Travel

Race Fans & Christmas Lights

Seeing all the wonderful posts online of different light displays for Christmas has inspired me to share a story with you. It's the story of one family's crazy idea to drive 400-ish miles (one way) through snowy mountain passes during the busiest travel weekend of the year to see Christmas lights and to shop. It's a story of adventure, discovery, laughter, fun and the kind of memories that are priceless. Please join us on our adventure to Portland Oregon, Thanksgiving weekend a couple of years ago.

As I've said, the older I get the more I feel the "Gypsy Blood" in me come out. This was no exception. I had the week of Thanksgiving off from work and the plan was to get a bunch of things done at home. Well, that isn't exactly what I wanted to do so I made something else happen. The morning of Thanksgiving, we loaded up the car, made a quick stop to see my parents (they always ran a Community Thanksgiving Dinner in their small town and they were hard at work there) and we hit the road. Thankfully, and rather surprisingly, the traffic wasn't bad and the roads (even through the mountain passes) were pretty much clear. We really were fortunate to find the roads in those conditions because driving out of this valley anytime in the winter can be something else! The weirdest thing? While the rest of the world was eating Turkey, Stuffing, Pies and all the goodness of Thanksgiving? What did we feed our kids? Ha ha - chips, candy, jerky and eventually a dinner stop for fast food burgers. A memorable meal! We made it safely to our hotel and tucked in for the night.

Black Friday started off REALLY weird. Our hotel was one that offered free breakfast so I took one of the boys and we went to get breakfast. How was I to know that there were about 5000 squealing and screaming and crying teenage Asian girls in the breakfast room? The hotel staff did a decent job of "corralling" said screaming fan-girls into one side of the room. Why were they going nuts? I had absolutely zero clue who they were, but apparently we ate breakfast that morning with the boys from the Korean Boy Band BTS. (Yes that required some research on my part after the fact)

When we planned this adventure, one thing we included was shopping. A few months earlier, my honey & I discovered a pretty incredible electronics store ("nerd store") in Vegas and there's also one in Portland. All three of my electronics geeks were pretty stoked to get into some great deals on Black Friday. It was a MAJOR disappointment! Not at all like it's Southern Cousin. That was a bummer and I didn't get to the Disney Store's Black Friday Sale either, but life goes on. We had more important things to do anyway.

We went to what was, hands down, the absolute best place to take any race fan or classic car lover. My boys were over the moon excited to go and be able to drive the race cars on simulated tracks. It was so much fun to watch them cut loose on the tracks, feel the adrenaline of the race and to fall deeper in love with the sport. The place is a museum unlike any you can imagine. It's not just the race cars, classic cars and memorabilia but it's the people. The "hosts" are former drivers and high school kids that are learning the ins and outs of the automotive world at the hands of the masters. There's no better education than that.

After a stop for lunch at Burgerville, it's back to the hotel for an afternoon of swimming, a little bit of a rest and then to the Portland International Raceway. Portland is host to the Pacific Northwest's largest light display and, yes, you actually DO get to drive on the racetrack through the display. (Not quite at raceway speeds though. Ha ha!) They started doing this in 1993 and it continues to grow every year. This was opening weekend so we expected it to be a madhouse, but it really wasn't. There were a lot of people there, but it was so well-organized that the number of people was never an issue. The night we were there, they were offering admission for only $10 with donation of canned foods for their food drive (it was normally $20 a car). I planned ahead and took a couple of cans with us. I have NO idea how long we were there, but it was such a neat experience! I can't even put into words how overwhelmingly beautiful the lights & music were, how well planned out it was and how happy everyone who was there seemed. I'm actually really happy to see similar events starting to pop up all over the country this year. I don't care how old you are, driving through a giant tunnel of lights will make you feel like a kid again - the wonder and magic of Christmas that night was tangible.

This day has been so much fun! One more stop: The Grotto. The what? The Grotto is the "National Sanctuary of Our Sorrowful Mother, a Roman Catholic ministry of the Order of Friar Servants of Mary". It's a 62 acre shrine hidden in the city of Portland that is dedicated to peace, prayer and celebrating the natural beauty within it. Ummm...and this ties in...how? I'm glad you asked. Every Christmas Season, they host a "Christmas Festival of Lights." The gardens come to life with an unfathomable number of lights and displays to celebrate the season and the birth of the Savior. Choirs perform in the gorgeous cathedral and their beautiful songs permeate the air throughout the gardens. The center piece though? The cave that was carved out of the 110 foot tall basalt cliff. No picture can do it justice. It's beautiful and there, at the base of the cave we find the Nativity. It's a beautiful place, but the thing that made it not my favorite stop? It was crowded and noisy. Of course that's to be expected, but when you go into a Sanctuary like that you expect some modicum of stillness, reverence or quiet contemplation. None of that existed here and I was, honestly, disappointed in that. The lights, displays and music were beautiful but I had hoped for more. I'm glad we went, but I wouldn't go again.

The next morning, before we head home, we have a couple more stops to make. First, we found a little hole in the wall Star Wars store - I'm pretty sure if you find something like that you are obligated to check it out. It was fun, they had some cool things but I'm happy to report we left without spending any money. (Whew!) That would soon change...

If you are from the Pacific NW, you'll know exactly what I mean when I say it was "Civil War Weekend". If you don't? Well...let's just say there is no bigger college football game than when the Ducks & the Beavers play. Who needs Black Friday shopping when you can go to the Duck Store during Civil War Weekend? Ha ha! I have a youngster who plans on being a Duck (and a husband who in his heart, is a Duck) so you can probably guess the wallet took a hit at that stop.

It's time. A stop at our favorite "pit stop" at Spooky's in the Dalles for pizza and some video games then we hit the road towards home.

It's been a whirlwind weekend full of racing and Christmas lights and just having an adventure. It was kind of an impromptu trip, but it came together so well and it was just fun. Those are THE BEST kind of trips.

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