Portland Spoke – The Official Blog of Travel Portland – Travel Portland's Staff Blog

With a new year upon us, most people take stock of what they’d like to accomplish in the next year – everything from exercising more, losing weight and breaking bad habits. However, I’m focusing on my Portland New Years’ resolutions – to explore more of the city, and its surrounding adventure, in the next year. Here are a few items on my annual “bucket list”:

Fertile Ground Festival: This 10-day festival of new works features plays, including “(I Am Still) The Duchess of Malfi” at Artists Repertory Theatre, as well as dance performances, staged readings and a compilation of short films.

Belly dance classes: Yes, I’m joining thousands of other Portlanders who take continuing education classes through Portland Community College. I’ll be learning new things and trying to NOT trip over my two left feet!

Spend a night (or two) at Timberline Lodge. Who knows, I may even add “skiing lessons” to my list!

Rendering courtesy of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation.

Out of the six largest operating steam locomotives in the world, Portland owns two — more than any other American city. These engines and more Oregon rail transport history (which predates the transcontinental railroad), will be showcased at the new Oregon Enginehouse and Rail Heritage Center set to open later this year in Portland’s Central Eastside. You may even catch traveling exhibits such as the luxurious New York Central-3 passenger car, originally owned by Harold Vanderbilt.

The fall opening of the new eastside Portland Streetcar line will complement the center. Whether you’re looking for an activity with dinner or enjoying spare time before a Blazers game, the streetcar can get you to and from the center and plenty of nearby attractions.

Dozens of volunteers worked three decades to preserve this slice of rail history, restoring the SP& S 700 and the better-known SP #4449, which pulled the 1975-76 American Freedom Train in celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial. For the full story, check out this video from the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation:

Photo by Mark Stalcup, via Flickr

The holiday season isn’t over yet! This Saturday, Portland has plenty of ways to say goodbye to 2011 and hello to a brand new year. Here’s a quick round-up of resources to help you plan the last night of the year:

Portland Food and Drink has a comprehensive list of 45 restaurants offering New Year’s Eve dinners and special events. Many of the city’s top eateries are in on the action (think Olympic Provisions, Aviary, Grüner …) and there are even a few places serving up New Year’s Day brunch.

CitySearch found some eclectic parties and events, from Champagne at the Hilton to casual comedy at Helium and free video games at Ground Kontrol.

For those who want to dance, rock or eat their way into 2012, Willamette Week breaks down the options.

Of course, this is just the tip of the celebratory iceberg — if you have other favorite Portland NYE events, please let us know about them!

The holiday season is here, and what better way to brighten your spirits than with a Holidate downtown!  Every Thursday evening in December, cross things off your to-do list and have some fun with special discounts, free parking at SmartPark garages until midnight (enter between 4-6 p.m.) and live merry music sponsored by Portland Mall Management, Inc.

Get all the details for each week’s Holidate and make your holidays extra merry and bright!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — the weekend of the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Holiday Sale! I know I’m not the only local who’s planning to start and finish all my holiday shopping in one fell swoop at this massive event. On Saturday and Sunday (Dec. 10-11), more than 250 vendors will pack the Oregon Convention Center’s Hall C, selling everything from handmade jewelry to fine art, locally crafted clothing to supplies for crafting your own creations. I am especially looking forward to perusing my friend Jolie’s felt flower accessories and my talented colleague Amy’s encaustic paintings and “Pin Up Cups.”

If I have any steam left after shopping and socializing at Crafty Wonderland, I plan to check out the city’s newest holiday craft fair, The Portland Bazaar. Organized in part by Design*Sponge blogger extraordinaire Grace Bonney, this sale also runs Saturday and Sunday, and is at Sandbox Studio (420 N.E. Ninth Ave.), just a five-minute drive from the Oregon Convention Center.

Photo by Allison Park, via Flickr

As the holidays approach, the grocery store aisles and bar taps around Portland welcome full-bodied seasonal ales to help weather the cold winter months. This year, Widmer Brothers Brewing is back with its BRRR Seasonal Ale and BridgePort Brewing Company will help cure any bah-humbug tendencies with their Ebenezer Ale.

For those looking to sample seasonal ales not sold in stores, Portland’s annual Holiday Ale Fest offers dozens of brews created solely for the festival. Considered the premier winter beer-tasting event on the West Coast, the 16th annual festival will feature beers from more than 40 breweries Nov. 30 through Dec.4, 2011, in Pioneer Courthouse Square. A heated, clear-top tent keeps attendees cozy while allowing for holiday light-viewing in the heart of the city. And, plenty of holiday shopping and dining options are located on adjacent blocks. The festival website features a full list of breweries and their 2011 submissions, ranging from Belgians and barley wines to porters and stouts.

Photo by Jean-Francois Leblanc

I am not a horse person.

I like horses and have even ridden them over the years but I don’t count as a real horse person who understands the nuance of a horse. But that doesn’t matter. I went to the opening of Cavalia this week and it blew me away. It was amazing. It was beautiful. The horses are amazing and beautiful but the training, even to this untrained eye, was mind-blowing. I know those horses were doing things that are so difficult that it was unreal. The riders are obviously amazing — they defy gravity and have to balance sideways and upside down at death-defying speeds that makes you cheer. And the acrobats always defy reality. But the horses! And it is all done gently. Observing the rapport between the performers and the horses was the best part of all.

