Out and about in Portland

In the last couple of weeks we have been to Portland several times. It's only about 10 miles to downtown, so it doesn't take that long to drive in; parking is the problem.  We went to a triple A baseball game and the only parking we could find cost us $15.  There had to be a better way.  And, there is: they have a light rail system.   There is a station about 2 miles from our apartment, so we take that from now on. So, not only is it easier, it's cheap.  There are 3 parts to this post: the Saturday Market, sand sculpting and the Portland International Beerfest (140 beers from 15 countries).

The Saturday Market.  Not far behind where I took this picture is one of the main rivers running through Portland: The Williamette.

Caroline looking around.

Quite a few people come out every Saturday.

Enjoying the nice day. The Williamette River is in the background.  We took a walk along the riverfront after the market.

A maritime museum.

Looking east along the Williamette.

Part of the downtown skyline.

It was quite warm that day. This is one of two fountains the kids got to play in.

Sand sculpting exhibition downtown.  It was to help raise money for a local charity.

Part of the 'Alice in Wonderland' sculpture.

Forgot what this theme was.

Something about deep sea creatures.

Don't remember this one, either.

We didn't get see how they did the wings.

They were working on this one so everyone could see how they did it.

Panorama of the site.

Self explanatory.

They had all the beer vendors lined up under a canopy.  About 2/3 were draft beer and the   other 1/3 were in bottles.

You use a 4 oz. souvenir glass to sample the beers.  You buy tickets instead of using cash: 1 ticket equals $1.  Most samples were 1 ticket, but there were 2 as high as 7 tickets. I tried a 6 ticket beer, but couldn't finish it; it was just - nasty.

And they kept on coming all day...