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

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!

When I was a kid I loved to go to the grocery store with my dad. I couldn’t care less about what we were having for dinner. I was just interested in getting into the check-out line and convincing my dad to part with a few quarters so I could high-tail it over to the video games and play some Punch Out!

And so began a love of arcade games that continues to this very day. No matter how advanced and interactive games become, they can’t match the simplicity that made classic ’80s video games like Dig Dug and Donkey Kong so innovative at the time and absolutely timeless today. (more…)