March has officially arrived, and with it, the promise of warmer weather – but that won’t be happening this week. You will get a whole weekend this week, no daylight savings to worry about (that comes next week), but you will have to scratch and claw to find things to do that don’t involve getting soaked in the rain or sharing a lot of indoor space with people you and your kids don’t know. A few new friends is one thing; a hundred an hour is overwhelming for even the best extroverts living among us.
Here are a few ideas to get through one of the final winter weekends without destroying the budget or risking a few fevers or ear infections this week if you spend too much time in the rain.
It’s getting close to the end of snow and ski season, but right now, there is plenty of the street-legal white stuff on the mountain, and there’s never a wrong time to watch your kids grin from ear to ear as they go head first down the mountain while dressed like the kid brother from A Christmas Story (they can put their arms down when they get to school also). When your kids and their comfort are at stake, an extra layer is never bad as long as you watch for any of them sweating in the snow. If you and your kids are much more established winter sports people, the slopes are also open. If you get done early enough but don’t want to head home too early, you can grab dinner at Timberline Lodge before making the slow and dark journey home.
Is your family a friend of the snow and ice but don’t like going up to the mountain? Perhaps you would prefer to wear your most comfortable sweats and sneakers and go to Memorial Coliseum to see the Winterhawks take on the Victoria Royals on Saturday evening. Portland’s hockey team takes the ice at 6pm, which is plenty of time to get down to the rink and take in the weekend hockey action. Even for folks who aren’t or don’t think they are a fan of the game, the atmosphere is fun for pretty much anyone. Tickets are pretty cheap for a sporting event but about double a movie ticket, so make sure your group is interested before splurging for the night out in this direction.
If you aren’t a fan of hockey but do like the idea of a sporting event this weekend, I can’t send you to the Trail Blazers since they will be on a road trip, but the Portland Timbers are hosting DC United on Saturday evening in their second home match of the season. They won their first match last weekend and are looking for consecutive wins to open the season. A ticket in the cheap seats will run at least $35 a head before fees, so make sure you plan for this to be a bigger outing than some of your other options. The match also starts at 7:30pm so don’t expect to get home on time if you have little ones that sleep before 9pm.
Their new Tyrannosaurs – Meet the Family exhibit opens this weekend; an immersive experience with new discoveries and the chance to see not one, not two, but three full-size T-Rex skeletons in person. There is even an option to see what it would be like if the T-Rex lived in Portland, something we definitely haven’t seen before. We will have to wait and see if there are any new revelations in the dinosaurs to birds theories and how many feathers fly in the end.
Sometimes, you have to risk being outside in the worst weather; it comes with being a resident of the Pacific Northwest. But that doesn’t mean you need to be just standing out in the open; some of the worst weather days for humans are some of the best days to see your favorite animals out in the wild and how good your kids are at imitating their favorite animals. It’s great when they are good at making the right noises, but sometimes it’s more entertaining when they are way off, like the Bluth Family trying to sound like a chicken; one has to wonder if anyone in that family has even seen a chicken. The Zoo has plenty of tree canopies to catch the raindrops and lots of indoor discovery areas as well. Even if you plan to spend the whole day there, you’ll have many chances to find cover if needed. The penguins and elephants may not smell great, but they never refuse visitors.
Casey Mabbott is a husband and parent first, and also an experienced and dedicated writer and researcher. Born and raised in the Portland area, when Casey is not spending time with his family gallivanting around Portland and the surrounding areas, he genuinely enjoys helping people (especially families) find the “hidden gems” in the Pacific Northwest. In today’s world of lightning fast information at our fingertips, it’s truly a wonder to stumble across a place, an experience, or an activity you’ve never heard of.