'Portland,' you say? 'But you don't live in Portland!' And you're right.
But here's the thing about being a single mama traveling with a lovely -- but VERY rambunctious -- two-and-a-half year old toddler. Flying by the seat of our pants is a bit trickier then it used to be. I have to kind of think ahead, even -- dare I say -- plan (something I'm particularly poor at). Otherwise, my kid is liable to run the residents of whatever residence we're staying, completely ragged from 4ish in the morning (seems reasonable to him, being 6 a.m. home time) til about 8 or 9 at night.
Another factor feeding into this posting: we are living on a teeny shoestring of a budget these days, since becoming homeowners has pretty much sucked up most of our leisure money. The cool thing about planning ahead is that it actually pays off in the long run, since a little research turns up coupons, free days, two-dollar-days, and the like. But without said research, you miss those plum opportunities and become a full-price-paying poorhouse resident in short order!
So...having booked a weeklong trip to Portland in September for my wonderful friend Karen's wedding, and having mulled over the possibilities of NOT planning ahead, and how that would affect my brother Jo Jo, his wife Bahar, their two awesome housemates, and whoever else is crashing on couches, etc. at their crib during the wedding weekend, I found myself haunted by the possibilities of my toddler (ripe in the stages of the "terrific" twos, as I call it...but my viewpoint on that may be unique at the moment) crashing through the house at 4:30ish a.m., chasing cats and hollering bloody murder for his breakfast.
This terrifying thought was enough to get me off my butt and moving, so I started a little list for myself, a la my Evanston free & cheaps, only this one is a Portland-in-September free & cheaps. I made some cool kiddo-oriented (and young-at-heart adult) discoveries which have considerably put my mind at ease, and figured I would throw them out there in case other wedding-bound parents are suffering similar anxiety.
Doubtful, because I think my son will be the only toddler present whose presence is often mistaken for a passing tornado LOL...but whatever. Hope these help, if not for this trip, then for any folks making a future trip to my favorite home-away-from-home!
Enjoy!
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Weather permitting, my biggest ace-in-the-hole is that Portland parks and playgrounds open at 5 a.m. daily and with a little hunting, I have discovered that they abound. The Portland Parks & Recreation's website offers an awesome park finder here; simply choose your area, based on where you're staying, and your amenity (i.e. for us that would be "playground" or "hiking"), and it will present you with an array of options.
So my aforementioned ace-in-the-hole? I know my kid will wake me at the crack of dawn every morning, so before he can wake everyone else, I plan on stuffing his face with food, busting out a borrowed stroller (still working on that one, but have heard rumors that Bahar's wonderful friend Buffy may be down for a lending redux, woo hoo!) or using Jo Jo's car, which he has generously offered, hitting an early-hours cafe for a cuppa joe to go, and making our way to one of the many rocking SE-area playgrounds to let Ayize run himself ragged while I alternately sip and snooze on a nearby bench!
So far, I'm planning on:
Piccolo Park;
Sellwood Park;
Woodstock Park;
Berkeley Park;
and Laurelhurst Park.
All located in the SE section of the city, not far from Jo Jo's house. And of course, there's the totally-awesome:
Rose Garden Children's Park;
and the Mount Tabor Park.
So if you're early risers too, give my celly a buzz and let's sit and sip while the kids pound the playgrounds to pieces!
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Our clear choice is generally to be out and about anywhere in the fresh air! But Portland being Portland, sometimes the weather refuses to cooperate. So here are some big-ticket kid-friendly destinations -- at little-ticket prices -- just in case the weather acts like a big bully during the wedding weekend:
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), open daily from 9:30 to 7 p.m. (5:30 p.m. adter September 7), offers a majorly discounted $2 admission per person (kids under are 3 free) on the first Sunday of each month. Sure beats shelling out 12 bucks a head as you would on a normal day...but on the other hand, the first Sunday in September happens to be Karen's wedding day! But then again, on the other other hand, if the weather that morning is inclement, I'll need a mongo morning outing to ensure I get a nice, long "happy nappy" out of Ayize so he can last long at the evening's celebration...so this may be our morning destination, weather depending!
