Aisles and aisles of great stuff.

I could have spent the whole day there just wandering around in awe.

These letters are super hard to find anywhere at home and to top it off, they were 50% off too!!!

More letters.
Knowing I couldn't buy it all up was a little painful I must admit.
I did buy that corbel My Honey is holding in his arms.

This is the aisle I was most interested in.
I wanted a certain shape and color of sign for my wall back home and I found what I wanted.
It just happened to be 50% off too.

I picked up a few more metal pieces for our mantel, a coupld of signs and a couple of metal words.
I was kind of like being on a little high walking around in there.
They have so much fantastic stuff and the prices are very reasonable.
I sure wish they would come to Canada.

I really had to refrain myself but I thought I did very well with that.
I am sure My Honey may not completely agree but he was a good sport.

The scenic route back to Portland would have taken 1.5 hours so we decide to take the highways.
When we got back to Portland, we stopped at another Fred Meyers to search for the Roloff Farm Pumpkin Salsa again.

Our mission was successful this time.
I can't wait to give it a try.

I also found watermelon tic tac gum, what?!

Oh, and a treat for later.
Love me a Toblerone every now & then.

Then we went to Bannings again just for some dessert.

I had a slice of marionberry lemon poppyseed cake.
It was terrific.

My Honey tried the Lemon Pie with whipped cream.
It was mouth puckeringly lemony but sweet & delicious at the same time.

When we got back to the hotel I was too full to try the salsa but I will before we head home.

This cracked me up.
I try so hard but I always end up killing the plants in the end so now I just have fake ones.

This cracked me up too.
I know realistically that there are very few people this is true for and furthermore I wouldn't dislike them for it.
I sure wish it was more common though and that I was one of those people!!!

This is a picture of my Tante M when she was young that she posted on Facebook today and I think I look a lot like her when I was young.
I think maybe it's the little eyes and the nose.

I am younger here than she is in her picture but I see the similarities.
I am the one in the yellow bathing suit.
I also see similarities to Mr H.
This is my cousin and I in PEI when we were still babies.
We were much closer to my dad's side of the family when we were younger and I miss that sometimes.

Fitbit total was not too shabby.

Tomorrow we are going to head to either the Oregon coast or Mount Hood.
We haven't quite decided yet, we'll see how we feel in the morning.

That is all for today.
Until next time, be happy!

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