The weather was unusually nice for a Saturday, so I decided
it was time to go to Portland and finally visit OMSI (the Oregon Museum of
Science and Industry). I boarded the Pio
(Lewis and Clark’s shuttle) amid grocery-hunting students recently back from their
trips and headed downtown. The museum is
a twenty-to-thirty minute walk from the bus stop, traveling through a park and
across the Willamette before finally getting there.
Inside the museum, well, that depends on when you go
there. They currently have a huge exhibit
on videogames. The games start with some
of the traditional arcade games (Space
Invaders, Donkey Kong, Tempest, etc.) and go all the way through some of
the newest technology (generally rhythm and dance games). There are also tons of games in-between.
Think games such as Legend of Zelda, Sim City, Sonic the Hedgehog, etc.
In addition to the featured exhibit, there are plenty of things that
stay year-round. They have a planetarium
and a submarine in addition to exhibits on life, climate change, and robotics. The museum backs against the Willamette and
out there you can find information on salmon, a decent pathway, and the
submarine.
The other thing I did was take a trip to Powell’s Books. They are arguably the largest new & used
bookstore in the world and take up an entire city block. I was not able to spend a whole lot of time
there, but I did manage end up buying two novels before I had to catch the Pio
back. (The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi and The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, by
the way).
