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In this Discussion
- 1234 March 2012
- Clever_girl March 2012
- Dr_William_Hayward March 2012
- ed_chigliak March 2012
- freddy March 2012
- Judar_Spitzer March 2012
- Leland March 2012
- Loose_Thread March 2012
- Matthew March 2012
- MirandaJuly March 2012
- Nick March 2012
- the_owls March 2012
- ThickeningAgent March 2012
- YoursTruly March 2012
essential portland / oregon / pac northwest experiences
i am trying to make a list of serious, essential portland/regional experiences. not an obvious 'where to take your out of town friends' but a devoted "i've lived here for a long time and want to make sure i am not missing anything" list.
i would include things like: visit Enchanted Forest, paddle a canoe/kayak down the Willamette River, pick berries on Sauvie's Island, go to a Timbers/Blazers/Ducks game, go surfing at Short Sands, watch a drawbridge to open/close, etc.
but there is so much more...
i would include things like: visit Enchanted Forest, paddle a canoe/kayak down the Willamette River, pick berries on Sauvie's Island, go to a Timbers/Blazers/Ducks game, go surfing at Short Sands, watch a drawbridge to open/close, etc.
but there is so much more...
Comments
- 4 T Trail
- Japanese Garden (my favorite: take the MAX to the zoo, then walk down the Wildwood Trail to the Japanese Garden on the way to downtown)
- Walking the downtown river trails (Eastbank Esplanade > Hawthorne Bridge > Waterfront Park > Steel Bridge)
- Taking the Amtrak in or out
Skyline Cafe
Maryhill
Alibi
Country Fair
In college, people would go there and do mushrooms. And I'd think, "what is the Arboretum? It sounds magical."
Then periodically I'd hear about it, over the next 15 years, and I'd think "Oh yeah, the magical Arboretum where the trees come to life and gently caress you with cartoon branches, I've heard of that place."
I WANT TO GO. Can you take snoopys there?
The view from Astoria Column, crossing the bridge, the south jetty, Seaside, the whole stinking drive down to Florence, the dunes, Devil's Churn, stinkin' Cannon f-in' Beach, the octopus in Newport at the marine science center, tidepools!
Twin Peaks pilgrimage to Snoqualmie Falls (but don't go anytime soon because the trail is closed so you drive forever to get there and then can't walk around anywhere)
I was just walking the dog. We were AT THE DOG PARK, which is a large unfenced area inside a much bigger park (with playground, baseball field, etc.), which I agree is stupid:
- if all dogs are just murderous demons waiting only for the opportunity to savagely bite a human (as leash laws would have us believe) then it seems like that area should be fenced.
- if we're all (including police, town, parks & rec, and all people using the park) just going to go ahead and assume that the dogs at the park are not going to actually bite someone (hence no one seeming to see the need for a fence) then the entire park should just be off-leash and available for family/dog fun times
BUT I DIGRESS
So Franklin and I were standing in the off-leash area. Pretty emo, just a mud bog, and no other dogs were there. Franklin was running around. Periodically dogs will go from the off-leash area into various non-off-leash areas, because like I said there is no fence and dogs aren't robots. So Franklin saw a cool stick and ran across the sidewalk to get it. He happened to run across the path of a lady walking on the path. He was probably 7 feet in front of her, running across her path (i.e., not running towards her), and at no point did he even look at her. HOWEVER, she stopped, her face became a rictus of terror, and she goes "WHOA! WHOA!!!!!!" and held her hands out like she was warding off some terrible violence. Franklin just kept running past her. Then she looks at me and angrily says "The off leash area is OVER! THERE!" and pointed.....two feet to her left. Where the off-leash area technically begins.
So yeah. I totally understand why dog owners pre-emptively try to reassure strangers that the dog they are walking around with off-leash is actually not a murderous demon with blood lust. BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE LITERALLY INSANE COWARDS
FUCKING DEAL WITH IT. Dogs live in the world, there are literally hundreds of millions of them, and there always have been, ALWAYS. We (humans) have always been used to this concept, until like 20 years ago, and I don't understand what changed.
