Again, on a Friday night after work, when we had no plan, why not watch a free movie and eat popcorn with other people in a park. This is a very friendly and safe place to hang around thanks to the City of Portland. On this day (7/12), they had this Movies in the Park event at Colonel Summers Park in East downtown Portland.
How to get there?
It takes about 8 mins drive from downtown Portland. The traffic towards a bridge across Willamette River can get heavy depending on time of a day.
Every summer in Portland Oregon, Portland Parks and Recreation by the City of Portland offer free movie and live music concerts with local music bands. This is a very friendly event and kids would love it.
Portland Parks & Recreation by City of Portland. This event was well managed and trash cans and toilets were there. Here is the list of coming up events for the movies in the park.
The movie starts after dusk (it started around 9:30pm). Free concert starts around 6:30pm.
kids playground, basketball courts and baseball field are there.
Food and Drink?
Free popcorn and food carts are available. Everybody is welcome to bring any outside food.
How was the movie?
The movie was Fantastic Beasts: Crimes Of Grindelwald from 2018. The movie was a little more than 2 hours (2 hr and 13 min). This is the second movie of the “Fantastic Beasts” series. The content is about what happened before Harry Potter. Young Dumbledore was in the movie.
They played the DVD version. The movie started after 9:30 and finished around 11:30. It got very cold. Extra blankets would help.
Introduction | Fort Vancouver is a National Historical Park and they hold a July 4th Fireworks event. This is one of the biggest fireworks at West Coast. They play music while launch fireworks. They start fireworks after 10pm, which is later than other firework places. So, it is a good idea to bring warm cloths to wait for fireworks.
Park Features:
Parking: Free Street Parking on July 4th (Holiday)
Bathroom: Toilets and public restrooms at Visitor Center and Museum
Parking is free on July 4th on street. There would be traffic jam after fireworks, so if possible, I’d recommend to park where you could exit from crowd easily. For example, closer to entrance to highway.
There were a couple of people checking car traffic on Evergreen Blvd. You could park on Reserve St or before the bridge. You need to take a walk to the park.
Food and Gift Shops?
Yes, at Visitor Center and Food Cart. You can bring outside food. There was a bag check at the park entrance.
What to do before fireworks start after 10pm?
Art Museum
The front door to enter the museum after the ticket office was unique. The museum ticket was free on July 4th.
Miniature of Fort Vancouver
When do the fireworks start?
Fireworks started around 10:05pm. It was already cold, so good to bring blankets.
Starting FireworksJuly 4th Signature Firework There was a fire near the highway after the fireworks. Firefighters were able to stop the fire. Great Job!
There were a plenty of parking space as we arrived a bit early to get to the first home game and free towels.
Stadium Entrance. The gate opened at 5:30 pm. The game started around 7:15PM.
Practice before the game and Scoreboard and local sponsors.
Yes, the Hoppiest Place on Earth.
Everything tasted good outside watching the game. Official Sausage of the Hillsboro Hops. They had very good hot dogs. It seemed that many people wanted to drink outside.
Pitching bullpens. Behind the wall – food cart
Kids Park and Adult Park? (hop garden with beer).
Outside Hopps Store. There is also an inside one by the entrance.
View from the home base.
Hillsboro Mascot. Barley jumped!
During the game.
Hops were losing…
Yes, Fireworks after the first opening game and last game.
Final Score: Vancouver vs Hillsboro Hops, 5-1
Going home from the stadium was not too bad. It may be because some people left in the middle of the game. Overall, this is a very good experience and atmosphere was great.
After sunset, it got very cold. Fireworks were very good and lasted about 7 mins.
This small trail is part of big John Day Fossil Beds National Monument and the Painted Hills.
Driving on a unpaved road next to Painted Hills
Small Rock in the middle
Beautiful Painted Hill – looks like art
This trail only took us 30 mins, but it was very comfortable. Not many people were there, so we had enough time to take pictures and enjoy the art in nature.
If you like this post, this link is our park tour archive. Park Tour
This park is located in the middle of a city called Hillsboro, Oregon. There is a very nice trail and creek surrounded by trees in residential area. This is a nice place for taking a dog for a walk.
There was a cemetery in the middle of the hiking trail.
We saw a horse while we were hiking. This town is a peaceful. Only 480 people live in Moises, Oregon.
On the way to the top, there were switchbacks and stairs were build nicely (evenly spaced), which helped us hike up easily rather than hiking on dirt.
This is the scenery from the view point on top. You can see Columbia River and highway 84 where we drove from.
Another view point was near the cliff 20 mins hike from the top. It was very windy but the view was gorgeous. The picture below is towards East Oregon.
Here is the run after work. I ran on Wildwood trail. Today was another sunny day, so it was easy to get thirsty while running. The forest definitely helped cool down the temperature a little compared to running on concrete in a city.
Entrance to Wildwood trail!
Wildwood trail is a very famous trail for runners.
Unfortunately, the trail to pass the Burnside road all the way to Pittock Mansion was closed. So, I just ran on concrete a little to see traffic jam on Burnside Road and came back to Oregon Zoo. Good news is they are building a bridge over the Burnside Road according to this website. https://www.portlandpf.org/footbridge-over-burnside-construction-updates-1
This looks like we lose some of the uphill challenges 😛
Here is an Oregon State Park in Bandon along the Oregon Coast. 30 minutes away from Coos Bay, Oregon. Bandon was the hub for shipping between Portland, Oregon and San Francisco since 1800.
The lighthouse was built in 1896 and still in good shape. Inside the lighthouse, there is a gift shot and park rangers were working there.