If you are a horse person, go see Cavalia. If you aren’t a horse person, go see Cavalia!

Bring on the holidays – the pop-up shops are back! Four destination shopping experiences, available only in November and December, are now open for business throughout downtown.

Boys’ Fort, a fantastical venue created by two theater designers, offers everything from salvaged wood tables and reclaimed lighting to men’s wallets and women’s bangles. The nonprofit Trillium Artisans helps up-and-coming artisans market their wares, which are all crafted from repurposed materials; check out the upcycled jewelry, toys, garden art and the baby booties made from surplus Pendleton wool. Downtown Artistry offers indie crafts and ceramics (and classes for the DIY shopper) and Saturday Market Annex provides an on-site artisan workshop and a daily central-city complement to Portland Saturday Market on the waterfront. Nearby, don’t miss Portland Design Collective and Crafty Wonderland – former pop-up shops that are now permanent storefronts offering fashion, jewelry and crafts year-round.

Looking for a motherlode of unique gifts? Clear your calendar for Dec. 10-11 when two holiday fairs celebrate Portland’s creative community. Crafty Wonderland’s annual Super Colossal Holiday Sale features more than 200 artisans decking the halls of the Oregon Convention Center with handmade jewelry, toys and housewares. Nearby, the Portland Bazaar launches this year at Sandbox Studio with a curated collection of handcrafted goods by more than 100 vendors. Offerings include books, music, art and (this being Portland) a bicycle-building demonstration. A shuttle will ferry shoppers between the fairs, while food carts will keep intrepid gift-givers fueled and toasting tax-free holiday shopping.

How do you get in the holiday spirit? Well, elves help and so do ghosts of Christmases Past.  Somehow Rat Kings and Nutcrackers figure and so do Bing Crosby, a Red Ryder BB gun and maybe an angel or two. We can’t guarantee a white Christmas in Portland, but there’s plenty of holiday cheer, with or without the snow.

"White Christmas" at Lakewood Theatre

“White Christmas”
Nov. 4 through Dec. 18
Lakewood Theatre, 368 S. State St., Lake Oswego

The great Irving Berlin movie musical has been converted to the stage, and though Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney won’t be there, Lakewood musicals have a good reputation, so the title song will be in good hands.

“Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol”
Nov. 15 through Dec. 24
Artists Repertory Theatre, 1515 S.W. Morrison St.

The Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim and the ghosts of Christmas has gotten a serious shaking from Seattle playwright John Longenbaugh. Instead of Scrooge, a reclusive Sherlock Holmes is on the scene to deduce the facts of a particular visitation by a peculiar trio of ghosts. The show stars two of Portland’s favorite actors, Michael Mendelson and Todd Van Voris, as Holmes and Watson.

“A Christmas Story”
Nov. 20 through Dec. 24
Portland Center Stage, 128 N.W. 11th Ave.

This is the stage adaptation of Jean Shepherd’s great Christmas reminiscence about growing up in the 1950s, when a bar of soap in the mouth was the antidote to bad language and the Little Orphan Annie radio program was just about the best thing going — except for that Red Ryder BB gun, which Ralphie Parker desperately hopes is under the tree. This popular comedy returns for another season at Portland’s biggest theater.

“Ahhh HA!”
Nov. 26 through Dec. 30
Do Jump!, Echo Theatre, 1515 S.E. 37th Ave.

Do Jump artistic director Robin Lane has explored the intersection of physical comedy, acrobatics and the dream world for more than 30 years, and this holiday show assembles the best of her research into one family-friendly holiday show.

“The Santaland Diaries”
Nov. 29 through Dec. 31
Portland Center Stage, 128 N.W. 11th Ave.

The career of humorist David Sedaris started with an essay he wrote about his experience playing an elf in the Santaland at Macy’s in New York. He read the essay on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and it’s become a holiday tradition. It’s been a hit at Center Stage for the past two seasons, and it returns this year with Jim Lichtscheidl playing Sedaris in the one-man show. (more…)

Girls With Glasses (photo by Chris Hughes)

I recently participated in Ladies Rock Camp, a program of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls that’s held twice a year. This three-day event is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. You sign up to either learn or improve your skills on the instrument of your choice — drums, guitar, bass, keyboard or vocals. Once you’re at camp, you form a band, write a song, learn how to play your instrument and perform a show on the final day.

What struck me most when we were introducing ourselves on the first day is how many ladies were from places other than Portland. At one point, I started to think that the locals were in the minority. There were people from Tennessee, Michigan, a couple of different areas in California, Illinois and Australia. Some of these ladies were here for the first time, while others had been before.

I’ve always known that people visit town for music events like the Blues Festival, the Portland Jazz Festival and MusicfestNW, but this was a new way for me to look at Portland’s musical appeal. We all had a great time. The out-of-towners enjoyed themselves, and I heard several planning to come back and spend more time in the area, to which I give an approving thumbs-up. (more…)