San Diego kids fun

We just got back from a weekend in San Diego and I would like to mention both Legoland and the San Diego Zoo.

Legoland is a theme park geared to the under 10 set. It's probably best for kids 4-10 or so, but it has rides and activities for those older and younger as well. The rides are often scaled down amusement park rides, but they are tied to Lego themes, like castles and pirates. There are also Lego creations everywhere. The Safari ride is filled with Lego animals; the streams have Lego salmon in them; there is a test drive area where you build and race Lego cars; there is a factory display showing how Legos are made and there is the miniland. These impressive structures are giant dioramas of key features of American cities including Washington DC, NYC, Las Vegas, New Orleans and San Francisco. The buildings are highly detailed as are the people. The New Orleans Mardi Gras attendees even have beads.

If you don't like zoos, the San Diego Zoo won't convert you. If you do like them, you will be surprised by the size of the facility and the rarity of the collection. Any zoo can have a golden or bald eagle, but how many have harpy eagles or stellar sea eagles? The lizard house had an appealing number of Australian and Chinese snakes and lizards.

The most appealing aspect of the zoo was how they mixed species in habitats. One watery monkey display was also home to river otters. While we watched, a young monkey played chase with a pair of otters in and out of the water. I'd never seen the like.

Kid fun in PDX

There are two upcoming book events to note for kids. The first is that Mount Hood Railroad (located in Hood River) is running a Little Engine That Could party on the weekends of Sept 8 and Sept 15. I took my then three year old to a Thomas Party and it included a train ride, lots of games, music and movies. It's a good time for the little ones, and it will get you out into the Gorge.

At 1:00PM on September 22nd children's author Daniel Kirk will appear at the Beaverton location of Powells. He illustrated one of my kid's all time favorites, Chugga-chugga choo choo, and wrote books like Moondog and Cat Power. Sorry indie rockers, the latter features actual cats, rather than moody, heartfelt lyrics.

Air Show fun

The Oregon Air Show was even better than last year, based on child and parent entertainment units. The Blue Angels were truly amazing, but they were also truly loud. Next year I am bringing ear plugs for the kids. It's best they went on last, as the drama and skills were so impressive, it would have overshadowed the other impressive performers. Among those, I thought a foursome called the Collaborators were particularly fun to watch.

There were aircraft aplenty to watch, both on and off the ground. My daughter had the most fun climbing into P-3 and Super Stallion cockpits. The P-3 is an example of investment priority as in anti-submarine is last in line. The P-3, which is one of the standard USN anti-submarine platforms is decades old and it certainly feels like a Cold War aircraft. I can't imagine what the maintenance time is like.

A pair of Mig-17s flew and I greatly enjoyed seeing these Soviet airframes. The oddest plane was the Red Bull Mig 17, which you can see in this video. The Red bit is cheeky, and it would gall the old the Marxist Leninists to see one of their planes as an advertisement platform.

There was also an unadvertised Stealth Fighter fly-by. What a strange looking plane. Apparently it is not long for active service. Soon you will probably be able to see it at Davis Monthan.

It wasn't all planes though. The moon bounces and kids slide were $6 for an all day pass, which was an excellent bargain, considering we were at the show for six hours. I was a little worried after last year's plane crash that the show might be endangered. With the high turnout, it looks like it will be around for awhile.

If your air show thirst is unslaked, or if older planes are your bag, then mark your calendars for Sept 7-9 and pencil in Hood River. A new museum, The Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum is hosting a fly in, which will include a Jenny. Seeing one of those in flight is a rare treat.

Even sooner is the Central Oregon Air Show in Madras, which is August 24th and 25th. While in Madras, seek out the Original Burger Works. Excellent burgers and great shakes.

Oregon Air Show

Just in case you are planning to attend the air show tomorrow, be aware that the start time has moved up to 10AM. I'm very glad I checked or I would have outraged children with which to contend.

If that is not your bag, how about the two Coreys?

Fun in the Wallowas

I sometimes forget how very large Oregon is. We went to Wallowa Lake for the weekend and it is six hours away, so that is 12 hours of driving for about 18 hours of fun. Not the world's best trade, but we always wanted to get up that way. At first blush, it looks a lot like any other lake on Oregon. Although it is quite expensive ($13 to $20 per person) I recommend taking the Wallowa tramway, which takes you to the summit of Mt. Howard which has a few miles of hiking and stunning views of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. You can also hike in, but that isn't happening with smaller kids as the hikes are up to 12 miles with a couple thousand feet of elevation gain.

We also drove to Hell's Canyon, but a forest fire was obscuring most of the view. Bummer.

I would not have survived without XM radio. Among the treats served up were Blotto's I Wanna Be A Lifeguard, which I have not heard in ages. And I had forgotten Midnight Oil's Truganini as well, which is too crazy as that song is awesome.

While in Joseph, the main tourist town in the region, we hit Mad Mary's Soda Shop, which offers "Everything Fun and Fattening." I can't speak to the pastries or candies but the ice cream sodas were quite good. I was a little confused by the fact that they called a root beer and chocolate ice cream a Black Cow, as I had seen that as a Brown Cow. Mary's called coke and chocolate a brown cow. The wiki page says that there is not agreement on just which is which. Mary's also offered the Purple Cow which is grape juice and vanilla.

OBX

It has been close to 20 years since I have spent a beach vacation on the Outer Banks, and I was a little leery of the visit. Being crotchety, I was concerned that it would be too overdeveloped to enjoy it. Well, it was certainly more developed than I would like, but it was an ideal family vacation spot. We found just sitting on the beach was great fun, but seeking digging coquinas on Coquina Beach, watching the gators feed at the NC Aquarium at Manteo, sitting on the lawn of the Blue Point, and kayaking at Corolla were all highlights. Sadly, we did not manage a visit to Jockey's Ridge.

Speaking of Jockey's Ridge, I had remembered a mini-gold course located at the south end of the park. I recalled a pirate ship, a castle and other interesting features. On recent day trips to the area, there was no park. Fearing early onset dementia, I kept quiet about it. It turns out that the dune moved on top of the minigolf park. Not crazy yet it seems.