Today we saw the Dragon Boat Races at the Portland Rose Festival. I have lived in the Portland Metro area for 25 years and had never been to this, so decided it was time. To our surprise we found a great parking lot, walked a few blocks down to the waterfront and got to see the boats just before the noon break.
The races took place all weekend and start about every 10 minutes, except for the noon break. So we decided to walk along the waterfront and look around.
Today was clear and in the low 70's, the first sunny day in a week, so everyone came out. We wandered past the "fun" center and ended up at Saturday Market. Turned around and came back to find the races had started again. All the boats had teams with clever names and ranged from young to old. They all looked like they were having fun.
While watching the boats I turned to see a group of dogs posing for a photo shoot. Not only were they cute, but they each wore green vests identifying them as Autism Service Dogs.
We ended up at a restaurant on the waterfront at an outdoor table where we could still see the boats (and hear their drumming). It was a great day and to finish I'll add the video Chris took of one of the races (with his commentary).*
*6/11/12 the video may not work or even show up in some formats, it's posted on my facebook page, just click on the button with the pink tulips to the right in the sidebar.
Looks like it was a nice day. 25 years?
ReplyDeleteYep, started at PSU in 1986.
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