The Portland Children's Museum, open daily from 9 to 5 (but take note that the museum is closed September 7 through the 13th for annual maintenance), offers a Target Free Friday Night from 4 to 8 p.m. on the first Friday of each month -- in this case, Friday, September 3rd. A huge savings, considering that the normal entrance fee is $8 for everyone over the age of 1 year old!
The Oregon Zoo, open daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (gates close at 6) through mid-September, offers $4 Second Tuesdays -- but since the second Tuesday in September falls on the 14th, few of us will still be around to take advantage of this great deal. Sigh.
Still, for those who can't resist this incredible kid-friendly attraction, the prices (kids under 3 free, $7.50 for kids 3 to 11, and $10.50 for everyone 12 and over) can be saved twice over if you take the MAX (Portland public transport) to the zoo and present your ticket stub at the entrance gate. Not only will you save $2/vehicle in parking fees, but every ticketholder saves $1.50 off their zoo admission. Two birds with one stone!
As an added bonus, kids under 3 also get to ride the Zoo Trains for free. It will cost Mom or Dad $3.50 to $5 depending on which train route you choose (one is longer), but if your kid is as loco about locomotives as mine is, you may find it well worth the added expense!
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Okay, last but not least, a random smattering of area indoor attractions offering high-octane activity for kids with a little too much gas in the tank. Who shall remain unnamed. LOL
Munchkin Playland is basically a kid-friendly alternative to Starbucks, where you can get your caffeine on while your kid runs around playing on a compact but awesome-looking indoor playground. Another plus: free Wi-Fi is available. It's located in NW Portland, in the West Union Village shopping complex. They serve Stumptown coffee, light adult fare, kid-friendly eats, and even partner with next-door restaurants (a teriyaki place and a pizzeria) so you can eat a larger meal there, too, served directly to your table. A play pass will run you $6 for unlimited play time for your kid. Opens at 8 a.m. every morning and stays open until 7 at night, (5 on weekends). A wonderful alternative for us in case the weather is bad!
The Playground Gym opens its doors to non-members of all ages during two-hour, drop-in, open play times four days a week. This indoor, fully-equipped kids' gym is located in NE Portland and charges $8 for the first hour and $4 for the second hour, if you stay that long. They will break it down into quarter-hour increments at $1 apiece so you don't have to "buy in" for a whole additional hour, which is nice for penny-pinchers like us! Ayize loves tumbling and climbing and balancing and bouncing so this makes for a great foul-weather get-active option, despite the high (for Portland) price tag.
Portland Parks & Recreation offer Indoor Parks (indoor playspaces) at six different community centers around the city every weekday morning; click here for a schedule of dates, times, locations and fees. They are mostly two-hour time slots in the window between 9 and noon, and they are generally aimed at kids aged newborn to 5 years old. They are all extremely fair, price-wise, costing between 75 cents and 3 dollars.
Cedar Hills Recreation Center offers a drop-in indoor playspace for kids aged newborn to 6 years old, from September through May. It's located in SW Portland and runs on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 to 11:15 a.m. The cost is $2.50 per child; you're supposed to be a PDX resident, but I doubt they'll have bouncers checking IDs at the door. Most of these places are uber-flexible, even in tightwad old Illinois, so I can't imagine Portland being any less lenient!Three community centers offer up amazing pool options for the kiddos if you need to get some little legs moving on a rainy day. All three pools are heated to between 84 and 88 degrees, a real plus when swimming with little kids who don't dig getting chilled, and all three pools have amazingly fair rates: kids under three are free, and everybody else pays between $2 and $6, depending on which pool you choose, and what age you are. All three offer daily open play swim times, though they vary depending on the pool. Click on the catalogs (linked below) for hours and rates of each location.
