Saturday fun

I had such a good day yesterday that I am compelled to share.

So my friend Kim S. had invited me a few weeks back to go with her and her company on a Willamette Jet Boat ride, and I agreed, mostly because it is a mid-day gig and I am a wuss and simply can't seem to do much on Saturday nights anymore (except for Lori and Gilbert's family barbecues). This Saturday rolled around, and I was looking forward to it. I had never been, never heard of it, never seen them on the Willamette, nada. For those of you who do not know Portland, the Willamette River divides the city of Portland into the west side and the east side. Portland has a ton of bridges to get you from one side to the other - I rarely use those bridges, as I am a west-sider and downtown is on my side. The Copper Penny is on the other. I think for those of you that DO know Portland, that pretty much sums it up.

Anyway, come to find out, Saturday the 19th was also Multnomah Days in Multnomah Village, a neighborhood (on the west side) of Portland. Kim S. lives in Multnomah (for like 17 years as it turns out), so the plan was that I would meet her and her good friend's son (Jake, he is going into the 5th grade, so what is that, like 11?) somewhere for lunch and then head on to the jet boat ride.

As you all know, I was up and ready to go pretty early yesterday, so I phoned Kim to find out what time the parade was. Jake, a Cub Scout, was marching in the parade, so when I phoned her at around 9:30, she was already walking him down the the post office where it all started. I told her I would come for the parade and I went on to her house, parked the car in her driveway and met her down in the village (max 3 min walking time - she is right there in the middle of it all).

We found a spot, hunkered down (that phrase always reminds me of Seamus. Had a little "Seamus moment" there. Okay, it's gone.) and waited for the start of it. It was fun! Jake and the Scouts were pretty much the 2nd entry, so he got to watch the rest of it with us. You all know (by now, good Lord) that I am not a gigantic fan of kids, just because they get to that annoying stage (somewhere around age 8 months and ending around 26 years), but Jake is a VERY good kid. I was surprised. Anyway, all manner of parade entries marched, drove, trotted and bicycled their way past our little stoop in front of the community center, and it was really great fun. You gotta love a parade. When it ended (about an hour later), we walked around the village and looked at the booths and in stores with the other 1000 people (it was pretty busy) and then ended up having lunch at Lucky Labrador.

After lunch, we went back to Kim's to get the car and go to the jet boat ride. She had about 60 people set up for it - and that is how many people the boats hold. Seems like a lot, doesn't it? So on we go, down to OMSI (you park there and the docks are in front) and soon enough, the crew was ready and about 57 of our 60 people were anxiously awaiting the start. We left around 2:05 (those other 3 didn't show). The captain let us know the drill, safety stuff, and that we would be getting wet. The younger kids on the boat were wondering where was the best place to sit to get wet (it was like 90 degrees outside) and he said anywhere. We let Jake sit on the end, and we were in the 2nd to the last row, with me in the middle.

So the ride starts out, and this thing has 3 Chevy 456 engines in it and goes REALLY fast (when you can). He does a bunch of stuff, like slams on the brakes (but really only the front people were getting any kind of wet) and spins (depending on what side of the boat you were on, some got wetter than others). We went up toward the Fremont Bridge, then turned around, and then went back down south, toward Oregon City and all that.

So the cool thing about this was the history involved. He gave us little stories about places along the way, fast facts about Portland, that kind of thing, and it was really interesting. Plus, you know, you were on a boat in the Willamette on a hot day, sometimes going really fast and sometimes not, and it was just pretty bitchin. We went all the way down to Willamette Falls and actually went all the way the locks, very interesting, and then we started back toward base (it's a 2 hour ride). He went fast a lot on the way back (since we had already had our history lesson) and did some more spins and stuff. Anyway, I was about to say to Kim that I was impressed with our seating location since the worst I had gotten was sprays to the face here and there, when he slams on the brakes and absolutely NAILS the entire boat. I mean nails us. Total water wave. I was SOAKED. Mascara was everywhere (on the girls around me - I was smart and used waterproof). Hair, tshirt, shorts, shoes, COMPLETELY saturated. So now we speed up and continue on our way and it's COLD! It was really a great time, and I so recommend it. I wish I would have known about it before.

Back at the dock at 4pm, and since I had a 5pm pedi and wax, we took off for home and my car - luckily I was able to change clothes before the pedi appointment (soaked) and then had a relaxing pedicure and not so relaxing eyebrow-lip-beard wax from Xiang. Janice F (Jeri and Becky H., you know who I mean, with the chocolate Rabbit with tangerine pinstripes from high school?) was two chairs down but I did not acknowledge her (she knew it was me, I could tell) (I just didn't feel like getting involved). After that, on to the grocery store for more creamer and coffee, and then home to relax and watch a movie. "The Machinist" - an anorexic Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh doing what she does best. I guess I'd recommend it, but it was wierd. Mostly because you wonder how actors do the things they do to their bodies for a role.

I guess this is long enough now, so since I slept in this morning, I have less time to prep before I run out and get some sun. Thanks for reading!

And thanks to KIM S. for a great Saturday!