Pre-Announcement for Leaguefest 2016!

67 thoughts on “Pre-Announcement for Leaguefest 2016!”

1. Ironically I’m being dragged to Portland by my travel obsessed hubby this coming weekend. Any suggestions on fun activities in the area?Report

   1. http://www.powells.com/Report

      1. Thread’s over shut it downReport

      2. A used book store? I’m always down for books.Report

   2. Not trying to insinuate myself into a romantic getaway with the hubby, but if you guys decide your PDX experience calls for some random, middle-aged, blog-editing native to buy you a round at some point…

      Past that, Richard is right about Powell’s.

      Can you give me an idea about what kinds of things you like to do when traveling? Are you foodies, winos, dancers, people who like to take in entertainment?

      As you can likely guess, I have a million suggestions, so anything you could do to narrow it down to say, 50,000 would be helpful.Report

      1. Romantic getaway my ass. He went to china last year in May and used all his time off to do so and thus had to not travel for the months that followed. So he’s dragging me to Portland out of raw travel lust. Just a fig leaf of justification. Grump!

         We are definitely foodies and love entertainment. I’ll admit to being fond of clubs. If you’d like to meet up for dinner somewhere possibly on Saturday or Sunday that’d be great, I’d love to meet you in person. I think you have my email addy if you’d like to arrange something. How’s your schedule look for the weekend?Report

         1. Foodies must go to Mother’s.Report

         2. I would need to check in with own differently-sexed hubby, but I think it’s pretty clear both evenings.

            If you like theatre, the two shows that are getting the most buzz right now are Portland Reps Mothers and Sons, and Portland Center Stage’s Stupid F**king Bird. I’ve seen a different staging to M&S, and like it quite a bit. I haven’t seem Bird, but might recommend it just because it’s in the Pearl District, and a couple of blocks away from Powell’s.

            Because I’m very, very old, you should seek out second opinions on the club scene, but I would say that the most popular one these days seems to be RoseClub, the most quintessentially indie-PDX is Holocene, and the most historic-Portland-nightlife is the Embers. (How historic? I danced there when I was 21. That historic.)

            There are a tone of places for good food. Pop Pok is amazing if you lean toward the adventurous. (Be aware, though, that Pok Pok doesn’t take reservations and is hugely popular. You’ll want to go earlier than you would be starving-ly hungry, and hang out at the Whiskey Soda Lounge till it’s time to be seated.) Adina is also pretty awesome. If you want French go to La Pigeon. If you want NW farm-to-table, Bar Avignon is fabulous. (The menu changes almost daily, based on what the chef finds available at his sources.)

            That might help?

            I’ll shoot you an email later today.Report

            1. Thanks, it does.Report

            2. I second everything Tod recommended with the exception of Bar Avignon, and that’s only becuase I haven’t tried it, yet. Stupid Bird will be great, I’m sure of it. I’ve been a season ticket holder with Portland Center Stage and they always do a great job.Report

               1. Thanks!Report

            3. You guys have any Olive Gardens in Portland?Report

   3. Travel guides will tell you all about Voodoo Donuts. When my wife and I traveled to Portland a while back (too long ago!) we did the obligatory trip and stood in the obligatory line and got the obligatory charmingly surly service.

      Our Tod’s assessment of the experience turned out to be spot-on: it’s a donut. You’ve had donuts before. Yeah, this one comes with a little more attitude than most. It’s more cute than counter-cultural. But, yeah, it’s a donut.

      Now, the Saturday Market at the Waterfront Park, that’s a different story. We had great fun there and will make it a point to go back on the Leaguefest trip.

      Alsotoo: bring hoodies, not umbrellas.Report

      1. Good central PA hard pretzels aren’t just a pretzel

         We have a good donut shop in the area, and they make cinnamon rolls as big as your head. They’re deepfried, and you can’t eat a whole one even if you do a 15 mile hike. (I tried!)Report

      2. Skip the line at Voodoo and do Blue Star donuts. Soooo much better. I like the lime curd and the blueberry bourbon basil. Oh, and just down the street you can go to Ruby Jewel for amazing ice cream. I recommend their rosemary pecans on top.Report

         1. Lime curd sounds delicious. Blueberry bourbon not so much.Report

   4. Vodoo Donuts and the many fine craft breweries.Report

2. I can’t make the second half of June, because of my son’s college graduation. The rest of the summer is good.Report

   1. because of my son’s college graduation

      Eh, you can skip it.

      (Also, early congrats to your son.)Report

   2. Yay!

      And early congrats on your son.Report

   3. You’re going to your son’s graduation? I didn’t even go to my own. In fact, I didn’t even tell my parents I went back to school until the graduation was safely behind me.Report

      1. I went to my graduation for my BS (for long and complicated reasons related to my parents), but didn’t bother for the MS.Report

      2. You’re going to your son’s graduation?

         That’s kind of the usual thing.Report

3. I can likely make it if it is in July or early August. I have family in Seattle that could justify the drive up.Report

   1. Awesome!Report

4. I can probably justify a trip during the summerReport

   1. Yes!Report

   2. Portland’s only like 600 miles from San Francisco. That’s like driving to the next town over in Texas.Report

      1. Road trip!Report

         1. Actually, I would be down to carpool, as we should be green!Report

            1. It is Portland… We wouldn’t want to have to turn you away at the door. Report

            2. That could be fun.Report

5. Last weekend in July and first two weekends in August are very doable as I can stretch the trip out a day or two. Otherwise, weekends in June/July are possible but a tighter squeeze.