Now people act like, oh my GOD, it's a DOG, what's gonna HAPPEN, what if it JUMPS ON ME, ARRRRRGHHHHH like it's some insane novel outrageous situation that no one's ever fucking dealt with before.
I think it is all part of modern Americans seeking out ever more outrageous ways to completely infantilize themselves and not be responsible for any human interaction, wanting every single thing to be legislated so that nothing will ever be uncertain. But uncertainty is part of life and you can't legislate for all possible encounters.
I am sick of people being babies.
You can't just fob off other people's rights because of what you want. A compromise was reached, and in compromises you don't get everything you want.
Hilarious
My inalienable right as a human being to not have to ever see or touch a dog unless I want to.
So glad 100,000 people died in the French Revolution defending that noble right
We need to drastically re-examine our priorities if LEASH LAWS are now being held up as RIGHTS.
Just deal with the frisbee, is what I'm saying. If you want somebody to stop throwing a frisbee near you, say "hey can you please move somewhere else."
We want to be babies--we want to NOT EVER HAVE TO HAVE uncomfortable interactions.
It is a cold comfort
Also this is terrible karma, this conversation. If my dog actually bit someone I would want to fucking die.
It is creepy when someone has a really weird/small pet peeve that they constantly bring up.
Also this was thread hijacking at its most egregious.
I just think dogs are important, that's all. They helped us get where we are today, and we shouldn't just act like they're weird nuisances.
but leash laws are good and important! like D said, 95% of dogs are ass-holes, and probably 98% of dog owners are too. if it weren't for them there would be no need for leash laws. reasons why leash laws are important: let's say i am walking my big pit bull who has issues and your off leash snoopy runs up to say hello, and then my dog kills him. OR i am trying to have a picnic in the park and some off leash dog decides he wants to eat all the food. OR some big dog sees some kid eating some yummy treat and decides he is just going to aggressively take it away from the kid. OR you are driving along and some off leash dog bolts across the street in front of you after a squirl which causes you to slam on your breaks which causes the car behind you to rear end you and then you have whiplash for the rest of your life. OR some off leash dog kills your cat. ETC ETC ETC
i love dogs hard, but totally agree with leash laws.
some crazy portland leash law history: maybe ten years ago or so some super agro person who hated off leash dogs in laurelhurst park started leaving chunks of poison meat under bushes in the park. lots of off leash dogs ate the meat and died horrible painful deaths. that act of terrorism is pretty much what lead to the adoption of dog parks and off-leash areas (as well as dog-free parks too). so another good reason to keep your dog on a leash: so he won't eat poison!
And I mean, having said all this, I NEVER have my dog off-leash except in quiet park zones. I mean, what kind of asshole would let their offleash dog go bananas at a kid's birthday party or something? Or let their dog run out into traffic, UGhhhh
I'm just really tired of people acting like they can legislate the actual behavior of dogs. That lady being mad that snoopy was 2 feet out of the off leash zone. What on earth kind of a world does that lady live in? And "being scared" of dogs who aren't even looking at you, going anywhere near you, etc. etc....I just think that is supremely lame.
DUDE, YOU ARE SUCH A JERK!
I do not need a giant rotty accosting me WITHOUT A LEASH on a 3 ft wide trail. NOT OKAY.
Thinking back this was also the hike where SOME GIRL decided to pick a giant bouquet of wildflowers on the trail for herself????? She was just sitting there with all the pretty blossoms I would have admired while walking - WTF? That hike got kind of dark w/r/t other humans.
I would basically agree with this.
Also so true most dog owners suck. Best kept secret of the dog park is how much you talk shit about everybody else at the dog park as soon as you leave the dog park. There are so many people who let their dog jump up on you. They're like "ha ha, he likes you!" Dude, you are supposed to be RAISING this dog, not just feeding it and being otherwise hands off!!
Also there is this creepy German shepherd who hunt-stalks the other dogs at the park while they're trying to play fetch. It is SO CREEPY, and his owner doesn't do anything about it. Or the classic dude on cell phone whose dog is ferociously humping every other dog 100% of the time.
I also think people who don't pick up their dog's shit should legitimately be put in prison
Yes! This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about way back earlier when this first came up.