East Portland Community Center has an awesome-looking leisure pool with a waterslide, a current channel, a vortex, and all kinds of other fun amenities. It's located in SE Portland. Click on the EPCC pool's catalog for a schedule. We are soooo going there on a rainy day if we get a chance!
Southwest Community Center has a rocking, zero-depth entry pool with a waterslide and a bunch of "interactive features", i.e. built-in water toys...so parents, prepare to get WET! It's located (predictably) in SW Portland. Click on SCC pool's catalog for a schedule.
Matt Dishman Community Center, located in NE Portland, is the smallest and cheapest of the trifecta, because it's minus all the bells and whistles of the other two big leisure pools...but if your kids are really young, they won't notice or care! Click on MDCC pool's catalog for a schedule.
Whoops! Almost forgot two more rainy-day places. First of all, Portland's Burger King on Barbur Boulevard has a giant play space which only costs $1/ per child for two hours of playtime. Please note that socks are required to play. I'm vegetarian, and frankly, I hate Burger King and all of its ilk, but shoo! at two hours for a buck, this is one rainy-day Portland deal I might not be able to pass up!
And lastly (I swear this time), nearby Beaverton has a Pump It Up with almost daily open play times. You can call to ask about available openings, because they schedule them in daily around birthday parties, or you can check their online calendar here. Please note that socks are required to play. It looks like their pop-in playtimes occur daily, but at various time slots, usually running around three to five hours, and cost $7 per session for unlimited time, but be aware that the PIU chain perpetually runs $2 off coupons in local rags, in my experience, so hunt for coupons locally before you go!
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A couple farther-out ventures and then I'll shut up:
Oaks Park Amusement Park & Skating Rink is one of the oldest in the nation, and is also (according to scientific calculations and much empirical study, of course) one of the coolest, to boot! Ayize has, of course, been here before, and it's a guaranteed good time, so hopefully we'll be able to stage a repeat to one of our forever faves. For photos and videos of the fun that Liz, Ayize, and I had here last year, click here.
Multnomah Falls, Oregon's tallest waterfall, and just a short drive away from Portland. An oldie but goodie -- I've been there so many times over the past 18 years, in so many stages of my life, but it never gets old. And come to think of it, it's been a while. It would actually be Ayize's first trip to the Falls. Wow!
I'm jonesing to hit the Timberline Lodge, the spooky site of the 1970's Stephen King film The Shining. The last time we went, snow fell hard and heavy and Jo Jo, Andy, and I went inside to warm up and watched fast-falling snow pile so high it obscured the view from the second-floor window of where we were sitting. Aye caramba!
The nearby Mount Hood Adventure Park is beckoning me, as well. On that same trip, the three of us experienced the unique joy that is skibowling, and I happened to notice that there were a bunch of fun kids' attractions too. Ayize may be a bit young for a lot of the activities, but I'm willing to bet that given his daredevil ways, that will be little deterrent to his desire to participate. The only sucky part is the price tag, but it looks like you can purchase just a few "a la carte" passes so we can pick and choose a few rides that he'll be allowed on.
The Oregon Coast. Specifically, I would looooove to take Ayize to Newport, Oregon to eat some warm fudge squares before wandering onto Cannon Beach to rent sand bikes and fly kites. It would be the first time my kiddo has ever set foot in an ocean. Dare to dream, I always say!
Best of all, the Oregon Coast Aquarium is out that-a-ways, and I have never been. Now is the perfect time to go since Ayize's borderline obsessed with all things finned. The downside of the aquarium is its price tag, a whopping $9.95 - $15.45 (depending on whether you're a youth, teen, adult, or senior) for everyone over 3 years old. The only coupon I can find is a buy-one-adult-admission-get-one-child-in-for-free printable pass, which is no help to me since Ayize will be free regardless. Still, here's to hoping it helps someone! And meanwhile, I'll continue to hunt the online bargain bins for an elusive discount entry to aid my aquarium "cause"!
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Okay, all done with my random ramble off the Portland trip diary path. Thanks for stopping by, and hope this helps.
See you all in September!
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