Ever want to buy a $100,000+ Porsche, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, or other semi-super car in Portland? Or maybe you just want to look at how the richer half lives.
If so, you might look at Grand Prix Motors in Portland. They have tons of interesting expensive cars to browse through on their website. They actually have what appears to be decent prices and move a good quantity of inventory so it’s always fun to browse through things you might never afford or want to actually spend your money on.
They also have some pretty wild cars that randomly migrate through their consignment sales section too for additional spice.
PAX West is not just a fun gamer conference, there are also a lot of parties as well. You can find the more public ones on the PAX west parties website and Facebook group.
Finding the not-so-public ones requires being in the know and having some insider friends. 🙂
Give workers a living wage! Tipping in restaraunts is wage slavery!
I’ve heard it all out here in Oregon. Calls to unionize restaurants have…been mixed at best. But it turns out, changing restaurant serving work to a ‘living wage’ hasn’t gone as most expected. In fact, it’s gone poorly. It turns out the people most upset and leaving are the workers themselves. A great majority of the restaurants that tried it over the last few years have quietly quit the experiment. Eater magazine, one of the most pro-food restaurant and worker magazines has written up an excellent article ‘Why the no-tipping restaurant model failed‘. Why would workers leave living wages jobs?
Diners alone didn’t doom the mid-2010s anti-tipping movement; workers who saw lower earnings were also reluctant to embrace the shift. At Faun, for example, Stockwell started servers at $25 per hour when the restaurant was tip-free. Even then, he says, it was “virtually impossible” to compete with what servers could make at a “similarly ambitious local restaurant with tips.” If a tipped server could make $40 to $50 an hour, or up to $350 over the course of a seven-hour shift, why do the same work for half the money?
It’s not like this wasn’t expected. But politicians and activists ignored the simple economics. The wide-spread reality and economics of tipping is right there for politicians. They could have easily found out by checking W-2 reports, well, assuming workers were reporting all their tips ;). The people who hurt from these experiments in social restructuring and activism are ironically the workers at these restaurants. They were ultimately those that had to change jobs, lost jobs as the predicted extra costs drove away customers, or had to accept lower actual pay.
Other first world countries like Europe and Japan manage to have very affordable food and restaurant experiences in the most expensive cities in the world without trading livability of employees. I have been surprised to find my meals in Paris, London, and Tokyo were often better, and cheaper, than many I have had in the US. Perhaps we should learn more about how their working systems operate instead of letting activist, who rarely have experience or training, legislate policy.
The Original Practice Shakespeare Festival puts on free Shakespeare plays in local Oregon parks. It’s quite a prolific group – they do multiple shows per week at a variety of local parks each summer. It appears the cast is volunteer and they do carry small scrolls in case they get lost but what they lack in technical skill they make up for in theatrics and good fun. So, it can be a somewhat rag-tag operation at times but it’s definitely a fun and cheap way to catch some Shakespeare.
I ran across these guys in the park when I moved here 20 years ago. It looked like a Mad Hatter dinner party, so I pulled over. There were all these strange folks dressed in wacky clothes and playing croquet with bowling balls and sledgehammers. I watched for a bit and enjoyed talking and learning about these folks playing something they called Mondo Croquet.
Mondo Croquet is regular croquet, but with bowling balls and sledgehammers. I noticed that they had a small pile of cracked open bowling balls, so it’s definitely a contact sport. It is also carried out with players wearing costumes and stylings of a late 1800’s English lawn or mad hatter style party.
It was started by Stephen Peters in 1997. Read more here in The Oregonian.
Pull on your British Lawn Whites, your Ham Sammmich costume, your Spock ears or perhaps just your sunglasses and get ready to smack some balls.
What to bring?
something cold to drink
a chair to set a spell
a snack to share with the Mad Hatter Picnic
If you have one, a sledgehammer is handy, but we come equipped with enough hammers and bowling balls so no worries. In fact, you can just come and watch if you’d like.
We do suggest you can turbo-up your fun by dressing appropriately, or appropriately inappropriate. Need some suggestions? Check out past photos: https://mondocroquet.com/photos/
Snowy and isolated getaway shelters and cabins in Oregon
As with all things, definitely call the ranger stations BEFORE planning a trip or you risk finding yourself at the end of a long day of travel only to be unable to access a shelter far, far from any accommodation. Forest fires, vandalism (very sadly), maintenance, and other reasons may have closed these particular shelters at any time. Calling the ranger stations before you go is mandatory as they can usually give you an update on conditions, risks in the area, etc. I know that Clear Lake Butte was closed for almost all of 2022 due to maintenance and damage. Some places have regular blacked-out days for volunteer work parties as well. Know before you go!
Near Pendleton:
Emigrant Springs State Heritage Area, about 25 miles east of Pendleton, offers travelers a much warmer way to spend the night. Each of the six rustic log cabins — equipped with bunk beds, a table and an outdoor propane stove — can sleep from three to five people. Spend your days sledding or cross-country skiing at Meacham Divide Sno-Park a few miles east, one of the larger Nordic skiing areas, featuring more over 12 miles of groomed trails. Book here.
Silcox Hut, is at 6,900 feet above Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge on the Palmer Snowfield. The hut sleeps up to two dozen people in six small bunk rooms. A fireplace warms a large room with hand-carved tables, where you’ll find buffet-style suppers of belly-warming fare and breakfasts with fruit and pastries. A special snow-going SUV or a snowcat can ferry you and your gear up to the hut, and groups must rent the entire building. Down in the main lodge, guests are free to use the sauna, spa and showers, too. Book here. The hut can sleep up to 24 people. Reservations can be made more than a year in advance.
All of the huts are first-come, first-serve, although anyone wishing to spend the night must be accommodated. Open for overnight stays November 15 to April 30. Huts can comfortably sleep anywhere from four to a dozen or so people, and there’s no fee.
Saying it is remote and isolated is an understatement. The next city is almost an hour away. The ‘town’ of Frenchglen has a population of 12. It was absolutely beautiful open country though. It reminded me a lot of New Mexico. I even bought the mug. 😀
Officials said they’re looking for applicants with a business background who have experience in hotels and restaurants. They’re also looking for someone who can give the old hotel a modern touch, specifically with online reservations. The parks department is accepting proposals online until 2 p.m. on June 2, 2023.
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department said it is seeking 5% of revenue and $2,400 a month to maintain the property. Last year, the hotel brought in $418,770 in revenue, officials said.
I ran across two beautiful horses that were bought from the folks at Big Horse Station in Sisters, OR. They raise and rescue draft and draft-cross horses.
I always loved riding big draft horses. My favorite time was a 2 hour sunset beach ride on a big Belgian named Waffle – that was also ridden by Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was up in Astoria filming Kindergarten Cop.