   Is anyone bringing wee ones? Are they welcome at Casa de Kelly? It’d be much easier for me (from a flexibility standpoint, at least) to bring Mayo and Little Marcus Allen. And if any OT-ers are willing to hold a child here and there, the trip might actually be a fun one!Report

   1. Wee ones are always welcome at Casa de Kelly. If we have have a litter’s worth, I’ll likely pay my ex-wee ones to be wee-one overseers for the night, so that parents can enjoy those rare, broken moments of adult conversation.Report

      1. If that’s the case… I might just bring Junior. He loves Tod’s house and kids. I want to hold the baby!Report

         1. He’s all yours! Though by that point, he’ll be a monstrous one-and-some-months-year-old.

            Mayo will quickly establish dominion over all sub-adults.Report

6. My employer is currently being acquired by Siemen’s, so my summer is rather up in the air (my work travel schedule is already starting to fill up), aside from trips already on the calendar.Report

   1. Fingers crossed, then.Report

   2. The one big trip I have is at the end of July, as we are taking Bug to EAA & visiting family in WI.Report

7. I will try to make it, depending of course on work obligations and medical issues (much more and less serious than they should be. Later is better, so I can clear out some things (hopefully.)Report

   1. That would be most awesome. I would love to meet you.Report

8. I miss Portland. Good memories there. Guess I should have gone more often when I had the chance. There’s a lesson there, which I will no doubt fail to incorporate into my future decision-making structure.Report

9. I have to attend since it’s in my home town. It would be rude to ignore you all. Besides, I’ve only missed one Leaguefest before and I don’t intend on missing any more.

   Once we settle on a date, can I help research fun things to do? We have a different festival in town every weekend during the summer and there are only about a million other fun things to do. You might need help finding ideas. Report

10. There used to be a seafood restaurant, with a view of the river. Can’t recall the name, but they were famous for their crab louie…..Of course that was in the 80s.

    Good times.Report

    1. Salty’s?Report

       1. That looks like the location. I’m sure that the name has changed though since I was there.Report

          1. Had dinner there one night with my wife, spent way too much time watching the airplanes landing at PDX (we were under the approach path that night).Report

11. My summer is very confusing because my workplace is moving from “planning for a renovation” to “getting into place to actually DO this major renovation” and (of course) we get one set of very! urgent! deadlines from facilities and then (of course) contractors have delays and we are told all sorts of fanciful things about when we might actually be allowed to do the moving sorts of things we were previously told to brace ourselves to do! very! urgently!

    I hold no grudges against facilities, as this seems to be how EVERY such project works – or at least the exceptions are so rare as to prove the rule – but it does make planning for the summer rather difficult on numerous levels. Will the big scramble to move and re-establish services happen in march and may? may and june? july and september? who knows.

    That said, both Jaybird and I *very* much want to attend, and I feel about 70 percent confident that late July or VERY early August (no later than the first weekend) are the best times for that. I already warned my officemate that if we sort out Leaguefest before facilities sorts out moving, I *will* be going to Leaguefest regardless of how inconvenient it turns out to be.Report

    1. Well if you’re going to be there then I will have to make time to go.Report

    2. That would be amazing!Report

12. Portland’s only about a two or three hour drive south of me, so yeah, I will definitely try to come to this. If at all possible, at least some of us should try to make a sojourn to my Mecca, the Multnomah Whisky Library, for an evening of steak and scotch.Report

    1. Such a thing exists?!

       And no one told me before now?!

       My heaven may exist, and it might be near Portland…Report

       1. It’s not near Portland, it’s right in the heart of the city.Report

    2. I love all libraries, but Multnomah Whisky Library is one of my favorites. I need a new memory there. Leaguefest outing would be loads of improvement over a creepy guy date.Report

    3. Seriously, if this isn’t the perfect place to convene the LoOG, I don’t know what is.Report

       1. The difficulty is that it’s hard to get a large group in if you don’t own a membership, and sadly I do not.Report

          1. Would we only need one membership to do it? If so, depending on how many of us there are, maybe we could all chip in twenty or so bucks, something like that. It could be your retirement present.Report

             1. A little sleuthing indicates a $600 donation to an approved charity jumps the list. Members can bring in non-members with a reservation. A large group may be hard to accommodate. But super-advanced notice may do the trick. I’d be game to chip in to make this happen, for both all the OT-ers and for our Tod.Report

13. Early August might work the best for me. Saul and I could share a room.Report

    1. That would be most awesome if you both came.Report

14. A year ago I’d have been in (Powell’s alone is sufficient draw), but now I’m on the eastern side of the country and the round-trip flight is a bit too much for me. Sorry.

    I was hoping the League would pick Chicago, where I want to go anyway.Report

    1. Sadly, you are two years too late.Report

15. My summer is wide open, so I think a trip to Oregon would be in order. I was really bummed to have missed the Fest in my home city (Chicago). Plus, I want to go around and pronounce Oregon with my Chicago accent just to see how many times I can get corrected.Report

    1. My prediction: 27 times, right after the first time you say it in public, by everyone within earshot.

       Also, excited you might come!Report

16. I can make no promises and thus won’t opine on dates, but I have some friends in Seattle who’ve been bugging us to come visit, so maybe we could roll that and this into one trip and swing it.Report

    1. It’d be great if you could make it. We could listen to music and great drunk in person!Report

17. Unfortunately, the only scenario under which I would be able to attend Leaguefest this summer is if it’s in the breakroom of the hospital I’ll be indentured at.

    I’m optimistic for next year/decade!Report

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